FAIR USE? Labour is suggesting the Government take a look at a levy on internet accounts to compensate copyright holders.

Labour communications spokeswoman Clare Curran says a charge on internet accounts should be considered to recompense copyright holders for downloaded material.

Ms Curran says the idea received support at workshops she has been holding to formulate Labour policy.

But the Federation Against Copyright Theft (NZFact) says it is not a solution its movie studio members are looking at. The Recording Industry Association (Rianz), which represents the music industry, is also lukewarm.

Rianz director Campbell Smith says "all things are worth considering", but such a licensing regime would remove the ability of rights-holders to deal with their works as they saw fit.

InternetNZ executive director Keith Davidson says the idea is not without merit. Internet providers and rights holders recognised they would have to work together in future, "but maybe the time is not quite right".

The charge, which Ms Curran prefers described as a licensing agreement, rather than a levy, would need to be "economically viable" for consumers. She would not speculate on what it should be.

The Government last week unveiled proposals for a revamped section 92a of the Copyright Act to tackle piracy.

Consumers who ignored warnings not to breach copyright for example by downloading pirated music and movies through peer-to-peer file-sharing services could elect to go to mediation with rights-holders or be hauled in front of the Copyright Tribunal, which could fine them or temporarily cut them off from the internet.

The clause would replace an earlier version, which would have obliged internet service providers to cut off infringers on terms that were to be hammered out with rights-holders.

Mr Smith says it is not obvious why Rianz' members would not be better off suing internet users, which they could do without warning, rather than going through the "complicated process" set out in the new proposed section 92a.

Commerce Minister Simon Power says he is pleased with the initial response to the proposal, taking heart from the fact it was described as "less worse" than the original section 92a by InternetNZ's Mr Davidson.

But Ms Curran says it approaches the problem of copyright infringement from the perspective of trying to contain the problem through penalties and it is time for "some new thinking".

"The genie is out of the bottle. I believe we need to be thinking seriously and doing some number-crunching on licensing agreements that involve all the ISPs and rights-holders in this country and it is my impression there is beginning to be general consensus that is the way forward.

"It could be there was a licence fee attached to people's internet service that was collected and managed by an external agency."

Mr Power says he is sure the Economic Development Ministry will "welcome all submissions on the issue".

Ms Curran was not sure whether a levy should be used to compensate overseas as well as New Zealand rights-holders for material downloaded by New Zealanders, but it should "look at our own creative content first".