Here they come. The first copyright infringement notices under the two-month old Copyright Amendment Act are currently winging their way to unlucky downloaders. Telecom have fired off 42, Orcon eight and TelstraClear -- whose Chief Executive Allan Freeth at least spoke out against this ridiculous law -- are in the process of validating "a few dozen allegations".

So far, all appear to involve music downloads, with 40 of the 50 sent to Telecom and Orcon involving tracks by Rhianna, and another six for downloaders of Lady Gaga. Great to see the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand -- which issued the notices -- looking after New Zealand artists ...

Let me know if you get one of these notices. I'm very interested in seeing how this process works -- particularly if you challenge it.


Footnote
Here's the concluding paragraphs of Freeth's opinion piece "What's wrong with copyright":

Instead of bringing in a law that we believe will not and cannot work, our government should be breaking monopolies, allowing personal choice and letting New Zealanders experience information and entertainment when the rest of the world does. Instead, it has chosen to introduce a law that could turn ordinary Kiwis into law-breakers.