Tēnā koe Roger

I acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act (OIA) request below, received by New Zealand Police on 10 September 2022.

Your request is being actioned pursuant to the OIA. You can expect a response to your request on or before 7 October 2022.

Kind regards, Dylan
Ministerial Services PNHQ
________________________________________
From: Roger Brown <[FOI #20508 email]>
Sent: 10 September 2022 12:52
To: Ministerial Services
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Official Information request - Do police consider it illegal to link to material later classified as objectionable?

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear New Zealand Police,

1a) Who recommended to Police that charges be laid against the 'Counterspin Media' cranks for posting a link to a website that allowed users who made the choice to access that website to play a video that was- days after the original post was made- classified as objectionable by the Office of Film and Literature Classification?
1b) Who recommended to Police that charges be laid against the 'Counterspin Media' cranks for posting a document that makes broadly similar claims to said video, which OFLC has confirmed is not, itself, classified as objectionable?
1c) Please provide all communications made within Police and with Crown Solicitors and other agencies, prior to laying these charges.

2a) The Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 provides a very clear definition of the meaning of 'distribute' in the context of the offenses with which the cranks have been charged. It is very obvious that the act only covers the actual electronic transmission of objectionable publications, whether on its own (publishing/hosting objectionable publications yourself on your own website) or as part of a wider set of material (publishing/hosting a website which includes offensive material as a subset of the content of a web page, or embedded on such). Please provide any documents, inclusive but not limited to the 'Objectionable publications' part of the Police Manual, relevant to how Police reinterpret the Act in the context of publications on the World Wide Web.
2b) Do Police consider linking (providing an internet location that a user might choose to visit) to content that has been classified as objectionable to constitute 'distributing' objectionable publications?
2c) Do Police consider linking to web pages that include embedded links to content that has been classified as objectionable to constitute 'distributing' objectionable publications?
2d) Do Police consider linking to web pages that link to content that has been classified as objectionable to constitute 'distributing' objectionable publications?
2e) Do Police consider linking to web pages that include embedded links to content that is classified as objectionable after the links are originally posted to constitute 'distributing' objectionable publications?

Kind regards,
Roger Brown

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WARNING
The information contained in this email message is intended for the addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this message or any of its contents.
Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect those of the New Zealand Police. If you have received this message in error, please email or telephone the sender immediately

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Tēnā koe Roger,

 

I acknowledge receipt of your request below, received by Police on
10/09/2022.

 

Your reference number is IR-01-22-27618.

 

You will receive a response to your request on or before 07/10/2022 unless
an extension is needed.

 

If you have any queries, please feel free to contact the IR team on
[1][email address]

 

Ngā mihi,

Initial Assessor

Central Region Information Request Team

Service Delivery

[2][email address]

 

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===============================================================

WARNING

The information contained in this email message is intended for the
addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be
subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which
creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you
are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this
message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this
message or any of its contents.

Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect
those of the New Zealand Police. If you have received this message in
error, please email or telephone the sender immediately

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Tçnâ koe Roger,

 

I acknowledge receipt of your request received by Police on 10/09/2022.

 

Your reference number is IR-01-22-27618.

 

You will receive a response to your request on or before 07/10/2022 unless
an extension is needed.

 

If you have any queries, please feel free to contact the IR team on
[1][email address]

 

Ngâ mihi,

T Keene

Information Request Team – Central Region
E  [2][email address]

 

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===============================================================

WARNING

The information contained in this email message is intended for the
addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be
subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which
creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you
are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this
message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this
message or any of its contents.

Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect
those of the New Zealand Police. If you have received this message in
error, please email or telephone the sender immediately

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
4. https://www.police.govt.nz/contact-us/lo...
5. http://www.police.govt.nz/facebook
6. http://www.police.govt.nz/twitter
7. http://www.police.govt.nz/instagram
8. https://www.youtube.com/user/policenz

Tēnā koe Roger

 

I refer to your request of 10 September 2022 for the following
information:

 

1a) Who recommended to Police that charges be laid against the 'Counter
spin Media' cranks for posting a link to a website that allowed users who
made the choice to access that website to play a video that was- days
after the original post was made- classified as objectionable by the
Office of Film and Literature Classification?

1b) Who recommended to Police that charges be laid against the 'Counter
spin Media' cranks for posting a document that makes broadly similar
claims to said video, which OFLC has confirmed is not, itself, classified
as objectionable?

1c) Please provide all communications made within Police and with Crown
Solicitors and other agencies, priorto laying these charges.

2a) The Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 provides a
very clear definition of the meaning of 'distribute' in the context of the
offenses with which the cranks have been charged. It is very obvious that
the act only covers the actual electronic transmission of objectionable
publications, whether on its own(publishing/hosting objectionable
publications yourself on your own website) or as part of a wider set of
material (publishing/hosting a website which includes offensive material
as a subset of the content of a webpage, or embedded on such). Please
provide any documents, inclusive but not limited to the 'Objectionable
publications' part of the Police Manual, relevant to how Police
reinterpret the Act in the context of publications on the World Wide Web.

2b) Do Police consider linking (providing an internet location that a user
might choose to visit) to content that has been classified as
objectionable to constitute 'distributing' objectionable publications?

2c) Do Police consider linking to web pages that include embedded links to
content that has been classified as objectionable to constitute
'distributing' objectionable publications?

2d) Do Police consider linking to web pages that link to content that has
been classified as objectionable to constitute 'distributing'
objectionable publications?

2e) Do Police consider linking to web pages that include embedded links to
content that is classified as objectionable after

 

Unfortunately we were not be able to meet the due date of 7 October 2022.

 

I can confirm that your request has been compiled and is currently
progressing through the end portion of our internal consultation process.
Although I am unable to confirm a release date at this stage, I expect you
will receive a response within three working days.

Please accept our apologies for the delay in providing you with a response
to your query. We are endeavouring to provide this to you as soon as
possible.

 

 

Ngā mihi

 

Julián (he/him)

Ministerial Services Advisor
NZ Police National Headquarters Wellington
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find [1]more information [2]here about how sharing pronouns can help
create a sense of belonging and respect.

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===============================================================

WARNING

The information contained in this email message is intended for the
addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be
subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which
creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you
are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this
message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this
message or any of its contents.

Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect
those of the New Zealand Police. If you have received this message in
error, please email or telephone the sender immediately

References

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Good Afternoon Roger,

 

Please find attached our response to your request.

 

Your request is now closed.

 

Kind Regards

 

 

T Keene

Information Request Team – Central Region
E  [1][email address]

 

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===============================================================

WARNING

The information contained in this email message is intended for the
addressee only and may contain privileged information. It may also be
subject to the provisions of section 50 of the Policing Act 2008, which
creates an offence to have unlawful possession of Police property. If you
are not the intended recipient of this message or have received this
message in error, you must not peruse, use, distribute or copy this
message or any of its contents.

Also note, the views expressed in this message may not necessarily reflect
those of the New Zealand Police. If you have received this message in
error, please email or telephone the sender immediately

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.police.govt.nz/contact-us/lo...
4. http://www.police.govt.nz/facebook
5. http://www.police.govt.nz/twitter
6. http://www.police.govt.nz/instagram
7. https://www.youtube.com/user/policenz