And talking of the three-strike system, which we weren't explicitly, but we were pretty close to mentioning it at one point, those slightly controversial plans to introduce the anti-piracy rule in New Zealand have stumbled slightly because the country's second biggest telecommunications company have refused to introduce a disconnection policy.
As previously reported, the three-strike system would mean that illegal file-sharers who ignore two or maybe three warnings from their ISP that their file-sharing amounts to copyright infringement would be cut off from the internet completely, and banned from switching to another net provider. The system, which is being introduced in France and New Zealand, and has been touted elsewhere, including in the UK, is not popular among the ISPs, and has been much criticised by consumer rights groups and web users, especially in the two countries where the system is likely to become a reality.
In theory the system is already a reality in New Zealand where the country's government successfully got its three-strike proposals through its parliament. However, a globally supported internet campaign against the new laws, coupled with genuine concerns about who exactly will police them - unlike in France, there is no new government backed agency to oversee the disconnections - have led to the new measures being delayed. The content owners who lobbied for the three-strike laws are busy talking to tel cos about how the system could work, but comments last week by one of those tel cos - TelstraClear - suggest that the net providers aren't in a hurry to comply with the new rules.
A spokesman for the phone company told reporters: "We have had an unprecedented large reaction from customers who knew it could force them to disconnect the internet with no proof they did anything wrong. We cannot do this to our customers".
As in the UK it remains to be seen if a voluntary code can be agreed upon by the content and net companies, even though there the threat of new laws has already been fulfilled.