Black Out Your Twitter Photo: NZ Copyright Law Protest Goes Viral - ReadWriteWeb

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Black Out Your Twitter Photo: NZ Copyright Law Protest Goes Viral

Social networks are making it increasingly easy to organize and propagate protests. One that caught our eye today is the New Zealand Internet Blackout , which is using a variety of Internet services to protest against a new law in New Zealand - the Guilt Upon Accusation law 'Section 92A'. This law may have major implications for Internet users in NZ, because it calls for internet disconnection "based on accusations of copyright infringement without a trial and without any evidence held up to court scrutiny." This law is due to come into effect in New Zealand on February 28th. The Blackout is in force on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and various websites/blogs.

Many New Zealanders have joined the protest against this law by blacking out their Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or Bebo photos - and even their own websites and blogs. The ReadWriteWeb Ed (a kiwi) has blacked out his Twitter photo, but this viral campaign has spread far beyond New Zealand. The world's third most popular Twitter user , British TV star Stephen Fry , has also blacked out his Twitter photo. Only CNN and Barack Obama have more Twitter followers than Fry, so his support gives the campaign a decent bump.

The blackout is part of a week of action against S92, declares a press release by the Creative Freedom Foundation, a non-profit group in NZ that has similar copyright concerns to those made famous internationally by Lawrence Lessig . The Creative Freedom Foundation will also announce a S92 song remix challenge this week, and "various other initiatives including video commercials and radio broadcasts will follow."

Creative Freedom Foundation Director Bronwyn Holloway-Smith said in the press release that "if the [New Zealand] government choses to keep this law, they ...

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