The Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA) an organisation that represents 460 public, educational, commercial, industrial, legal and government libraries in New Zealand, has voiced its opposition to the implementation of section 92A of the Copyright Act, which comes into force at the end of next month. The act states:

An Internet service provider must adopt and reasonably implement a policy that provides for termination, in appropriate circumstances, of the account with that Internet service provider of a repeat infringer.

LIANZA has three major concerns about this section, the “extremely wide” definition of internet service provider, which as written means every library, school, educational institution, association, government department, company, business or office that provides Internet access to its users or to its staff could be defined as an ISP. The fact that someone could loose Internet access if just an accusation is made that copyright is being repeatedly breached “a reversal of a key principle of New Zealand law; that a person (or organisation) is deemed innocent until proved guilty” and the provision that an internet service provider must terminate the account of a repeat infringer.

This draconian provision would seem to mean that, if a user is found on more than one occasion to have illegally accessed or downloaded copyright materials, or otherwise breached copyright in a work, the ISP must terminate the Internet access not of the individual accused of breaching copyright, but of the account holder – that is, of the entire library.

LIANZA is far from the first group to speak out against the law. Last year a group made up of Internet service providers, user groups, Internet advocates and IT professionals called Section 92A “A deeply flawed law that undermines fundamental rights and simply will not work.”
LIANZA is recommending to Stephen Joyce, Minister for Communications and Information Technology, that new section 92A of the Copyright Act should be repealed prior to 28 February 2009 and the definition of ISP be changed in the law.