P2P Traffic Drops 10% After New NZ Law

harryjohnston writes "Following the introduction of New Zealand's new copyright legislation, which we discussed last week, major ISP Orcon reports that international peer-to-peer traffic has dropped 10%. This might mean that the law is actually working to some extent, though experts say the effect will probably only be temporary."

Some thing happened in Sweden.

[Anonymous Coward]

First reports of "the law working", then a few months later everything was back to normal again.

10% is weak

[Kjella]

In Sweden after IPRED it was 30%, after half a year they were essentially back on the same curve as before. Everybody fears a token crackdown, like people speed everywhere but right after they've reduced speed on some road it's very wise to stick to the limit a while because it's always followed up by a bunch of controls on that road. It won't last since everybody knows they don't have the resources to go after everyone, it's just temporary.

Re:Hahaha. it failed.

[nzac]

Its worse than that some ISPs are only able to say they noticed a drop and other ISPs report no drop.

Since no notices are being set as of yet I expect it will recover and then exceed previous levels if no notices are sent.
The government said they would review the law if it failed to work so the rights holder may want it to fail.

Re:Hahaha. it failed.

[nzac]

Don't know who your friends are let me assure you that leeching is very much alive (no one seeds at $1-2.5/GB). It does not seem to be confined to one demographic either. The inability for some to stream at DVD def (slow connections) and having to pay for extra bandwith to watch on demand with ads makes torrenting very attractive.

I get annoyed at people who waste bandwidth re-downloading youtube. I do use this to rationalise the downloading of low quality mp3s.

In Sweden...

[mmcuh]

...when they implemented the IPRED EU directive which gives the copyright lobby the right to force ISPs to give them the names of suspected filesharers, the traffic dropped by almost 30% on the day the law came into effect. However, it started increasing again almost immediately and a year later it's higher than ever before, and still increasing - just like it has been since the late 90s.

Re:Nice!

[nospam007]

actually yes. The Germans and other countries have their illegal streaming portals there.

Re:Time Indeed for the Cypher Revolution

[Colio-Light]

Not since the 80's with David Lange has NZ stood up against Americans with uranium on their breath and truly been able to say they are an individual country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeHTziiFVx0 [youtube.com]

so yes, transparency.org might list NZ as high - but what does't get told much is the relationship between big business and MP's, and the fact that corporate law in NZ is the fastest changing in the world.

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/warner-bros-sought-job-law-change-film-the-hobbit-nz-135087 [nbr.co.nz]

"Warner Brothers used the threat of filming The Hobbit movies elsewhere to gain changes to New Zealand's employment laws, it was reported tonight. An email obtained under the Official Information Act showed the production company wanted "stability" to film the movies in New Zealand and was worried about "grey areas" of employment law, Radio New Zealand reported."

http://tvnz.co.nz/technology-news/us-lobbied-nz-over-copyright-laws-wikileaks-cables-4149178 [tvnz.co.nz]

"The cables also show that the US offered to spend more than $500,000 to fund a recording industry-backed IP enforcement initiative. According to the cables, the US actively lobbied several cabinet members while New Zealand was working through its copyright reform in 2008"

"A February 2008 cable notes that Consumer Affairs Minister Judith Tizard and Trade Minister Phil Goff were presented with a list of shortfalls to submit as the legislation was being drafted. "Post has presented the list of noted shortfalls in the draft legislation to Minister Tizard (Consumer Affairs), Minister Goff (Trade) and to officials within the Ministry of Economic Development, the agency primarily responsible for drafting legislation and monitoring IP enforcement. "Post remains engaged with Bronwyn Turley, Senior MED Policy Advisor for IP issues to maintain a dialogue to address the needed technical corrections," the cable noted. New copyright laws were passed in April 2008."

• Total costs: NZ $533,000 (US $386,158)
• Start-up costs: NZ $78,000 (US $56,510)
• Salaries: NZ $215,000 (US $155,768)
• Operating costs: NZ $240,000 (US $173,880)
• Start-up costs (NZ dollars):
• Furnishings $25,000
• IT costs (equipment) $45,000
• Sundries $8,000
• Salaries (NZ dollars):
• Unit head $90,000
• Intelligence and policy development $60,000
• Licensing and enforcement officer $40,000
• Administrative support $25,000
• Operating costs (NZ dollars):
• Accommodations (rental, utilities) $55,000
• IT support $15,000
• Legal costs (investigation, prosecution)$75,000
• Training (internet piracy, law) $50,000
• Travel costs $35,000
• Employer liabilities $10,000