Twitter Users Protest Against New Zealand Internet Law

Interesting to see how group behavior on Twitter easily spreads in support of a cause. Recently, many Twitter users are replacing their avatars with black squares to protest the New Zealand government internet proposals. Guardian has more:

It turns out that this isn’t the result of a malicious hacker or even a random technical fault. Nor have these icons and photos been whisked away by aliens in some sort of avatar-snatching heist. Instead the so-called “internet blackout” is part of a political protest against a law that has outraged internet campaigners in New Zealand.

The law in question is Section 92a, an amendment to the country’s copyright law that is due to come into force at the end of February.

It [] tells internet service providers that they “must adopt and reasonably implement a policy that provides for termination” of accounts used by anyone deemed a “repeat infringer” – regardless of whether the person has been convicted of a crime or not.

The internet is a touchy topic for many. It belongs to no country, there are no boundaries. Not surprising to see people like Stephen Fry (a brit) spearheading the movement against laws thousands of miles away.