| | | Helping the Kiwi Police With Their Enquiries
Posted on June 19, 2023 by Baron Bodissey
One of the emails waiting for me when the Internet came back on today was from the government of New Zealand:
Dear Gates of Vienna
Re: Notice 2022/10 Gates of Vienna — The Great Replacement Manifesto
Te Tari Taiwhenua (The Department of Internal Affairs New Zealand) is responsible for online content regulation under the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act (1993). We have identified content on your platform that is classified as objectionable under this Act.
Attached is a formal take-down notice outlining your responsibility as a platform providing content to New Zealanders. Non-compliance may result in enforcement proceedings, outlined under Section 119H of the Act.
To provide you with clarification of your legal duties and further understanding, please find a link to the Department’s Take-Down Notice guidance.
This publication has previously been classified as objectionable by the Classification Office. A copy of this email has been sent to the Chief Censor at the Classification Office.
Please contact us if you:
Require any additional information or if you reasonably believe you will not be able to comply within the required period;Have removed or prevented New Zealand public access to the objectionable online publication from your platform;Would like to provide us with additional or updated contact information, such as group emails, for your company.Regards.
Inspector of Publications
Warrant Card [redacted]
Digital Violent Extremism, Digital Safety
Toi Hiranga | Regulation & Policy
Te Tari Taiwhenua | The Department of Internal Affairs
They also attached a PDF document, which is essentially the same as their email message from the summer of 2021.
Today’s email is a resumption of the demands they made in August of 2021. In case you’ve forgotten, the Kiwi apparatchik is talking about Brenton Tarrant’s manifesto.
My post about the earlier demand is here.
When a government is that intent on forbidding people from seeing a document, it brings out the Scot in me, and makes me really, really want to make sure people can see it. However, New Zealand residents are advised not to click that link, because you may be arrested and imprisoned if you do.
I began my reply to Te Tari Taiwhenua with this:
To whom it may concern,
Your office contacted me about this issue almost two years ago. I am not sure whether it was you who wrote me back then, since you have neglected to include your name this time.
In any case, I will repeat what I said back in August of 2021:…
I then appended the full text from my August 2021 email; it’s reprised in the post below.
I’ll repeat what I said in my 2021 post: “I must respectfully request that you refrain from contacting the department [Te Tari Taiwhenua] to complain. There’s no need to intervene on my behalf. I have nothing to fear from the New Zealand government, but there’s no sense in poking the beast excessively in his lair.”
And also this note to commenters: “I will treat remarks about Brenton Tarrant the same way I have treated those about Anders Behring Breivik, and summarily delete any expressions of support or approval for his vile actions. I don’t care how you justify it; you might as well save yourself the trouble if your sentiments happen to run in that direction.”
Below the jump is my complete post from August of 2021. The only real difference is that Tarrant’s massacre is now four and a half years ago rather than two and a half years ago.
Well, there goes my planned vacation in New Zealand!
A lot has happened in the nearly two and half years since the Christchurch massacre. Cast your mind back through the Corona fog, if you will, to March 15, 2019, when a young man named Brenton Tarrant massacred fifty-one people in two different mosques in Christchurch, the largest city on South Island in New Zealand.
Mr. Tarrant’s evil actions prompted a renewed push against “Islamophobia” all over the world, but especially in New Zealand.
The killer left behind a manifesto, copies of which immediately began disappearing from the Internet. As is my usual practice, I made it available [pdf] to those who wished to download it and read it.
When New Zealand cracked down on anyone who possessed a copy of the manifesto, making it a jailable offense, I warned our Kiwi readers that they should not avail themselves of that link if they wanted to stay out of prison.
Dymphna posted her own inimitable take on what happened in “ Pigs and Monkeys and Mossad, Oh My!” (It was one of the last major posts she wrote before her death).
A couple of days ago, just before my phone and Internet went out, I received an email from a fellow in the Department of Internal Affairs in New Zealand. Before you read the text, I must respectfully request that you refrain from contacting the department to complain. There’s no need to intervene on my behalf. I have nothing to fear from the New Zealand government, but there’s no sense in poking the beast excessively in his lair.
Here’s what the email said:
Dear Gates of Vienna
Good afternoon,
I am an investigator within the Digital Safety, Digital Violent Extremism Team at the Department of Internal Affairs in New Zealand. The Digital Violent Extremism Team is dedicated to preventing the spread of unlawful online content that promotes, supports or encourages violent extremism. We strive to keep New Zealanders safe from online harm, such as content relating to the Christchurch attacks which deeply affected NZ communities.
Recently, we received information regarding a PDF document hosted by your website: gatesofvienna.net The PDF is the Christchurch terrorist’s manifesto.
The Christchurch terrorist published a manifesto containing his beliefs and plans online, the same day he livestreamed the Christchurch mass shooting attacks that took place on March 15th 2019. Tragically 51 people were killed and 50 were injured that day.
Following the tragic events, various Heads of State, Government and Leaders from the tech sector around the world have committed to what is known as ‘The Christchurch Call’.(1) The ‘call’ rests on the conviction that a free, open and secure internet offers extraordinary benefits to society and that respect for freedom of expression is fundamental, however no one has the right to create and share terrorist and violent extremism content online.
The Christchurch terrorist’s manifesto has been classified as ‘objectionable’ (banned) under New Zealand legislation.(2)
We have confirmed that the PDF document hosted at the aforementioned link is the manifesto, which is objectionable in New Zealand.
Could you please advise me of whether you can assist with having this file taken down from your site or alternatively blocking visibility of the PDF from New Zealand in order to comply with our law?
We would greatly appreciate the assistance you can provide in reducing the harm to the New Zealand public, the victims and their families.
I hope you are willing to assist us and look forward to hearing from you in due course.
With best regards,
(1) — christchurchcall.com
(2) — NZ Films, Videos and Classifications Act 1993
Nga mihi nui
[Name redacted]
Inspector of Publications
Warrant Card [redacted]
Manager: Digital Violent Extremism, Digital Safety
Toi Hiranga | Policy, Regulation and Communities
Phone Work [redacted]
Te Tari Taiwhenua | The Department of Internal Affairs
This was the text of my reply:
Thank you for getting in touch with Gates of Vienna.
I am an American citizen who resides in the United States, and, as such, am not under the jurisdiction of New Zealand Law. The company that provides web hosting for my site is located in the United States, and therefore lies outside the jurisdiction of New Zealand Law.
I believe strongly in the free flow of information, whether good or bad. Mr. Tarrant is an abhorrent person who committed an atrocity; nevertheless, it is useful for all interested citizens to understand the way the mind of a homicidal psychopath works. In addition, with the passage of time, his manifesto will gain historical relevance, just as Mein Kampf and the Koran have historical relevance today. Despite their violent, psychopathic content, the last two works may still be legally published in New Zealand, if I am not mistaken. In any case, the publication of all three is legal in the United States.
I intend to continue to make Mr. Tarrant’s manifesto available to anyone who wishes to download it. My doing so does not mean I support or agree with its sentiments; quite the opposite, in fact.
You say you work for the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs. The key word there is “Internal”: I am external to New Zealand; therefore my actions and activity are of no concern to you.
Cordially,
Ned May
a.k.a. “Baron Bodissey”
gatesofvienna.net
Once again, if you want to read the killer’s manifesto, it’s available here.
The extreme totalitarian actions of the New Zealand government are bizarre. Does Te Tari Taiwhenua really think that their citizens are unable to tell right from wrong? Or do they assume that Mr. Tarrant’s sentiments would have such broad appeal that those who read them might be inspired to cast aside their moral upbringing and imitate the murderer’s example?
In either case, they must have a low opinion of their own citizenry.
Note to commenters: I will treat remarks about Brenton Tarrant the same way I have treated those about Anders Behring Breivik, and summarily delete any expressions of support or approval for his vile actions. I don’t care how you justify it; you might as well save yourself the trouble if your sentiments happen to run in that direction. |
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