#AntiSpyBill

Tonight the Internet Party of New Zealand is hosting a major international event live online, featuring interviews with internet eminents including Internet Party founder Kim Dotcom, alleged hacktivist and Cryptosphere contributor Lauri Love, political refugee and new Internet Party head Suzi Dawson, the irrepressible Lee Camp, and more. The purpose of the event is to brainstorm with the entire world the best possible bill to protect the digital freedoms of the citizens of New Zealand, and to use this bill as a template for other Five Eyes countries.

A group of 100 invitees will be able to contribute questions and interaction live on the Zoom broadcast, and others will be able to watch via Facebook Live and YouTube, or simply follow the hashtag #AntiSpyBill on Twitter.

The press release reads:

In a world-first, activists from all Five Eyes countries will be represented at the #AntiSpyBill event, which will feature speeches by special guests and then a 90-minute collaborative crowd-sourced drafting session to create an anti-spying Bill to counter mass surveillance laws imposed upon citizenries across the Western World…

Once finalized, the draft legislation, dubbed the 2017 #AntiSpyBill, will be submitted to human rights, privacy and political organisations and groups around the world, to lobby for its adoption.

The initiative seeks to counter the damage to democratic and human rights inflicted upon New Zealanders by a string of draconian spying laws passed between 2013 and 2016. These laws have retroactively legalised previously illegal targeting of New Zealanders, including warrantless spying and covertly filming them inside their homes, Orwell-style – a practice referred to in law as “domestic visual surveillance”.

Internet Party Leader Suzie Dawson said “New Zealand spies and their international counterparts have engaged in some of the most egregious conduct imaginable. The laws passed under urgency in recent years have only furthered the sense of invulnerability of these spies. They also violate international law. We must show that where our lawmakers fail to do so, the public are willing to step up and address these issues themselves.

Once it’s live, you’ll be able to watch it here:

Your humble editor is live-tweeting the event, so I’ve laid in a ton of coffee and have two different alarms set, so wish me luck waking up in time.

Categories: Barrett Brown, Breaking, Cyber, Enforced Transparency, Freedom, Hacktivism, Kim Dotcom, Lauri Love, Legislation, New Zealand, News, Politics, Privacy, Rights