Chris Knox’s Strokes; InternetNZ calls s92A review “broken remedy”; NIN quits social networking; Right to Research
(crossposted from CreativeFreedom.org.nz)
Chris Knox
As most of you know by now kiwi music legend Chris Knox 
suffered a major stroke on Thursday but is now “able to drink water and answer basic questions while being taken to hospital” He’s in a stable condition in Auckland Hospital’s stroke unit and the news is that “doctors were anticipating that Knox would at best be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life”. You can follow his progress on a blog set up by family and friends titled the “Chris Knox had a stroke and everyone wants to know how he is, how the hell are we gonna keep you all updated all at once blog”. Get well soon, fella!
InternetNZ call Guilt Upon Accusation law review a “broken remedy”
Stuff.co.nz reports that InternetNZ have come out against internet disconnection as a form of punishment, “The concerns we have are that it looks like it’s a pretty quick process and it looks like they are trying to find a better way to do the termination remedy when feedback from the public and the majority of submissions indicated that it’s termination that’s the problem.” The Creative Freedom Foundation share similar concerns. One of the key issues with s92A was its potential to punish innocent people for the actions of others the s92A review expresses a preference for disconnection, saying that a “guiding principle” of the review is for the “process leading to account termination” to be clear. Fines would be much more appropriate.
There are many alternatives to disconnection, for example royalties or fines. Fines are more targeted than disconnection – punishing the guilty person, but not innocent people who happen to share the connection, and obviously this should be of concern to anyone with a shared internet connection. For artists, royalties or fines have the potential to include payment for copyright infringement, whereas indirect punishments that harm innocent people will simply reflect badly on artists.
Due to New Zealand’s geograpical isolation the internet is a vital tool for connecting to the rest of the world, and is also becoming more pervasive with vital services moving online such as parts of government, health care (records, scheduling) and social interaction tools (newspapers, phone, email, social networks). Disconnection may hinder people’s ability to pay bills, operate their business or do their job, access banking, education, insurance, etc. Due to this the internet is already a necessary service like other utilities such as the phone and postal systems. With internet use showing no signs of slowing, in future years disconnection will be seen as a shortsighted and increasingly unfair penalty. Last week France moved against disconnection and joined the majority of the European Union who are against this form of penalty. What will New Zealand do?
As we are once again facing the possibility of internet disconnection as the government’s chosen punishment for infringement, the CFF strongly recommend that this inventive penalty be ruled out.
The changing relationship between artist and fan.
Billboard magazine reports that Trent Reznor has quit social networking , that “As one of the more prolific users of Twitter , blogs and other social networking constructs, Reznor, in his latest post laments the degradation of the experience” Reznor says that “It’s been an interesting experiment over the last couple of years or so. Faced with leaving the infrastructure of traditional record labels and figuring out what the right thing to do is in this new world – I found myself realizing that for me to have any concept of how to interact with the community and know what they might want / what they find appropriate, I need to immerse myself in that world and live it for a while [...] The relationship between artist and fan is changing if you haven’t noticed, along with the way we consume and experience music and even communicate since the internet arrived”
Right to Research: An Open Resource for Learning
Right to Research, a coalition of reseachers, has just launched. “Students rely on access to academic journal literature for their research and education. However, even before the recent economic crisis many colleges have struggled with the high costs of journal subscriptions, restricting access for students and scientists alike. Learning and inquiry are impeded when scholars lack access to fellow researchers’ work, and when students lack access to the work of scholars before them.” Closer to home we have WikiEducator, and their discussion of Reusable and portable content for New Zealand schools.
“At the same time, digital technologies have opened new opportunities for research. New tools facilitate faster discoveries, speed the development of new technologies, and accelerate the progress of science. Patients could have access to the latest medical research, citizens could evaluate scientific information on environmental impacts, and developing countries could apply the most recent scholarship to public health and development efforts. But access barriers leave these opportunities under-explored.”
Learn more at Right to Research.org.
Semi-related: Using Wikis for Developing, Sharing and Reusing Educational Content.
