Free Wellington wi-fi officially launched

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Launch comes on same day "three strikes" law comes into force

By Computerworld Staff | Auckland | Thursday, 1 September, 2011 | 4 Comments

Somewhat ironically, Wellington City Council's free wi-fi service for the capital's CBD is to be officially launched today, the same day as the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act comes into force.

Much has been made of whether internet providers, rather than individuals that use internet facilities provided by providers, are liable under the new Act, commonly known as the "three strikes" law.

Wellington City Council senior strategy adviser Philippa Bowron told www.stuff.co.nz that legal advice had been taken surrounding the new law against downloading copyrighted material and the council was happy the new service would comply.

A media release from the Council announcing the launch reads: "Free wifi is now available in outdoor areas from the Stadium to the Embassy Cinema, encompassing the waterfront, the Golden Mile and Cuba Street.

"Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown, along with representatives from Kiwibank and CityLink, will be in Midland Park at 12.30pm today, armed with laptops, iPhones and other portable digital devices and will log on to help launch and publicise the new wifi network.

"Mayor Wade-Brown invites digitally-savvy Wellingtonians to come down to the park and join in."

The free wi-fi initiative is supported by KiwiBank and CityLink.

MAP: Free wifi areas in Wellington CBD

Comments

Effect on business I hope Wellington's free wireless initiative survives but it is almost a sideshow.

'Free' guest internet access is also provided by NZ businesses to visiting consultants and outside collaborators for work purposes.

This Act complicates that and pours sand in the gearbox of the economy just when we need it to be pulling at full strength.

Of course, if public free wireless coverage was available nationwide, businesses would hardly need to provide guest access via their connections at all!

Posted by OwnGoal at 11:37:11 on September 2, 2011

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Liability for use of free wifi Paul Brislen and WCC are wrong if they are saying that the accountholder cannot be liable for infringement by users of the accountholder's freely provided wifi network.
Posted by Rick Shera at 12:07:52 on September 1, 2011

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Liability for use of free wifi It depends on if the supplier is an IPAP by my reading as then the users would be transient uers. The account holder would only be liable if the user was downstream of the account holders internet connection, rather than directly from an IPAP.

I would assume the service is provided by Citylink who an IPAP, rather than the WCC who are probably not an IPAP
Posted by Anonymous at 12:17:30 on September 1, 2011

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Liability for use of free wifi But to be defined as an IPAP, you need to be billing the end user for the internet access.
Posted by Anonymous at 10:59:37 on September 2, 2011

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