New Zealand is one of the most remote lands of our planet. This Commonwealth country experiences fewer disturbances than most, and is one of the most democratic places to live. Still, the conditions for internet and internet freedom are curious. Since 2010, the filtering of the country’s internet is active, primarily with the help of the software Whiteclean Netbox. The legal background for filtering is unclear. But do not be discouraged; in the general sense, availability is still good. Content that violates Kiwi (a more informal word for “New Zealander”) law on the other hand is filtered or censored.
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Though it might not affect you at all, it is important to state that in New Zealand, ISPs often offer internet with data caps. If you are planning to connect to the internet with a New Zealander IP address via a VPN service as an expat for example, inform yourself appropriately. Advertisements might offer unlimited bandwidth and data traffic, but it might not be true in the case of New Zealand. As with the rest of the world, the deployment of IPv6 protocols is active. While the availability of IPv4 remains above 95%, IPv6 is still gaining ground. Speed values have yet to meet the 20+ Mbit/s of IPv4, but anywhere between 10 to 17 Mbit/s is a good number. Considering there is no full support for IPv6, these are pretty good signs. Therefore on this technical note, New Zealand fares relatively well, considering its geographical hardship.
It’s most important to emphasize that internet regulation in New Zealand is executed by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA). While there is no actual legal framework in existence for filtering and censorship, the DIA “claims authority under the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act of 1993”. (Tech Liberty) This governmental body thus has a total oversight over Kiwi internet. As mentioned before, Whiteclean Netbox is the primary software used for this purpose. On the other hand, it is a bit more comforting that New Zealand does not intend to follow Australia‘s footsteps of strict regulations. Overall more lenient, but regulations exist.
These regulations are most commonly applied to child pornography and bestiality content on the internet. Both censorship and filtering is employed in these cases. Since there are not any laws directly influencing filtering and censorship, ISPs are offered to apply these filters on a voluntary basis, or recommended to do so by being invited by the government to participate in filtering. The major providers like Vodafone and Telecom – the two who cover the majority of internet users in New Zealand – definitely employ these restrictions, while minor ones such as Natcom, Iconz or Unleash do not use them. If you connect to the internet in New Zealand using a VPN service, the IP address supplied might not even have restrictions altogether. According to Tech Liberty, the following other ISP do not employ filters today: Xnet, Slingshot, Snap, Orcon. It is also important to note that these restrictions only apply to HTTP protocols; HTTPS is encrypted and thus automatically bypasses filtering. Another easy way to unblock New Zealander net altogether is through VPN services: they automatically encrypt your traffic.
The availability of streaming services In New Zealand is not that bad, actually. In fact, it is similar to its neighbor, Australia. The most important participant to highlight is Pandora, which is only available in these two countries and the United States. Other music streaming services open for business include Spotify, Apple Music and Google Play Music. New Zealand, being a Commonwealth country, does not gain any advantage from it in terms of the availability of other Commonwealth countries’ restricted content. This means that Amazon Prime is not available and you will find BBC iPlayer blocked as well – they are restricted to the United Kingdom’s inhabitants. Services with global availability like Bandcamp or SoundCloud are very present in New Zealand as well. Netflix also thrives in New Zealand, but Hulu is a US only streaming service.
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