Who would have thought? Who would have thought? So, by the way, can I ask you, how well, on a final note, how well is Australia's car repair information scheme going?

It seems to be going well.

They've done a report recently.

And in fact, it's gone so well that they're thinking of now expanding it into agricultural equipment because that's another big issue.

But one thing that's really, really important is that if we do do it, we really should be just copying Australia.

And one of the key things with Australia is they have what they call a scheme advisor who runs it.

And you can complain to the scheme advisor who will then say, know look into it and then refer it to the a triple c which is like our commerce commission and that's really really important because we just have legislation and it's the commerce commission in charge i i mean i don't have that much confidence it will work so that's the sort of a key part so and we've done this before when we've sort of taken things from australia is we haven't taken the most effective bits so it is really important and in fact Dan Bidwell from National, he had a bill, a private member's bill that never got drawn, and his was effectively a cut and paste.

Why couldn't the Commerce Commission do this already if the manufacturers are abusing their market power? Isn't that what the Commerce Commission's for?

What do we know? What are the facts about just how many or how susceptible we are or how exposed we are?

Well, I mean, it just sort of comes at you constantly, like you said before.

Um, well, Netsafe, um, in that same report is, um, is reporting that the average New Zealander, you know, faces, um, 152 scams a year, so that's sort of one every two days or so.

Um, and they're happening all the time.

So, um, when I was preparing for this, um, writing up notes, I got a, [chuckles] a spam email, and it came...

It said, "Kia ora, Alex," um, purportedly coming from the University of Auckland, and it says, you know, "Your university mailbox has reached 90 sin-- 60%-- 96% of its storage limit.

Incoming messages may be delayed if you do not free up space.

Uh, and Netsafe, uh, is talking, um, about bank impersonation reports being at their highest level this year.

Does Ngati Whatua have any ability to oppose it in the UK, though? They've got any leg to stand on here.

They could try to do that.

But, I mean, interestingly, though, these are also place names.

And in trademark law generally, they don't like granting trademark registrations over place names because that then stops other people from using them.

And so that's actually sort of a stronger ground to object to.

Because there's been other situations where there's been like cultural appropriation and the court in the UK, they haven't looked at that.

They've just allowed them to be registered.

Can you? Well, maybe.

Does Ngati Whatua have any ability to oppose it in the UK, though? They've got any leg to stand on here.

They could try to do that.

But, I mean, interestingly, though, these are also place names.

And in trademark law generally, they don't like granting trademark registrations over place names because that then stops other people from using them.

And so that's actually sort of a stronger ground to object to.

because there's been other situations where there's been like cultural appropriation and the court in the UK, they haven't looked at that.

They've just allowed them to be registered.

Can you?

Which ones aren't we enforcing at the moment, Alex?

Uh, well, for example, um, unfair contract terms.

Um, I've done one study and been involved with another study where every single contract had unfair contract terms.

Things like, you know, we can change the contract, any part of it at any stage, um, and things like that, which, which are there.

The MB, Ministry of Business and Information and Employment know that they're there.

The Commerce Commissions know...

Commerce Commission knows that they're there, but, um, you know, very, very, very little is done.

Is that how it normally would get resolved?

Which ones aren't we enforcing at the moment, Alex?

Uh, [sighs] well, for example, um, unfair contract terms.

Um, I've done one study and been involved with another study where every single contract had unfair contract terms.

Things like, you know, we can change the contract, any part of it, at any stage, um, and things like that, which, which are there.

The MBIE, Ministry of Business and Information and Employment, know that they're there.

The Commerce Commissions know, Commerce Commission knows that they're there, but, um, you know, very, very, very little is done.

Is that how it normally would get resolved?

Well, actually, that's [laughs] ...

But there's a real sense of acceleration of things coming into focus right now, Alex.

Well, yes.

So for example, there's been sort of recentish news in the past few months of the Chinese government starting to warn employers, particularly of tech companies, about not to cut jobs as they adopt AI.

And there's been court rulings in Beijing and some other places, um, that have favored workers in the disputes, um, and that companies are legally required to either retrain or as- reassign workers before their employment can be terminated.

And China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said earlier this year that it would roll out measures to address AI's impact on employment.

Now, if China does do that, um, it's not gonna be the first time that, um, it's tried to prevent the uptake of new technology because of fears it will put people out of work.

And also this happened elsewhere, which we're g- gonna come back to the Luddites because, for example, the gig mill was banned in England in about fifteen fifty-one or fifteen fifty-two.

There was actually a, um, a massive kind of crackdown was the not over the, the whole kinda Luddites protest, the, the Peterloo Massacre.

or earlier this year is actually wanting to

potentially set up a scheme under the Copyright Act so that creators in New Zealand can do get some recompense if their works are being used by AI.

Australia is also proposing a similar thing.

So that would be, I guess, better than nothing.

Because also is that, as I said, in New Zealand, technically what they're doing would be breaking the law, breaking copyright, but it's enforcing it is the issue.

And so it's only right to have these rights, but how do you enforce them? I think that would be a positive move.

But also, on the other hand, I think that, well, it's not just me, other people think as well, is that if people don't like what the AI, big tech is doing, then they should not be using their services.

the US.

Who knows?

knows?Yes.

Um, but also these things can have serious financial consequences.

So for example, there was a recent case in Germany where there was a Google summary was presented to people that falsely tied two different publishing companies to scams of sub- subscription traps and shady businesses.

So it got them sort of confused, and the company [chuckles] that was on the receiving end basically saying you... that it was engaging in shady practices, you know, went to court, sued Google for, um, defamation.

Because, for example, the summary began, you know, with a claim along the lines of, "Yes, this company is known for dubious businesses prac- business practices," which is terrible, you know, for the, um, consequence for it.

Google, of course, did nothing about it, and so it went to court.

f-And, and, and, and again, are, are businesses and industry still on a learning curve as way, uh, uh, as well on all this? Uh, is there a risk that some are rushing to use tools thinking there's this great productivity gain, and not really being across the, the, the challenges?

What do you like about this idea?

Well, initially I liked it.

But then doing a little bit of digging, it really does depend on what happens.

Because part of the cost involved for New Zealand retailers selling stuff is because there's testing involved.

And the EU, which is one of the areas of the world that the government has said they'll align with, some of that doesn't actually require testing.

It just requires the manufacturer to say that it meets the standards.

How careful do we need to be about this?

Oh, I think careful, very careful.

What is the story with who's responsible for anything that is actually genuinely damaged? In the course of delivery.

Okay.

Well, that's a good point because now under the Consumer Guarantees Act, it is the business.

If the business has arranged the transport or the delivery, whatever, they are the ones that are responsible.

It didn't used to be that way.

It used to be on the customer who wasn't the one that was engaging the courier or anything.

So now it is the business responsible.

Is there some kind of a requirement that it must do what the advertisement said it would do?