Civil question...

[theYANK]

"So what is defamation and what about free speech?
These forums are hosted in Australia and there is no "right of freedom of speech" in Australia (except in relation to political speech: ie. comments about politicians and political parties). So forget everything you've seen on American legal dramas on TV - it just doesn't apply in Australia. "
That is from: http://www.overclockers.com.au/defamation.shtml
Is the same true in NZ?

*EDIT: I just remembered. These forums are hosted in Texas. Does that mean they are protected by free speech?:D ;)
*pictures mods thinking: why doesn't this bloomin yank just talk about computers?:rolleyes: *

[Binky Stunt Cat]

your not allowed to talk about anything that the mods dont want you to talk about.
Think of it as Moderated Free Speach.
Hence there is no talk of what is now known as the Optical Ownage 2000 device.....i think thats the right code name for it...:P

[Deviant]

First of all, I don't have any real proof of what I am going to say, so I could be wrong.

NZ has very few internet laws, and very few of those have been tested in a court. The way I believe it to be, is the laws of your own contries apply. We have no fredom of speech in our constatution because we don't have one, but we also don't have any laws against saying anything, unless it is at work, and it's sexist etc. We can say what we like just like Americans.

[theYANK]

Originally posted by Deviant
First of all, I don't have any real proof of what I am going to say, so I could be wrong.

NZ has very few internet laws, and very few of those have been tested in a court. The way I believe it to be, is the laws of your own contries apply. We have no fredom of speech in our constatution because we don't have one, but we also don't have any laws against saying anything, unless it is at work, and it's sexist etc. We can say what we like just like Americans.
Doesn't that mean it's just more easy to prosecute when there's no protection, instead of the opposite as you're suggesting?

[Binky Stunt Cat]

we dont sue the hell out of each other over trivialities.....i supose thats the big difference between US and NZ

[Deviant]

Originally posted by theYANK

Doesn't that mean it's just more easy to prosecute when there's no protection, instead of the opposite as you're suggesting?

you can't prosecute unless there is a law against it in this country. That's why we don't get people sueing people against breaking their constatutional rights.

[mird-OC]

and it's a good thing we all pay attention to the Sexual Harrassment Panda...

[Agent666]

who cares ... its the internet ... say any damn thing you like.......... damn american ;) ... no ****ing americans ...;)..... see its really easy......... carry on

[DiscoStu]

Just think of us mods as your constitution and that is all you need to worry about ;)

Good point about the server being in the US though (only as a matter of interest). I think you could argue quite strongly that the US laws apply, as the law generally classifies something through it's physical location (ie Houston).
However, you could argue quite strongly the opposing side, as this forum has a NZ domain, and is owned by a NZ business.

[dustyslapper]

NZ has no constitutional protection of speech. Censorship here is 'somewhat' restrictive - stuff gets banned pretty regularly: is French film 'Baise-Moi' ('Screw/Rape Me'), and some Christian fundamentalist groups keep trying to (unsuccesfully) import homophobic propaganda.
A lot of pornography that is shown freely in the states get rejected by the Censors office here. Violence in sex scenes sets off bells, as does urination, or acts of humiliation.

'Art' has less stringent controls of course - providing it has artistic merit people can show stuff that is pretty foul and horrible. To a limit of course.

I think NZ is pretty similar to Canada in terms of legislation dealing with hate speech. Hate speech is a definite no-no. I know that all the extremist Canadian websites (anti-gay, or racist etc) do all their web hosting in the US, where most stuff seems to be OK.
One area the US has issues with I think - while its nice not to restrict speech, some pretty horrible stuff gets disseminated by some pretty horrible people. I'm pretty glad that bigots don't get to air their views in NZ.

The only real risk in NZ is if the Govt tries to pass some sort of draconian control on speech. The Court of Appeal though has an excellent record of protecting the rights to free speech - and as the Privy Council is not going to be able to stuff things up for much longer, we should see the courts acting in loco parentis of free speech.

So, ummmm, yeah. You can say lots, but nothing too explicit, or defaming, or hateful.

My $2.50

[Ricardo]

FWIW There has been a case here in NZ. Patrick O'Brien (then the CEO of Domainz - the NZ domain name registry) accused Alan Brown of defamation in the Internet NZ lists and won. The judge basically said:
I know that the it's common practice to "flame" on the internet, but if it's a public forum and you say something slanderous, it's no different than saying it on TV or in the newspapers.

[mird-OC]

oh those canadians are right on the money there, ayhe. i'm sure they could teach those americans a thing or two aboot being friendly there too.

[Agent666]

unfortunately listening to canadians is beneath the average american........ after all they are the greatest nation on earth ..... :eek:

[shag]

unfortunately listening to canadians is beneath the average american........ after all they are the greatest nation on earth .....

Really? I thought the US was the greatest nation and basicaly the center of the known universe... I mean what else is there besides the states? :rolleyes:

World news with Peter Jennings... "in washington today..." LOL:D

[theYANK]

Originally posted by shag


Really? I thought the US was the greatest nation and basicaly the center of the known universe... I mean what else is there besides the states? :rolleyes:

World news with Peter Jennings... "in washington today..." LOL:D
We ARE the center of the known universe. Didn't you guys know that? I'm just here to hide, so no one notices me.....shhhhhh!:p
I thought my wife was going nuclear every time some ignorant a$$ American would ask her: "So, are you from England?" It happened more times than you think(made me feel better for guessing her as ozzie). It's true that most Americans can't even name all 50 states let alone anything outside the damn country. America and most upper-level(in terms of intelligence) Americans absolutely r0><0r, but the ignorant surplus in the country -think Jerry Springer- can really twist you around. I think it's a 50/50 fault to the person/educational system, they can pick up a book and figure $hit out on their own if it's that bad. I did.

[mird-OC]

:D

LOL. nicely put, theYANK.

[Binky Stunt Cat]

so in otherwords, yanks are stoopid....

yes i knew that already, why do you think one of my favorite passtimes is Yank-Bashing???

[varkk]

hehe, I know it is a great sport isn't it :p

but anyway we do have freedom of speech garanteed in the bill of rights, I believe, but it includes various things about being nice and not defaming people corporations etc...(their rights apply as well)

[theYANK]

Not to be mean, but, not a SINGLE person here seems to know DEFINITIVELY what their rights under their government are. That strikes me as two things: weird, and disturbing. Don't you want to know? I'm not going to get online and download Terabytes of the horrible child-p, but I'll be damned if I don't know what my limits are beforehand.

[whetu]

in new zealand, most people give less than a sh*t, all they want to do is get up in the morning, go to work, get a bit of money in their pocket and go home. maybe if they are lucky they'll have their life sorted and have some time for themselves to go to the pub or go clubbing, or do a hobby or sport..

basically the american dream is a white picket fence in eagle river (well the eagle river bit comes from the movie hotshots.. it was a running gag, alongside the one where they kept sitting on the chihuahua hehehe)

the new zealand dream however is a quarter acre of land, 8 hours sleep, 8 hours work and 8 hours play, a bbq and a beer.

as an example, at some point in my life i picked up the attitude of not really giving a toss about national politics... i dont strongly care for either labour or national. i dont strongly feel in support of any of the hippy/pothead parties. its a lifestyle and class thing. hell, i'm not even enrolled yet.

It could come back to our time as a british colonial country... eg the classes... most of us will be "working/middle class", or decended from working class. indoctrinated to not care and just do what they are told to get money to pay the bills.

the ones who will worry about politics and their rights however are the "upper class" yuppies who think their sh*t dont stink, social climbers, well to do people who are wannabes of the previous two groups etc

BUT ANYWAY, i'm going on a different slant here and getting all theoretical in areas i have absolutely NO previous study in..

[shag]

In NZ we generaly don't give a toss about freedom of speech rights and crap like that because it's just not an issue. I think you'll find that here you can get away with a lot more than you can in the "free" US. Someone has an accident that involves me the last thing I think of is suing their ass. Accidents happen. we are human, life goes on. There's no reall need for a bloated legal system when common sence is used.

Although OSH is doing their best to do away with that silly common sense thing. I mean, it's not the idiots fault if he climbs over a high fence with warning signs saying danger high voltage so he can play with the live wires right? Blame the electrical company for not taking more precautions! :rolleyes: Unfortunately every day we do become a little bit more like the states:(

I guess thats why there are so many stupid americans. Natural selection has been taken out of the equation through the fear of being sued untill your bleed dry. In the old days if you were stupid enough to do things like I mentioned above then u got fried, people said "he was an idiot anyway" and life went on. These days, it's more like "OMG that poor guy!" and OSH storms in to make the company spend even more money on extra, higher fences so less stupid people get hurt:mad:

Hehe I think I've started straying off the subject. Rant rant rant...

[dustyslapper]

Bill of rights is impotent - its an aid to interpretation in that judges should analyse laws with compliance with the Bill of Rights if at all possible. If a law contravenes the bill then thats OK - it must be explicit about it though.

If we had judicial strike downs (as in the US, but without the politcal appointees) and an entrenched Bill of Rights that could be a step in the direction of having inalienable rights that an agressice govt can **** all over.

Means that it govt passed a law saying that all morange-y gingas should be imprisoned then it would be struck down by a judge once contested. Mind you some judges are pretty out of touch with reality. One case which involved a man forcing intercourse on a 7 year old girl the judge comented in his sentancing "It seems like the kind of accident that could happen to anyone..."

No system is perfect - I think the US system is far rom being ideal. The constitution is great - but it gets hijacked by these pro-abortion, anti-abortion, pro-gun, klu klux klanning freaks that are just terrifying.

[mird-OC]

ignorance is bliss.

[NNA2m]

Only New Zealand law I wan't changed is the goddamn '83 Firearms classification. Mmmmmmm... Airsoft...

[dustyslapper]

Ohh yeah. And legalize it.

Just think what could happen if the greens get a substantial minority in parliament? Hmmmm!

[SilverPriest]

The petrol station/dairy will never be the same again ;)