The New Zealand government has reintroduced its controversial « three-strikes » Internet law, Bill 92A. Previously defeated after widespread outcry, the new 92A was introduced minutes before Parliament recessed for the holidays, and makes no substantial improvements over the initial proposal. Under the revised proposal, if anyone in your house is accused of three acts of infringement (without any proof of wrongdoing), your entire household [stands to lose] Internet access for six months, and/or pays a NZ$15,000 fine (the previous version of the bill would have taken away your family’s internet for life). […]
This « revised » law is still fundamentally flawed. The two important mistakes that this law makes are:
1. Assuming that taking away your household’s Internet access is a just punishment for copyright infringement. […]
2. It contains no real penalties for false accusations. […]
The record on this is clear: giving one group of people the power to punish another group without penalty for abuse of this power leads to abuse. […]