Guest Post: InternetNZ Goes Full Retard

A guest post by Gary Benner on Kiwiblog

I received a report on the Strategy 2022-2026 Review for the InternetNZ Board, and noted one paragraph that has me somewhat bemused, befuddled, and a little concerned.

Centrist: InternetNZ moves to limit who can vote after Free Speech Union recruited 2,400 members

InternetNZ is considering new restrictions on who may become a member after the Free Speech Union recruited about 2,400 supporters to join the organisation and vote in its board elections.

Members elect InternetNZ directors, giving them influence over the organisation responsible for managing New Zealand’s .nz domain system.

David Harvey: Controlling the Internet

Disclosure of interest. I write this as a member of InternetNZ, although I do not agree with its direction of travel or the way in which it has drifted from its original role. I am also a member of the Free Speech Union.

I formerly taught Law and Information Technology at the University of Auckland Law School, where the domain name system and the issues surrounding Internet governance and control featured strongly, and those issues have been discussed fully in the various editions of my text Internet.law.nz – selected issues. Much of this article draws on matters that were the subject of that course, and which have sharpened as the years and the technology have progressed.

David Harvey: A Good Bill and a Bad Detour

Why InternetNZ's call for a digital regulator should be resisted

The Deepfake Digital Harm and Exploitation Bill is one of the more sensible pieces of legislation to come before Parliament in some time. It does one thing, and it does it well. It should pass. What should not pass — and what should not be smuggled in on its back — is the far larger regulatory apparatus that InternetNZ has used its submission to promote.

The Bill gets it right

Bob Edlin: Maori and InternetNZ – guaranteed places at the board table.....

Maori and InternetNZ – guaranteed places at the board table should help to ensure mauri is not lost

The internet is some 43 years old, harking back to the adoption of standard TCP/IP protocols in 1983. Its precursor, ARPANET, sent its first message in 1969 whereas the World Wide Web, which made the internet accessible to the public, was launched in 1991.

Whichever of those dates might be chosen as its starting point, the internet is a comparatively recent development.

Centrist: InternetNZ’s free speech crackdown faces setback.....

InternetNZ’s free speech crackdown faces setback as Free Speech Union CEO takes board seat

Jonathan Ayling, Chief Executive of the Free Speech Union, has been elected to the InternetNZ board following a recent membership vote.

This election comes after a campaign by the Free Speech Union to increase InternetNZ memberships and influence, aiming to restore focus on free speech and democratic governance within the organisation.

John Raine, David Lillis: InternetNZ and the Treaty

In Case You Were Wondering – InternetNZ and the Treaty

Treaty of Waitangi politics intrude ever more conspicuously into many areas of our society and our public life. Even New Zealand’s left-leaning mainstream media have picked up on the University of Auckland compulsory indoctrination-rich Waipapa Taumata Rau course [1], and Janet Dickson’s challenge to the Real Estate Authority [2] over their compulsion on estate agents to undertake a compulsory professional development module called Te Kākano (The Seed). Another example in tertiary education concerns efforts to decolonise the Massey University BA degree [3] This document supports the notion that society must remain “cognisant of structural ongoing contamination of white/Western hegemony.” It supports the idea that decolonisation does not exist without a framework that centres and privileges Indigenous life, community, and epistemology.

Dr Michael Johnston: How to grow an organisation

Every website with ".nz" at the end of its address must be registered through InternetNZ. InternetNZ sets rules for who can have a website ending in ".nz", which names they can use for their web addresses, and what might lead to an address being revoked.

InternetNZ has managed the process for 30 years. It has performed its function so quietly and efficiently that most New Zealanders may never have heard of the organisation. Until recently, InternetNZ’s mission was about as exciting as peacekeeping on the Chatham Islands.

David Harvey: Changes proposed to the Constitution of InternetNZ

This article looks at some of the changes proposed to the Constitution of InternetNZ. It is not a complete study or critique of the Constitutional changes proposed but focusses on a couple of issues albeit important ones – the objects of the organization and the membership and Governance structures.

If offer this caveat. When considering Constitutions or Constitutional documents they should be considered as a whole. The issues that are discussed in the article that follows are capable of examination from a stand-alone perspective.

Why is this discussion important.