Fun facts about the new copyright law – A bulletpoint list

September 1, 2011 Chilling_Silence Personal Rantings

So it’s September 1st, the new law comes into effect today, but here’s a light-hearted look at a few interesting / fun facts that you should know about the new law.
This is a follow-up from my previous look into how you would get caught downloading via P2P / Bittorrent, and how the copright holders track you down.
UPDATE: Paul Brislen who is head of the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand (TUANZ) has done an interview with NZ Herald, similar to this article. It’s also well worth watching the reply of the interview : http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10748747

• Infringements since the 11th of August count, so if you downloaded a movie on the 12th of August, you may end up with a letter (email) about it today.
• It’s only the account holder who gets the notifications. From there, your ISP and the copyright holders don’t care. If your name is on the bill, the WHOLE internet connection is your responsibility
• With the previous statement in mind, it’s worth noting that there are NO readily available and easy ways for the average consumer / household / small-business to easily monitor and control their internet connection
• The new law was passed in a rush, but at the time it basically had support from both Labour (Who are now doing a dobule-take on their stance) and National.
• No, the Internet is not Skynet from the Terminator movies. Jonathan Young was a moron for suggesting that.
• The law is about stopping the “casual” or “opportunist” person who may try their luck to get away with it. The “real” or “big-time” infringers know how to get around the law. It’s about changing the culture and perception of copyright infringement.
  
• You get 3 notifications (After each notification you get about a fortnight of ‘immunity’), on the 3rd notification you can be fined $15,000 (Or at least, the internet account holder can be) or your internet can be cut off for 6 months
• No word yet on if your spouse or another member of your family can simply re-sign up if you do get disconnected
• Mostly, it’s going to be about the money, not the disconnecting.
• This law is basically about making it easier for the US copyright holders to get money out of people in New Zealand.
• The US had a real hand in this law coming into effect — Bullying tactics?
• Copyright Infringement Notifications have been sent in the past. Before this law it was just a heck of a lot harder for overseas copyright holders to extract money from you. See an example from 2008: http://pastie.org/2461919
  
• This law only targets peer-to-peer (P2P) such as bittorrent, emule, limewire / frostwire. It doesn’t target Server-to-Client such as Rapidshare or MegaUpload, nor does it target streaming.NOTE: This doesn’t make streaming TV / Movies legal, it just means they’re not targetted under this law. Watching videos / music on YouTube is pretty much definitely “safe”, but downloading the files with online converters isn’t (Never has been), and watching some shows on there isn’t legal either. Downloading from iTunes is still legit and 100% ideal / legal!
• Movies / Music aren’t the only things illegal. It can be illegal for you to download pictures, ebooks etc and you could be caught downloading any for them.
• If you download via P2P over the Cellular network, such as tethering your phone to your PC, you’re exempt under the law until 2013. This doesn’t make it legal, it’s just a “loophole” so to speak
• Peerblockers / PeerGuardian software is useless – Don’t think it keeps you safe, it doesn’t, don’t use it.
• The people who download lots will still continue to get around this law through the use of Seedboxes, VPNs / Darknet’s, and using Server-to-Client services such as Rapidshare / MegaUpload
• Your ISP doesn’t actually *care* what you do. They probably don’t monitor you either. In fact, it’s in their best interests for you to use more data because they usually get money from you on a per-GB basis. Use more data downloading, they get more money. Easy.
• A lot of people have a rather cavalier attitude about it, but they won’t be laughing when somebody comes after them with a $15,000 bill. That side is actually very serious.
• Kids (teenagers / young-adults), make sure your parents name is on the bill, not your own.
• Adults, if you piss your kids off, there’s bugger all most of you can really do to stop them from downloading something and getting caught.
• Be careful when your kids friends bring over their laptops and things. It’s quite common for people to do it at a house that is not their own, simply because they don’t have to “use their own data cap”.
• Work-places / Small businesses? Haha you’re buggered too, you have my sympathy.

What can you do about it?

In-short, trust goes a long way, families should talk with their kids about it. Heck it’s real enough that I’d suggest you even look at doing some sort of a ‘family meeting’ around the dinner table and discuss it.

However, for some homes / businesses that’s simply not an option, not to mention it doesn’t protect against if your kids have friends over. Or flatting situations.

See about installing a router utilizing the http://www.gargoyle-router.com firmware. This will allow you to block P2P, bittorrent and other things. It’s cheap, cost-effective, and shouldn’t set you back more than $250 for both a new router AND modem. Maybe only $150 if you just get the new router. Just make sure you buy one that’s compatible with Gargoyle!

Post in the comments if you’re after help, or seek assistance on the likes of PressF1.co.nz
Drop me a quick note to say hi if this has helped you in any way 🙂

Copyright, Copyright infringement, Filesharing, law,