Know the law: copyright changes

[February 2009] In 2008 New Zealand's Copyright law was changed ('Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008'). These changes have important implications for community organisations, businesses and individuals.

Various changes took effect from 31 October 2008, while section 92A of the Copyright Act comes into force on 28 February 2009.

You can view the current legislation at: www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2008/0027/latest/DLM1122502.html, but here's what S92A says:

"Internet service provider liability

"92A Internet service provider must have policy for terminating accounts of repeat infringers

* "(1) An Internet service provider must adopt and reasonably implement a policy that provides for termination, in appropriate circumstances, of the account with that Internet service provider of a repeat infringer.

* "(2) In subsection (1), repeat infringer means a person who repeatedly infringes the copyright in a work by using 1 or more of the Internet services of the Internet service provider to do a restricted act without the consent of the copyright owner.

Real-world examples.

An example of breach of copyright might be if someone in your household or organisation goes online and finds a place where they can download for free software you would normally pay for. Or perhaps they download the number one hit on the music charts without paying for it. Or perhaps they make a video that includes a current pop song playing in the background and upload that video to YouTube or send it to a friend. Without the copyright holder's permission - this may breach copyright.

Training and vigilance.

For many years Kiwis have taken a rather 'easy osy' approach to such things. We may not have looked too closely at what family members or staff or volunteers in our organisations were doing. Perhaps we have said things like "don't download music or movies illegally", but haven't actually scrutinised things too closely.

You need to read this new piece of legislation carefully, analyse how it may affect your home or organisation, and then take steps to manage the risks.

Train your staff and volunteers about how to identify copyright material, and what the consequences may be of breaching copyright. A good starting point is that *everything* on the Internet is copyrighted, unless it explicitly says it is not or grants you a license to use it.

Your web tracks.

When we visit web pages, they are able to determine a huge amount of information about us, through picking up the IP address of our computers or network.

Discover what 'they' know about you by visiting this IP address reverse lookup site: www.ip-adress.com. It'll give you a number similar to (but different from) this: 203.111.111.11. That's the IP address of your computer or network. If you have another computer nearby try checking its IP address too. It may be the same or different.

At the bottom of that web page, click the link for more tools and you'll see even more information about you and your computer. When I do that it places me on a map with GPS co-ordinates (incorrect, fortunately - it places me in Lower Hutt rather than Wellington). It also reveals which web browser I'm using, my computer's Operating System, and a whole lot more.

Identifying the miscreant.

A copyright owner can use information like this to identify a computer or network that did illegal things with their copyrighted work. They cannot however know *who* was using that computer at the time. If they accuse you of copyright breach it may be that a child, visitor, colleague or other person who wasn't you was the responsible party.

If you have several computers on a network check to see if they all share the same IP address. If they do then the miscreant may be another person within your organisation. You may not be able to identify the individual responsible for the copyright breach.

The malware problem.

Some viruses and other malware may allow a crook to use your computer as a 'zombie' to distribute copyrighted works such as music, movies or books. Your computer may become infected with this malware unless you take stringent precautions to protect it.

If your computer is vulnerable to viruses and other 'bad stuff', then you should consult your IT support and learn what software will effectively prevent your computer from transmitting copyrighted material, without your even knowing about it.

In June 2008 ZDNet Australia said:

While the total malware count for PCs, according to security company F-Secure, is 850,000, its count for current versions of Mac OS X is under 100 a list which is dominated by variants of a single trojan it labelled OSX/DNSChanger, which was discovered last year by security company Intego.

Source: www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Mac-malware-volumes-spike-without-pain/0,130061744,339289766,00.htm

They didn't include statistics for those using Linux, but it is generally thought that very little malware, if any, exists for that platform.

Whatever software you install, you will need to update it at least daily. Be sure to install the anti-malware software from a reputable source, as some malware pretends to be anti-virus software.

It's your responsibility.

Since there are some fairly heavy sanctions for breaching copyright, it's imperative that you ensure every single person who may have access to your Internet connection is aware of the consequences of breaching copyright in any way, shape or form.

* Website tips contributed by Miraz Jordan, http://knowit.co.nz