Copywrongs
Saturday, April 7th, 2012It seems that pretty much all the discussion about copyright these days is about the new online infringement laws. But I want to talk about another copyright issue that I think poses, on paper anyway, a bigger threat to free speech: the surprisingly narrow reach of our fair dealing defences. I say “on paper” because […]
Thanks all the same
Saturday, April 7th, 2012Apparently Paul Dacre, editor of the wildly popular but staggeringly awful British tabloid the Daily Mail, likes NZ. This from a very interesting New Yorker article on the paper: According to one editor, Dacre is enamored with New Zealand: “He thinks it’s like Britain from the nineteen-fifties.”
New media Downstage play
Monday, April 2nd, 2012This looks interesting. Downstage are putting on a play satirising the news and involving the live editing of footage and commentary supplied by the audience. Starts April 13.
Silliest statement by an Attorney-General ever?
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012On Sunday, former Police Minister Annette King told TVNZ’s Q and A that the Labour government ministers had merely been briefed on Operation 8, and at the last minute at that; that they were given assurances by Solicitor-General David Collins that the process was correct; and that they were dismayed by the way the police conducted […]
Cairns v Modi judgment
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012Is here.
Doesn’t sound like a fair go to me
Thursday, March 1st, 2012So the head of TVOne and Two, Jeff Latch, asks for a powwow with Fair Go staff. Labour broadcasting spokesperson Clare Curran asks whether, at that meeting, he asked them to go easy on TVNZ’s advertisers. Here’s his response: “The key points I made at that meeting was that the heart of Fair Go for the past 20 odd years […]
Should we have a tort of intrusion?
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012How far does our privacy tort stretch? Does it – should it – include offensive intrusions into someone’s affairs? It is well established now that you can sue for invasion of privacy if someone offensively publishes sensitive private facts about you and there’s no redeeming public interest. A newspaper reveals you had an abortion as […]
Well, you would be, wouldn’t you?
Monday, February 20th, 2012Lovely NZ Herald headline: Man critical after being set on fire
Offensive offence
Thursday, February 16th, 2012A few years back, the censor banned this T-shirt (scroll down) depicting a masturbating woman and the words “Jesus is a cunt”. I questioned the ban. Now the retailer who sold the T-shirts has been convicted for possessing them. I note that this offence also applies to everyone who owns such a T-shirt, whether they wear it […]
Lawyer’s name suppression bid fails
Monday, February 13th, 2012Criminal lawyer Barry Hart’s long attempt to have his name suppressed for his disciplinary tribunal charges has failed at the final hurdle, having also failed pretty much all the hurdles before that. The Supreme Court said: The likely particular impact of publicity on [the person applying for suppression] will always be relevant, but it is […]
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