Democrats for Social Credit

Broadband

While New Zealand lumbers towards speeds of 10-20 megabits per second across old copper wires, countries at the top of the OECD are targeting speeds between 100 megabits per second and one gigabit per second across fibre access.

1 - Using a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is irrelevant and 10 is critical; please rate the importance of an Internet-enabled digital future to New Zealand’s society and economy?

10 - Critical importance. Today's markets are centred around the constant availability of up to date information. Clients now expect to be able to be in contact with businesses in an on-demand manner. By far and away the Internet is the most important medium for digital communication, rivalled only by cell phone networks. In fact, the amalgamation of telecommunications and the Internet is seen not as actually inevitable. The old paradigm that has been successfully promoted by Telecom (one house, one landline) is rapidly being seen for what it is; the remnant of the technologies of yesteryear. If New Zealand wishes to be a player in international commerce, we need to maintain modern telecommunications to interface constructively with the systems run by our partners. The Internet with protocols such as VoIP is the next step in cheap global communication. Right now our infrastructure simply cannot handle the demands that will be placed on it in the near future.

2 - Should the investment model for rolling out fibre access be private sector or public private partnership, and what is the appropriate role for government, both central and local?

These options should always be explored and where appropriate should be adapted. But the lesson we take away from years of private enterprise-operated infrastructure is that a private sector company does not have the public good as its bottom line. As a consequence, seen with Toll and Telecom, profits posted are given higher priority then reinvestment and maintenance. Where natural monopolies exist, as in roading, water, energy and money supply, the public sector needs to play a significant regulatory role if not take out-right ownership, to ensure that the function of the infrastructure is to provide crucial services for the public good, not pay dividends to shareholders. In the case of telecommunications, the economics may not favour private investment in a national fibre network. The role of government is to provide this initial investment, not for the direct profit looked for by business concerns, but to provide a service that would benefit the whole country.

3 - Do you consider the existing international connectivity to be a bottleneck? If yes, what options would you pursue to deal with this?

International connectivity is by and large not the bottleneck most Kiwis face. The bottleneck typically occurs at the ISP-consumer link, where speeds and data volume restrictions are the norm. International connections are often much faster then local ones, primarily because of the time difference between NZ and the USA (so we are awake and surfing when they are asleep), but also because local hosting is of course limited by the NZ network in the same manner as your personal connection. Because of theses issues with speed and data caps, it is often cheaper to host a website from outside of New Zealand. Having said that, as the New Zealand network is upgraded, the bottleneck will shift to international connections. Currently there are only two options; further undersea cables or satellite connections. Both options will be explored in depth.

Infrastructure

Passive infrastructure, such as ducting and laying the fibre cable itself, can account for up to 70 percent of fibre access deployment costs.

4 - What policies would you support that would encourage co-investment and/or coordination in laying fibre cables?

Investment in public works is one of the main roles of a Ministry of Finance. Contractors involved in public works such as the development of a national fibre network will be extended lines of credit by the Reserve Bank at zero or very low interest.

5 - Would you support requirements on duct access, sharing of fibre access inside buildings, and requirements to install fibre in new buildings?

Where a new line is requested into a fibre duct, the network provider cannot unreasonably refuse the request. The installation of fibre cable in a new building is entirely the prerogative of the builder or architect and does not need to be regulated. A single link from a particular building into the network should be available to the entire building, but provision should be made where security concerns exist.

6 - Do you support an open access model for local fibre in which the network provider sells passive network capacity to other services providers to sell, or lesser requirements of equity of access to wholesale services from network providers?

The wholesaler-retailer model with requirements of equal retailer access is clearly the best option. Unequal opportunity in situations like this invariably results in lessened competition in the marketplace. Less competition results in restricted options for consumers who then are more vulnerable to unjustified price hikes or poor quality service.

Digital Divide

The term ‘Digital Divide’ refers to the gap between those with effective access to digital and information technology and those without. The recent World Internet Project survey said that Digital Divide issues in New Zealand are driven by household income and location. The more rural you are, and the poorer you are, the less likely you are to have good access to the Internet.

7 - How will your party assist the poor in New Zealand to get decent access to computers and the Internet, and what will your party do to ensure every school, library and polytechnic has fibre access?

Any fibre network built by the Democrats for Social Credit would necessarily include direct access for all tertiary education institutes, public libraries and schools. In particular, public access to library computers will be expanded and made cheaper. Greater investment in primary and secondary schools, including computing resources, will help school age children gain the skills needed for our modern economy. These investments, being works for the public good, will be financed using low interest credit created by the Reserve Bank.

8 - The rural sector is often called the engine room of our economy – how will you improve rural connectivity and access to high-speed broadband?

Most of the remote rural exchanges now have fibre optics feeds from the main network. Where needed, the upgrading of the outer ring of remote exchanges will need to be undertaken to include them in the fibre optic network. The Democrats for Social Credit would investigate ways to best get technology to support high-speed broadband from these outer electronic exchanges to all remote rural properties, be it fibre optics, microwave or satellite, to mention a few possibilities.

Copyright

Copyright law lets people benefit economically from their creative work. It should balance the rights of individual users with those of the copyright holders but in recent times significant concerns have arisen that the balance has shifted towards copyright holders as society grapples with the implications of digital media.

9 - How far should Government go to protect the interests of copyright owners against the rights of citizens and do you think our copyright laws are being unduly influenced by the US entertainment industries?

Copyright law needs to be completely reviewed. Not because it is no longer relevant, but because it is no longer working. Recent legislation elsewhere in the world places the responsibility on ISPs for preventing illegal transfer of copyrighted material. We believe this is completely the wrong approach, requiring highly invasive and resource hungry data screening to be effective. Alternative models have been developed for computer games, where the game itself is free, but online play requires a monthly subscription.

The movie and music industries, most vocally in the UK and USA are having their current marketing model destroyed by the ability of the digital world to rapidly disseminate their products. This has led to heavy pressure from industry lobbyists to tighten controls on data traffic. The example of Windows Vista highlights this issue; Microsoft bowed to music and movie industry pressure and included mechanisms in the operating system designed to check for copying software. These measures are widely blamed for many of the shortcomings of Vista.

The music or the movie itself has always been the cash crop of these industries, which is why copyright law protects the movie or the song. But this is becoming less so, with both kinds of media available for free on torrent sites like LimeWire and BitTorrent. What is needed is a shift from industry to a new marketing model, making returns on associated products, like websites, games, toys or clothing. Beyond increasing restrictions, reducing speed and escalating network monitoring, it is difficult to see what constructive role legislators can play without proactive changes coming from industry.

10 - As a result of industry pressure, the Government has delayed Section 92A of the amended Copyright Act, which will require ISPs to terminate the accounts of repeat copyright infringers. What is your position on s92A and how would you resolve the issues?

The Section in question requires ISPs to monitor internet usage in order to determine whether or not a particular user is downloading copyrighted material. This approach has been roundly declared as unworkable by ISPs. The sheer volume of data makes it completely impractical to impose such draconian measures and would only result in reduction of speed. Ultimately, this may catch a few culprits, but because of the difficulties of actually determining the copyright status of any given piece of data, the effort would essentially be pointless.

11 - Will you commit to a balanced approach to copyright reform that reflects the views of all New Zealanders by pledging: to respect the rights of creators and consumers; to not support law change that undermines or weakens copyright user rights; and to fully consult with New Zealanders before introducing law changes or signing international treaties that would impact copyright user rights?

Yes; copyright is a fundamental aspect of business and should be protected. However, law must remain relevant to the contemporary conditions and must be changed where change is needed. Clearly this change is happening and government must engage all concerned parties to reach decisions amicable for all.

12 - Should there be a first-principles review of New Zealand’s Copyright Law and, if so, when would you begin this work?

With the dramatic changes to technology since the Copyright Act 1994 was written, there needs to be a review and this has already been accepted as a given. As part of that review, all aspects including first-principles need to be investigated to ensure it is current. Because the process will be a lengthy one, it should begin as soon as is practical.

Cybersafety

Connection to the Internet exposes the public of all ages to inappropriate material, online predators, and net nasties such as viruses, worms, Trojans and malicious software.

13 - Last election there were pledges of 1,000 more cops on the street. What about online? How many more cops do we need in cyberspace? And will you increase the capability of the Police E-crime Lab, Internal Affairs Censorship and Anti-Spam Units, Customs, and the Centre for Critical Infrastructure Protection?

Each of these functions is in existence now. As the growth on use because of the ease of access to the Internet increases current personal will have to be added to cope with an increased workload. It is impossible to state a number, but each organisation’s future requirements will need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

14 - Does NZ need to establish an NZCERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) and if yes, what role should Government play in the establishment, operation and funding of an NZCERT?

New Zealand already has a NZCERT established in the form of a charitable trust in 2006. Support of this organisation should be considered instead of creating a competing organisation. Increased funding should also be considered as needed for the educational activities this organisation undertakes.

Privacy

The UK Government is planning to spend £12 billion on a database to monitor and store all its citizens’ Internet browsing, emails and phone calls, in the face of huge concerns globally about privacy breaches surrounding Government and corporate data.

15 - What is your party’s view of the UK approach? Are you in favour of more, or less, intrusive actions by Government and enforcement agencies? What will your party do to ensure the privacy of each individual’s identity and information online?

The Orwellian connotations of the UK Government’s approach has no place in New Zealand. Citizens of this country have a right to be protected from their government, which includes the right to dictate what their Government can know about them. The Internet habits of a private citizen are intrinsically part of their private lives and should not be impinged upon in the absence of evidence of criminal wrong doing.

Any Government led by this Party will not engage in broad-spectrum data hoarding for the purposes of monitoring citizens of New Zealand.

Privacy online can be reduced to matter of education of the user. For example, restricting personal details on networking sites or checking for connection security when using a credit card. Schools, with improved computing resources, will be able to provide this sort of education in online conduct.

IPv6

The Internet is currently reliant on IPv4 as the network layer IP addressing protocol. The entire IPv4 address space amounts to around 4 billion addresses available globally and exhaustion of this address space is likely to occur within the next two years.

Governments are increasingly concerned with the lethargy of conversion to IPv6, the next generation of IP addressing, and the USA and Australian Governments are showing determination to migrate, particularly in the area of their Defence Forces.

16 - What steps do you intend taking to accelerate the deployment of networks using IPv6 in New Zealand, particularly inside Government?

IPv6 was designed to coexist with IPv4 during the transition period. The integration of IPv6 network hardware will be done in a gradual manner throughout government departments. The education sector will be provided funds through low cost credit if necessary to complete this work.

Convergence

The Internet and traditional broadcast media are converging and the Government is reviewing broadcasting and content regulation. The boundaries are breaking down between digital and analogue worlds, across business models, delivery channels and access devices and fundamental differences between traditional broadcast and the Internet need to be addressed.

17 - How will your party address the issues of regulation of content in New Zealand as content becomes more and more available online and outside of traditionally regulated broadcasting channels?

Regulation of traditional broadcasting channels was possible because of the low-diversity nature of the industry; compared to content available on the Internet, there are relatively few radio or TV stations. This is further compounded by the international nature of the Internet, allowing material that would be considered objectionable under New Zealand law to be accessed from inside New Zealand, with no possible legal recourse.

Instead the regulation must be at the consumer end. Software applications for restricting Internet access by minors are readily already available. Education of parents on the potential dangers for their children coupled with practical solutions (e.g. keeping computers out of private bedrooms, employing user accounts with logs and restrictions) is by far the best way of regulating access, rather then restricting the posting of content.

18 - Do we need a converged regulator of broadcasting and telecommunications, and if so, should there be two such converged regulators, one for content and the other for infrastructure?

Yes, we need a converged regulator of broadcasting and telecommunications. There needs to be two such converged regulators, one for content responsible for social/cultural issues and the other for infrastructure to
address economic/access issues.

19 - How do you see the increasing delivery of media content over the Internet affecting the way content creation is funded by Government?

Organisations that promote content creation funded by the Government at present will most likely also be the providers of such content delivery of media over the Internet. Therefore it is unlikely that this will have much affect on the way such creation is funded.