According to @pluralistic, copyright offices around the world have published clarifications that media created by generative models is not subject to copyright law. Not text, not images, not audio or video, and not code.
So every generative model that outputs media ought to add a public domain notice (eg CC0) to anything it produces. Either visibly within the media, or in metadata.
"This BTW is why a mere normal repeal of fast-track is not enough. It must not just be repealed, but all outstanding applications need to be dumped in the bin, and any consents purportedly "granted" by this corrupt abuse of process need to be legislative cancelled, with no compensation to the donors. We can not allow corruption to be rewarded."
@norightturnnz, 2025
https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2025/11/bulldozing-fast-track.html
I want to see Hipkins commit to this, and the Greens announce it as a bottom line if he won't.
NZ has Citizens Initiated Referenda, but they hardly ever get used and even when they are, the results just get ignored by governments. Maybe Citizens Initiated Assemblies would be more functional?
If enough citizens signed a petition on a question, the government would be obliged to commission a citizens' assemblies on it. Unlike a CIR, the legislation could require carefully specifying the question, and make the outcome binding on the government.
The NZ government must follow the example of the EU DMA, and regulate swiftly and firmly against DataFarmers using their control of OS development to control and limit how NZ citizens can use the devices we own. Both grApple and Goggle must be banned from forcing us to use their app stores only, and obliged to allow us to use our app store of choice
Goggle's move to ape grApple's control over iThing users cannot be allowed to stand;
Cabinet, like Parliament, should be proportional. If a party gets 5% of the vote, their MPs should make up 5% of Cabinet.
At the very least the leaders of all parties with at least 5% of the vote should be in Cabinet, with a relevant portfolio.
The idea of "The Opposition" is a UK import and doesn't really make sense in an MMP Parliament. What if we did policy by consensus rather than the dopey tug-of-war we inherited from Boomers and their FPP habits?
My 2 cents is that a forward-looking media regulation overhaul bill would;
* repeal the HDCA
* where necessary, formalise and extend the jurisdiction of existing bodies, clarifying the boundaries between them, and their lines of accountability to the public good
* clarify that their jurisdiction covers digital media as well as analogue
* to fill any gaps, extend some bodies' mandate, or create new ones
* create a one stop shop that forwards complaints to the relevant body
(15/?)
"Fonterra has agreed to sell major brands like Mainland and Anchor for $3.845 billion."
#GilesDexter, 2025
I strongly believe trademark law needs reform, so trademarks can't be sold as tradeable assets. The whole point of a trademark is to allow customers to buy from a consistent source. If they can be transferred from one operator to another, who can slap it on whatever garbage they like, it defeats the whole purpose.
Speaking of resisting digital colonisation, here's a policy I'd like to see passed into law. Any device sold in Aotearoa must be set up with a default localisation, including both a NZ English and Te Reo Māori dictionary, and support for tohutō (macrons). All online services supplied to kiwis must be the same.
No more auto-uncorrecting my text to US English misspellings! Or Te Reo words to some other random nonsense.
If a commercial operator hosts an online service, it should be obligatory to allow each account holder to BYOD (Bring Your Own Domain). Also to export all data associated with their account, in standard formats. Especially if they're paying customers.
But even if they're not. Copyright law says the person who authors the data owns the data, right? That's why the ToS for platforms always include a permanent license to store and distribute the data.
I have a few ideas for how we might fix this;
* half of all tax taken should be passed on to local government. Based on the residential address each taxpayer has on file at IRD
* half of all rates taken should be passed on to central govt
* devolve as many govt functions as possible to local bodies. Especially things like running schools, hospitals and other public medical services, Kāinga Ora housing, etc.
Give local people the responsibility *and* the necessary resources.
(2/?)
Kāinga Ora should be operating a not-for-profit electricity retailer for their tenants. Buying electricity on the spot market, and selling it to their tenants at-cost.
In fact, such a not-for-profit retailer could buy and provide electricity to all public entities. This would give them huge leverage to negotiate a low wholesale price. Reducing the operating costs of public services, as well as the household costs of Kāinga Ora tenants.
Here's a policy I'd like to see included in a comprehensive digital-age privacy protection bill;
If a company stores people's personal information, they must supply;
* a single-click way to delete an account and all its data
* a phone number those people can call and get immediate assistance, or failing that, an automated callback
* an address those people can email and get a response within 48 hours. In case they want to have a written record of their interaction with the company
When anyone proposes building a datacentre in Aotearoa - or any other facility that requires a lot of electricity to run - they should be obliged to include renewable generation in their build plan. Enough to meet their needs for at least 10 years.
Coda: I still think election law should make it illegal to publish poll results in the 3 months before an election. For the same reason we ban campaigning on election day; it distorts the outcome.
Without a regular supply of polls to obsess over, political reporters couldn't cover an election like a slow-motion horse race. So they'd be forced to gird their loins, and talk about .... (gulp, deep breath) ... policy differences between the parties (shock! Horror!).
What if we reversed the way taxation works in NZ? So income taxes and all the other taxes that go to central government, go instead to local government. Along with responsibility for running public services. While central government has to make do with what it can collect in rates on the capital value of land, and keep them high enough to cover everything it wants to fund.
Obviously this would mean and end to property owners' having multiple votes in local elections.
When organisations provide services to the public - whether businesses, state agencies, or NGOs - people often need to be able to talk to a human there to get ... well ... service. At a time when it's increasingly difficult to go to a building with a reception area staffed by a human, it's unacceptable to make people wait on hold when they call.
When a callcentre can't answer immediately, they should be legally obliged to tell us so when we call, record our number, and call us back.
@norightturnnz
Another option is to do what we did with the TV license fee, give up on the "user pays" austerity bullshit, and just pay all #roading costs out of an integrated transport infrastructure budget (that also pays local bodies to maintain local roads).
We could also apply the principle David Parker laid out for water; citizens get free private usage, commercial users pay as a cost of doing business. So only businesses pay RUCs, collectively paying for the infrastructure.
Another thing I'd like to see is a legal protection for Exit to Community. The workers of a supermarket ought to have the legal right to form a co-op and purchase their workplace from its owner. Ideally, customers would get the second option on doing this, although it would be more difficult for them to identify and organise with each other.
(9/?)
I think it's time to reverse those mergers. To break up Foodstuffs and Woolworths like we broke up Telecom, with the brands returning to being independent chains, and the wholesalers owned by none of them. There may be a way to break those up too, so we don't replace duopoly with duopsony.
(2/?)
If you want to understand what threatens power - and particularly the power of capital - look at everything that NatACT First are repealing in their first term. Particularly things like the wellbeing reporting requirements in the Public Finance Act. These are the things we need to demand the next government go much further on, in ways that are much harder to reverse.
