ACTA: An Expansive Third Party Liability Regime For New Zealand and the World?
The next round of backroom negotiations for the controversial (and improperly named) Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) will begin today in Mexico. I have previously written and given public talks about the law and politics of ACTA and what it means for New Zealand, and with this post, join folks like Colin Jackson, the Creative Freedom Foundation and Tech Liberty who are offering a renewed New Zealand perspective on the matter, just as talks are about to kick off a few continents away.
Both Colin and Thomas at Tech Liberty have each offered strong criticisms of the secrecy and lack of transparency in the ACTA talks, and the CFF has offered a compelling post on ACTA’s process as a betrayal of democratic principles that are so important to New Zealanders.
Given these discussions, there is little to add about ACTA’s process. Rather, I want to focus on one of the substantive elements of ACTA that has emerged from various leaks about its contents. That being, it’s potentially expansive third party liability regime that it may require signatory countries to implement.
NYU Media Scholar Biella Coleman Speaking at VUW Lawschool: January 21st
For those interested in Internet culture— and the role of law, litigation, and free speech, shouldn’t miss this upcoming lecture. The New Zealand Centre of International Economic Law has circulated an invitation to a public lecture to be given by NYU Media and Internet Scholar Gabriella Coleman at Victoria University of Wellington Law School later this month.
The lecture is entitled “Old & New Net Wars Over Free Speech, Freedom & Secrecy or How to Understand the Hacker & Lulz Battle against the C0$”. And will take place at 5:30pm to 6:30pm, Thursday January 21st, 2010, at Lecture Theatre 3, Ground Floor, Government Buildings, Pipitea Campus, 15 Lambton Quay, Wellington.
I know Professor Coleman (I’ll be introducing her at the talk); her work is always interesting and provocative, and I expect this will be no different. Here is a brief synopsis of her talk:
Old & New Net Wars Over Free Speech, Freedom & Secrecy or How to Understand the Hacker & Lulz Battle against the C0$”.
Why have geeks—both in the past and present—been compelled to protest the Church of Scientology so vehemently and for nearly two decades? This talk poses this question to present a cultural history and political analysis of one of the oldest Internet wars, often referred to as “Internet vs Scientology”. In recent times, this phenomena took the form of “Project Chanology,” orchestrated by a loosely defined group called Anonymous who has led a series of online attacks and real world protests against Scientology starting in winter 2008. Over the last two decades, Scientology has sought to censor material that circulated on the Internet, such as secret Church documents (“advanced tech”), criticisms of the church, as well as internal Church videos, often by asserting intellectual property rights; these moves have prompted protests among netizens, geeks, and hackers who tend to abhor censorship. However, to more fully understand these depth and breadth of these battles and protests, we must also examine how the geek cultural world and Scientology stand in an antipodal relation to each other. Scientology is experienced by geeks, perhaps almost unconsciously, as an ideal, almost mythic nemesis, where tremendous pleasure is derived in protesting the religion.
Through an analysis of cultural inversion, I will consider how long-standing liberal ideals, notably of free speech, take cultural root in the context of these battles. I compare the past and contemporary protests to examine important political transformations in Internet culture between the mid 1990s and today, most especially the rise of Internet trolling and the “lulz”- a bastardization of laughing out loud (lol), denoting the pleasures of pranking.
Speaker Biography
Gabriella Coleman is an anthropologist who examines ethics and online collaboration as well as the role of the law and new media technologies in extending and critiquing liberal values and sustaining new forms of political activism. Between 2001-2003 she conducted ethnographic research on computer hackers primarily in San Francisco, the Netherlands, as well as those hackers who work on the largest free software project, Debian. She is completing a book manuscript “Coding Freedom: Hacker Pleasure and the Ethics of Free and Open Source Software” (under contract with Princeton University Press) and is starting a new project on peer to peer patient activism on the Internet. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including ones from the National Science Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Social Science Research
Full details and information about the lecture are available here.
A note from the new Cyberlaw Fellow
Though I have not been on the job for very long - nor even in New Zealand for more than a few weeks - I thought I might post a brief note introducing myself. My name is Jon, and I’m the new InternetNZ Senior Research Fellow at Victoria University of Wellington Law School.
Before coming to VUW, I spent time researching and studying at Columbia Law School and, before that, Oxford University. I’m also a graduate of Dalhousie University, located in my home province of Nova Scotia, Canada.
My past research has focused on both constitutionalism and technology law, both separately and where the two intersect. If you’re curious, you can read my full VUW law school profile here, contact information here. Read some of my publications and working papers here.
What’s left to say, other than I am really excited to be here, and look forward to engaging with many of the fascinating changes happening in New Zealand right now, whether its the Government’s new Broadband roll out, the continuing debate on Section 92A, or the issue of software patents and forthcoming patent reform.
2009 Senior Research Fellow in Cyberlaw - Applications Open
Applications for the 2009 InternetNZ Senior Research Fellow in Cyberlaw are now open, with interested parties invited to apply at:
http://vacancies.vuw.ac.nz/positiondetail.asp?p=4606
The role is based at Victoria University’s Law School and involves a major research project in the field of Cyberlaw, contribution to teaching through seminars and workshops at the Honours and Masters level, and presentation of outreach programmes for the wider public.
Applications close 31 January 2009. More information is available on the Victoria University website.
Judge restricts online reporting of case
“A judge has today taken the unprecedented step of banning news websites from naming two men charged with murder while allowing newspapers, radio stations and TV networks to reveal who they are.”
Link to NZ Herald below:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10528866
ACTA copyright negotiations demand scrutiny
InternetNZ (the Internet Society of New Zealand Inc) is concerned at the paucity of detail surrounding the proposed international Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).
ACTA seeks to impose a raft of enforcement measures which have the potential to further erode citizens’ fair-use rights in respect of digital copyrighted material. For instance, a global legal regime for Internet distribution of copyright protected works may be introduced.
To-date, negotiations have been held behind closed doors and publicly-available information is scant, with the exception of an ACTA discussion document leaked online. Read more
Akill discharged without conviction
Earlier this week, 18 year old New Zealander Owen Walker (aka Akill) was discharged without conviction on charges relating to his part in a cyber attack on the University of Pennsylvania’s computer system and participation in a global adware scheme.
Follow the links below to read some of the news stories relating to the case: Read more
Analysing the Diversity of New Zealand’s Information Law — LexisNexis 3rd Annual Presentation on Information Law, 21 May 2008
Presentations and Panel Discussions include:
Political Accountability and the Official Information Act: Hon. Bill English MP, Deputy Leader of the National Party
The Public Records Act, Digital Storage and Disposal of Information: Evelyn Wareham, Manager, Gov’t Recordkeeping Programme, Archives New Zealand Read more
Managing Identity in New Zealand Conference, April 29 and 30, 2008
This international conference focuses on identity management and includes presentations by the Hon. David Parker, Minister of State Services, N.Z. Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff, and former Australian Privacy Commissioner Malcolm Crompton.
Additional presenters include participants from Victoria University of Wellington, the State Services Commission, Sun Microsystems (USA), McGill University (Canada), Microsoft (USA), and more.
For programme and registration information please visit http://www.identityconference.victoria.ac.nz/
Patent Law Reform Conference Programme — Getting it Right to Support and Drive Innovation, May 29 and 30, 2008
The process of patent law reform involves many detailed public policy considerations.
The NZ Centre of International Economic Law is delighted to present this conference combining international expertise and local business knowledge to discuss patent law reform. Read more