Borrows Chester: Harmful Digital Communications Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBorrows Chester: Harmful Digital Communications Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 14 November 2013. Volume:694;Page:14747. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon CHESTER BORROWS (Acting Minister of Justice): I moveThat the Harmful Digital Communications Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Justice and Electoral Committee to consider the bill. Rapid advances in technology over the last few decades have changed the way that people communicate with each other. We now communicate with form relationships with and do business with people on the other side of the world. Our lives are increasingly entwined in the digital world. Smartphones tablets laptops and desktop computers are everywhere. Smartwatches are also on the horizon. Modern technology has opened up a whole new world of opportunities.However new technologies also present new challenges. It is now easier than ever to threaten others spread destructive rumours publish invasive and distressing photographs and harass people. People are bullied more easily instantly and anonymously. Bullying is no longer confined to the classroom or the playground in the lives of young people. A digital age has meant that tormentors can harass their target anywhere at any time and the trails of abuse remain in cyberspace for ever. Research suggests that as many as one in 10 New Zealanders has personal experience of harmful communications on the internet. In 2007 it was estimated that one in five adolescents experienced some form of cyber-bullying or harassment that year.The Law Commission was asked in May 2012 to fast track its consideration of harm from digital communications. In August 2012 it made its recommendations on how to tackle the problem. I want to thank the Law Commission for its thorough work. The bill will give effect to the commission’s legislative recommendations. I say “legislative” because there is already a lot of good work going on to help combat the problems presented by harmful digital communications. For example NetSafe is helping people to deal with these issues by providing users with the tools to protect themselves online. Schools are also moving to implement policies to deal with cyber-bullying. As the Law Commission notes all of these are good measures but are simply not enough by themselves to tackle the problem.The Harmful Digital Communications Bill provides for quick effective and proportionate responses to the harm caused by digital communications. The bill sets out 10 communication principles to guide the work of the approved agency for the courts. For example “a digital communication should not be threatening intimidating or menacing.” Let me be clear that this bill is not aimed at censoring debates and robust exchanges of ideas or suppressing speech online. Freedom of speech is something this Government and all New Zealanders value. However free speech is not an absolute right. It must be balanced with other rights and freedoms. The bill strikes the appropriate balance between freedom of speech and protecting people from being bullied or victimised. It also requires the agency and the courts to act consistently with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act to avoid any doubt about the importance of our fundamental rights.The first port of call for complaints about harmful digital communications will be the approved agency which will help other people to resolve disputes through negotiation through mediation and by providing advice. The majority of complaints should be resolved by the approved agency without any further need for action. This Government does not want people unnecessarily involved in the court system especially our young people who may be the victims or the perpetrators of harmful digital communications.However for instances where the approved agency cannot resolve the complaint a person can apply to the court for a number of civil orders. For example the court could order a person to remove harmful content issue cease and desist orders or reveal theidentity of an anonymous bully. The court will provide speedy informal and fair remedies but will not be able to order fines or imprisonment. The most serious cases can be dealt with through the new criminal offences of posting a digital communication with intent to cause harm punishable by 3 months’ imprisonment; or inciting a person to commit suicide punishable by 3 years’ imprisonment. To complement this new regime there are also amendments to existing law to ensure that they are fit for purpose and applicable online. For example the Harassment Act is amended so that making contact online is explicitly included as an action that may constitute harassment.The final part of the bill that I would like to discuss is the safe harbour provision. This provision clarifies the law relating to websites and other content hosts and provides people with an easy accessible and direct way to remove harmful content. A content host could be any number of people—blog sites or organisations including the likes of Facebook Twitter Vodafone and TradeMe. Most of our legislation was written before the advent of the internet and is not always clear about when a content host is liable for the contents posted by its users. Some recent court decisions suggested that the content host could be liable for unlawful content that they do not even know about. Given the ease and speed of posting content online and the volumes of information involved the majority of content hosts cannot actually read and vet all content before it is published.The safe harbour operates via a notice and take-down regime. Broadly speaking an online content host will not be liable for unlawful content that another person has posted on the website unless they are notified that the content is unlawful and fail to take reasonable steps to remove the content. The basic principles behind this safe harbour are as with the rest of the bill personal responsibility and fairness. The author of a harmful or illegal communication should be responsible for it. Content hosts should not be liable for things they have no knowledge of.This bill is not a silver bullet. It will not stop overnight people bullying and posting harmful content online. It will however create a First World regime to complement other efforts already taking place to effectively tackle harmful digital communications. I commend this bill to the House.