I asked Internet NZ whether they have an official position for or against internet censorship by the government.
The response is that they are in discussions with the Department of Internal Affairs. The acting CEO Richard Currey also provided the following:
Governments have the right to determine what is and what is not objectionable, and to take action against that. InternetNZ’s view is that only objectionable material, as defined in the Act, could be a legitimate case for censorship.
I think we have to interpret that as Internet NZ being, if not in favour, at least not being against the net filtering scheme. This is an interesting contrast to the mission statement on their website:
We work to keep the Internet open and uncaptureable, protecting and promoting the Internet for New Zealand.
Our objective is “high performance and unfettered access for all” so the Internet continues to operate in an open environment that cannot be captured by any entity or individual for their own ends.
Government-run internet filtering sounds a bit like “capture” to me, and it definitely doesn’t sound like “unfettered access”.
I want to know what they are talking about in their discussions with the DIA.