Lee Melissa: Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Lee Melissa: Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill — Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
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MELISSA LEE (National) 
: 
 I will not go there in terms of responding to what Mr Parker was talking about because I think he is simply anti-American. 
Before I get on with my speech I thank the officials who are here in the Chamber. As previous speakers have mentioned the officials have put up with a lot of our ignorance about what is happening out there. Some of us have talked about the generational differences and the fact that we were not getting to grips with how file sharing was happening. The problem is not about just file sharing—it is not like sharing a copy of a DVD. It is actually the unauthorised sharing of copyright material via the Internet. 
Clare Curran said unauthorised file-sharing was happening on the Internet because some material was not available on the Internet or anywhere. She gave an example of a colleague who wanted to get a copy of a piece of music that was not available anywhere and she suggested that the only place her colleague could possibly go was to one of the Torrent websites. She qualified that statement by saying that her colleague did not go there. I hope she did not mean to say what she insinuated. To say that just because something is unavailable and someone does not have it that person could do an unauthorised activity and ignore the right of the copyright-holder is totally like saying that if someone does not have the money and has no ability to earn it they have the right to go and steal it off somebody else. That is pretty much a similar thing. Breaking a law whether it is an assault on a person or an assault on copyright should be punished not excused. 
During the Commerce Committee’s consideration we heard many submitters from both sides of the argument. I want share some data that I think came from the Motion Picture Association. When we look at the monthly infringement rates per country in 2009 we see that we did pretty well. We are down here on the graph I am holding at third to last. When we look at the breakdown of the monthly infringement rates per capita we see that we are way up there behind only Australia. 
What is really interesting about the data is that on both of the graphs Korea is last. I am not just trying to plug Korea because I was born there. It is really interesting that Korea has the most Draconian law when it comes to Internet and online infringement. It was the first country that— 
Simon Bridges 
: What about Uzbekistan? 
MELISSA LEE 
: No; Korea. It was the first country to suspend online accounts because people infringed copyright law. It was the first country in the world to do so. 
Two in five in New Zealand youth download movies for free. The majority of those infringers do not feel guilty that they are taking income from creators such as New Zealand bands and movie-makers. Perhaps Clare Curran is right in that if more of this music and movie material was readily available people would not download illegally. But unless the industry can be protected there will not be incentives for businesses to develop business models and innovative tools so that users can legitimately access the range of content while protecting the rights of the copyright holders. 
It is similar to when we are growing vegetables. If we are not very successful we get help from somebody else. Internet communities are the same. If we want something we share files with our friends our peers but at the moment the way people are going about that is to do it illegally. They are file sharing copyright material and that should not happen. In order for creators to flourish we need to protect their rights and I think this is a fantastic thing we are doing. I commend the bill to the Committee.