Colin Jackson was incredulously eloquent this morning on RNZ, talking to Kathryn Ryan (speaking notes on his blog) about the farce that is section 92a of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment, which is a little like a foretaste of ACTA.

Basically, section 92a says to ISPs, though shalt not allow thy users to download copyright material, and thou shalt have in place a policy to cut off their access if you get a certain number of allegations from copyright holders. That’s allegations, people, not convictions. What ever happened to “innocent until proven guilty” as a foundation for human rights?

When the Amendment was going through Select Committee, the Committee removed this portion of the Bill, as they saw the dangers in it. Cabinet put it back, after that process was complete. Tizard said in a meeting with ISPs on Monday that the music industry had assured her that they would use the powers granted them responsibly (Colin blogged that on Tuesday).

Last month, Don Christie (NZOSS) and I met with her and her officials to discuss matters around my submission on ACTA and the run-around I’ve had from MED on getting information. At that meeting, we also discussed s92a, but also the industry response to copyright issues. She told us that she had had assurances from one of the music companies that they would have an online business model up within 3 years, so she hadn’t been too concerned about parts of the legislation that are causing trouble. She went on to say that she now thought she might have been naïve in accepting their assurances. I think she’s being naïve again, and so is the Ministry.

The music industry, in particular, has shown that they are less than accurate in their accusations having alleged that dead people, people without computers and children have been offenders costing them hundreds of millions of dollars. What’s so trustworthy about them here?

S92a will come into force in February 2009, if it isn’t withdrawn first (that can happen). My only hope is that, whichever party wins the election, someone new is appointed to the Commerce portfolio with a bit of clue about copyright and the Internet that will see the danger this represents and work to find a sensible solution, and I’m willing to sit down with any politician of any stripe and talk about this vital issue (except Tizard, because I’ve already been to that dry well). I’m not relying on the election, though – we need to let Tizard’s boss, the Prime Minister, know that this is not an acceptable situation and will not aid NZ in establishing the knowledge economy she’s so keen on.

We can’t just sit on our hands and hope someone else will fix this one.