Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015

That's two burns on the Taxpayers' Union this week.

If I make two more jokes about them, they can cry harassment and misuse the Harmful Digital Communications Act against me.

Is that joke too soon? Remember, friends don't let friends vote ACT.

[sighs] And finally, mere days after audaciously declaring mission accomplished in Iran, Trump has decided to also mimic George W. Bush's bombing of weddings as news emerged that America had blown up an Iranian wedding party.

I, um... maybe I want to give, also give some history on the, on the Online Safety Act.

Um, so the onli- our Fijian Online Safety Act, it's a first generation online safety law, right? Uh, it is primarily, um, based off of the New Zealand HDCA, which is the Harmful Digital Communications Act.

And, um, unfortunately, through the framing of this law, um, it, um...

So the HDCA is enforced, um, primarily at, at first level by sort of like NGO-type bodies.

And that would be craziness for younger lawyers coming through to think that being able to have access to a computer on your desk and access to email was new.

But yes, as technology has advanced, so have the different ways that it's been used to And I have had to learn and start to do some work under the Harmful Digital Communications Act because the harmful digital communications dovetail with the family violence work that we're doing, whether it's text, email, social media.

But also through use of technology to track people or to surveil as well.

I welcome and watch with interest the changes that have been brought in only in May around the new technology.

So this is Tuesday at 1pm.

The Free Speech Union will be appearing in the Bradbury Group tonight, 8pm tonight, to discuss the Harmful Digital Communications Act.

I said, good luck tonight, I'll be watching.

uh and then tuesday uh then the next day sorry had a medical emergency and got a picture of you in the hospital um dude what's up can we help you said three broken ribs and then obviously reflecting back on the free speech union i said annie o'brien question mark uh to which you said don't make me laugh it hurts so i just wanted to publicly apologize uh for making you laugh by suggesting annie o'brien broke three of your ribs as you're going into hospital because i felt bad about that afterwards but it was look okay it was appropriate no no i don't retract that it was appropriate it was the right time to say it

I just wanted to wonder as well, and you may not know this, but does the court realise that Annie O'Brien is a professional troll? Are they aware of the things that Annie O'Brien has said to me, to us, to lots of people on our side? Are they aware of that or are they going to be made aware of that?

Well, and this is the problem with allowing...

the courts this level of power under the harmful digital communications act we've we haven't been able to put a counter argument to the charges so we we have we we just we've we've been immediately censored and we've had no opportunity to go do you know who she is right she's not just a private citizen she's actually a political operative right um here is all of you know

um

It is a strange new world we're having to navigate now online.

It's like the Wild West, but there are some protections in place through the Harmful Digital Communications Act and we're going to be diving into what that act is there for, who it protects and how it does so after the break.

You're with Case by Case from the Open Justice team here at the New Zealand Herald and with thanks to New Zealand On Air.

Each week we are diving into an aspect of our justice system and today we're looking at the Harmful Digital Communications Act.

Very relevant because, you know, we're all on social media, a lot of people making posts and making comments, but there's this act that is there to protect people for when things go a bit too far.

So joining me now is Shannon Pittman from the Open Justice team at the Herald.

Talk me through the Harmful Digital Communications Act.

What is it and what is it designed to do?

Um, but yes, indeed, as we reported, um, he is, uh, is ...

the, the name of the person who we, we couldn't name last week, Annie O'Brien, formerly of the Free Speech Union or outgoing from the Free Speech Union, uh, has been revealed, um, as, or has revealed herself as the person pursuing Martyn "Bomber" Bradbury under the Harmful Digital Communications Act over posts online that he put up that she believes were abusive, uh, and, um, just too personal.

Um, and that raised a question for her, given that if, as an advocate for free speech, um, is that consistent with, um, trying to shut down the freedom of speech of a blogger like Martyn Bradbury? Now, hard to know given that how bad these comments were.

I certainly don't know-

Yeah

...

but it will all come back again in December when there will be a, a day-long hearing, uh, in, in court that will determine whether Martyn Bradbury did in fact breach the Harmful Digital Communications Act's provisions, uh, with what it was he put online.

online.Um, all right, moving on.

Yeah.

So a- as you'll see in, in both versions of the story, one of the elements was what, what is the, what are the implications for if Jitendra Maharaj and, uh, LeakedBB are based here legally? Um, New Zealand has a law called the Harmful Digital Communications Act, which is pretty old.

It's, it's more than 10 years old.

It's been around for a long time, and, and it's looked at le- um, globally as a, a reasonable, um, version of this type of law.