New Zealand and Internet Issues That Concern You

Have questions about New Zealand and VPN services? In New Zealand, the issue of Internet censorship rarely comes up. The only precedents in the late 1990s were against child pornography, and a few other issues concerning the transmission of objectionable material to adults. In addition to controlling the creation of these sites, IRC chat was also investigated, as it is a common means to transfer such illegal images.

Besides this, we learn that much of New Zealand’s censorship policies are taken from Australian precedents. In the past, New Zealand government officials stated that no filtering plans were in the works, since they could in theory cause delays for all Internet users. However, the latest reports as of 2010, suggest that the government is already using some type of Internet filtering process. As to which ISPs are supporting the government initiative, this information is not publicly known. New Zealand VPN services actually hide and anonymize the IP address in question, which would guarantee a measure of web surfing freedom.

Nevertheless, the government claims that only illegal forms of adult material are filtered, and that a number of people have been convicted for possessing this material. The Department of Internal Affairs has been busy and has budgeted $617,000 for “Censorship Enforcement Activities.”

Though finding ways to ban illegal sexual content is admirable, groups such as Tech Liberty are afraid that such censorship precedents could be used to block other forms of content related to freedom of speech. In fact, the filtering software used could easily be used to block any website with any form of questionable content.

Some of the “proposed laws” of further censorship stemming from Australia have citizens of New Zealand panicking (since New Zealand often follows precedents). There is talk of censoring more types of pornography, as well as descriptions of illegal activity and any material that deals with terrorist subject matter. There have even been rumors that political sites speaking against the censorship bill have already been blocked.

It’s hard to say what will happen in the future as regards freedom of speech. Nevertheless, many users are already investing in New Zealand VPN services, not only because of the threat of censorship, but also because having a VPN server in New Zealand would make secure and anonymous web surfing much faster than average. For more on the advantages of VPN technology, talk to a VPN host right away!