Websites will benefit from a safe-harbor provision

Jul 6, 2015 06:37 GMT  ·  By

New Zealand has approved the Harmful Digital Communications Bill, which would make it a crime to send electronic messages to other persons for the purpose of attacking them based on race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or religion.

According to the new law, senders of these messages could face up to a maximum of two years in prison if caught, and if the message urges or hints that the victim should commit suicide, the maximum punishment could go up to three years.

Websites will benefit from a safe-harbor provision

For first offenders, the bill would not have them immediately go to jail, but at first face a fine up to NZ$50,000 (€30,200 / $33,500), and NZ$200,000 (€121,000 / $134,000) if they are a corporation that failed to prevent the spreading of such messages.

By corporation, the bill refers to the company that runs the website, which, in this case, fails to cooperate with authorities, either by taking the comment down on demand or within a 2-day grace period.

If this happens, the new bill will grant them a safe-harbor provision, absolving them of any legal liability.

A new agency will be formed, which will be in charge of reviewing user complaints and enforcing financial punishments, and if the agency can't make any progress, the complaints will be forwarded to a New Zealand District Court.

Fears exist about the new law affecting online free speech

The Harmful Digital Communications Bill passed with an impressive 116 to 5 vote, even if it faced criticism of possibly affecting online free speech.

New Zealand publication NBR ran a poll on the subject of the new bill, asking readers to vote if the new law is righteous in its scope and will help curb cyberbullying attacks, or is a more dangerous threat to free speech online.

The results pointed to the latter option, with 61% of all respondents fearing the new bill will affect online expression.