By 3 News online staff
The Green Party has launched its Internet Rights and Freedoms Bill today, calling it the first piece of proposed legislation to be crowd-sourced by a New Zealand political party.
Included in the bill are 10 internet rights and freedoms, establishing an Internet Rights Commissioner as part of the Human Rights Commission, and a Chief Technology Officer.
ICT spokesman Gareth Hughes says the public has been invited to help shape the final draft of the bill before it goes before Parliament because the party "believes in a free, open and thriving internet".
"The future of the internet lies in the hands of all New Zealanders, not just policy makers and politicians, and we want the public to help shape internet use in New Zealand," Mr Hughes says.
"As well as protecting users, the Internet Rights and Freedoms Bill aims to encourage innovation, digital democracy and the growth of New Zealand's ICT sector."
The Internet Rights and Principles Coalition (IRP) of the UN Internet Governance Forum has welcomed the release of the legislation for consultation.
It says the Greens have shown "courage and foresight" by putting the bill forward, especially in a time "the world has witnessed how human rights can be undermined in the online environment as well as on the ground".
"The Internet Rights and Freedoms Bill is a pioneering project for the internet in New Zealand to ensure that the protection and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms online are tangible and enforceable by law," the coalition says.
It says it is impressed by parts of the bill including providing "an affordable, equitable, and multi-culturally accessible internet future for all New Zealanders" and the new roles the legislation would create.
Meanwhile, InternetNZ says the discussion about internet freedom and rights has merit and is glad the debate is happening.
However, chief executive Jordan Carter doesn't think new legislation is necessarily the way to deal with the issues the proposed law seeks to address.
"On the substance, our initial analysis is that many of the issues that are raised in this Bill could be addressed with targeted changes to the Bill of Rights Act or to other existing legislation," he says.
Mr Carter says this fits the organisation's view that laws governing online and offline behaviour should be similar.
There is nothing a Digital Bill of Rights Act would do that the current Bill of Rights Act does not, in terms of surveillance for example, he says.
The Green's bill however, contains good ideas and putting it online for public feedback is a positive move, Mr Carter says.
"There are a lot of people in the community with a lot of brilliant ideas and tapping those minds shows a willingness to learn and get the best possible result."
InternetNZ says it will release a statement of issues next month for parties to take into account when they develop their own policies.
3 News
source: newshub archive
