08.06.11 - Question 10: Gareth Hughes to the Minister of Commerce

What is his response to the United Nations Special Rapporteur's report that criticises terminating people's internet access because it is a violation of human rights?

Provided by http://www.inthehouse.co.nz
Produced by Tandem Studios

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Gareth Hughes
• Simon Power
• Clare Curran

[versaillesNZ]

He's definitely swayed my vote towards Green this year.

[Majinant]

Mr Speaker, No!

lol

[MrShadowz1337]

LOL what? He can just avoid the question by saying NO??

[walkingstranger78]

Well done !

[spcfnz]

I think when the UN raise an eyebrow about human rights you should think twice about why. If you get a virus, bad link or someone hacks your email account. ( I'm in IT and all three have happened to me ) you might think twice about your definition of a Pirate. PS, Wont this url checking slow the net down quite a bit ?

[HeyPumpkin]

@HeyPumpkin internet somewhere else.

[HeyPumpkin]

@HeyPumpkin internet access is a human right, (and I'm on the fence a bit on that,) this Act does not violate that right at all. Because nobody's going to stop you from setting up another account, or using a friend's or your family's internet access.

So in short, if you do somehow manage to get caught by the person whose stuff you're pirating three times, and also ignore three warnings, you might get your internet account suspended for 6 months tops. With nobody to stop you using the...

[HeyPumpkin]

@HeyPumpkin user's account. This can only be for a period of 6 months MAXIMUM.

So what this guy is saying is that it's a violation of human rights to warn a pirate 3 times that they'll get their account suspended if they don't stop getting caught pirating for 9 months.

Lame.

The most stupid thing about this guy's argument is yet to come though. The Act does not order a person to stop using the internet, or enforce this. It orders the suspension of their account. So if you do believe that...

[HeyPumpkin]

@HeyPumpkin Then, within 9 months of the detection notice being issued, the rights holder of the IP has to again catch the user pirating their stuff and complain again to the service provider. The service provider has to then, once again, connect this complaint to the user and then issue a warning.

If this whole process is repeated again, then the service provider issues an enforcement notice to the user, and the owner of the intellectual property can choose to request the suspension of the...

[HeyPumpkin]

This guy is pretty arrogant to think that it's a human right to have internet access under the circumstances.

I'm not saying I've never pirated anything, but let's look at the facts here:

For the Act to take effect, the owner of the IP that is allegedly being pirated by the user has to actually complain to the service provider. Then, the service provider has to notify the user of this and the possible consequences (i.e. the suspension of their account).

(Continued in reply)