I’m sure that my life as an MP is going to have plenty of ups and downs. Well tonight was an up. And it’s because of the main thing that took me into parliament in the first place. Wanting to try to bring together people and politics and truly engage. Break down the cynicism about the political process. Tonight I convened a forum in Auckland to try to forge a new consensus, a new direction around how we manage copyright in the digital age.
I’ll post more about this once I’ve gone through the notes, but it was really really good. Because everybody was honestly trying to be constructive and to find a way through the current impasse. I know Labour isn’t the government, we won’t be making the laws on this right now, but we know how important it is, we know that no other country in the world has worked out how to move forward, and we know that we needed to change our position.
There was a suprising level of agreement and good will among the forum participants. There’s now work to do to develop a coherent position and discuss that among my Labour colleagues. But it feels good. It would be even better if it became a cross party consensus. More to come soon.
Fantastic work Clare! Sounds like it was great. Keep up the good work!
keen to hear more. You’re actually the only politician I’ve heard who really grasps the idea that the current situation is unworkable, for the artists concerned, as much as everyone else.
It’s great to see Clare going out and talking to stakeholders in such a constructive manner. The people that will be most helpful in developing good policy are the people that deal in this area every day. Great work.
Hey Clare
Good to see that there is a politician willing to get to grips with the digital age
As I see it, the current situation is manifold with no clear direction from the “dinosaur” industries who are less than satisfied with their own incompetence at embracing what could be a feasible business model with less overheads and costs in not having to produce physical formats.
The virgin megastore is one such example of the digital age replacing the physical age, having recently closed down their CD departments as the popularity of i-tunes has rendered the physical format nigh on obsolete.
i-tunes has shown that a low cost model for singles and albums works, as people do feel less guilty downloading it, after paying a fraction of the price ($5 for a CD single… $1 online…)
To really embrace the internet culture, motion pictures association and also RIAA need to formulate their own methods of downloading.
Personally, I love the ease and convenience of downloading. If I see a movie I want to watch being advertised on network telly, I tend to download it for the benefits of having no ads. The irony is, where a movie has never been released in New Zealand, i.e. “The Fall” there are very few options available to obtain it. The choices are limited to either waiting a few weeks from Amazon, or downloading it within an hour.
Copyright law is in need of updating, along with a workable model that works for everyone whether it be a pay per movie method of downloading, to an all you can eat (or as much as your data cap allows)
The BIGGEST bone of contention I have, is around televised programs. Programs shown in America/UK are generally made available to download within minutes after they’ve finished airing. For shows such as Battlestar Galactica and The Wire (which were treated extremely poorly by the NZ networks) the ability to download them added to their underground popularity.
Any form of copyright law involving the internet needs to make a CLEAR distinction between the rights of users between those who download for personal use, and those who download and distribute multiple copies on DVD.
Personally, I feel that we’re still stuck in this mindset of download = illegal, when it’s a fact that some directors actually praise the internet for making their movies/shows so popular… Sci Fi was going to can BSG before realising that just over 215 million people worldwide downloaded the torrents. The copyright issue needs to focus on personal use / vs downloading for a profit. Anything else is just bunkum.
And yes, of those two shows mentioned above, BSG and The Wire, I downloaded them all, every episode. As soon as the DVDs were available I purchased them. If there was a method of being able to pay someone, somewhere, for the privilege of downloading such awesome shows, then I’d gladly do it. Some might try and argue and say that those who download wouldn’t pay. I’m sorry, but look how many people use i-tunes, when previously they’d use limewire, gnutella or napster. I recognise that those to some extent would still be used, especially where songs are not made available on i-tunes for whatever reason.
Sorry for the rant, but people try and “resolve” the downloading issue without recognising the core tenets of convenience, availability, and global recognition.
What’s the bet the first three posters in the replies work for the Labour party? The internet is about conversations, not laying laurel wreaths at the altar of your party. Those bushy tailed comments just wreak of “patsy”.
Mike,
I was there, and I’m no Labour patsy any way you slice it – I’m a CFF member and on the NZOSS council. There was an amazing consensus at the meeting, particularly given the range of industry and social groups represented. There are precious few opportunities for these people to sit down and talk together over pizza, so I was glad to see much constructive work going on. There is a realisation that an interesting combination of social attitudes, freedom and technology is forcing change. It needs to change in a way that benefits New Zealand and New Zealanders while fitting in with the rest of the world (read: USA) and that’s a tricky proposition. If you have some fresh ideas, bring them to the party.
Thanks for arranging the meeting Clare. I think we’re heading in the right direction.
I’ve done a writeup on the story here http://bit.ly/nPda6
I agree with Jasper,without a reasonable alternative people will resort to piracy.The big 4 cartel have done nothing to change that and instead seek to impose their police state on the world.
They fight every time a new technology is invented instead of embracing it.The said t.v would kill the cinema and it didnt,they said video recorders would cinema and it didn’t now the same ploy and all backed up with biased dodgy figures.
I am an avid filesharer for a number of reasons but it started with the release of BSG.Sci-fi is all but ignored by N.Z programming,we get 3 episodes of a great show then it disappears for 6 months leaving fans like myself no other option but to download.Like Jasper, when the boxset is available overseas i do special order at a much greater expense than waiting for it to arrive onshore.Prior to the ability to download i would never have dreamed of buying a boxset of a t.v program,to me that would have been ludicrous.But if i love a show and want to see a second season made then i would be mad not to support the legal alternative when its available.
I now am the proud owner of FIREFLY,SG1-10 SEASONS,STARGATE ATLANTIS-5 SEASONS,BSG-4 SEASONS and around 400 other hollywood dvds i legally purchased.Has the artist lost out?,NO.So why am i labelled a thief,scum or the latest one terrorist simply because they want to hold on to an outdated distribution model thats no longer relevant.
Enough is enough,we do not want to be annexed by the U.S and have their petty laws forced us.I feel National is greatly under estimating the backlash this will cause from the N.Z public.It’s common knowledge their polititions are bought and paid for by these corporations and that is not the sort of government we want here.
[...] response to the meeting is here and her longer post about Copyright issues is here [...]