NetHui 2012 (New Zealand’s Internet Governance Forum) — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

The second NetHui drew more than 600 delegates to Auckland's SkyCity on 11–13 July 2012, with former US FTC Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour delivering the international keynote.
The Law Commission's review of remedies for online harm was debated head-on — and during the event Judge David Harvey quipped that under the TPP 'we have met the enemy and he is [the] US', a remark that led him to step down from the Kim Dotcom extradition case.
A single line at a national IGF changed the judge in a globally watched case — a reminder of how much weight these forums can carry, and how heated copyright and trade politics had become.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on NetHui 2012 (New Zealand's Internet Governance Forum) draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

Item	Detail
Official name	NetHui 2012 (New Zealand's Internet Governance Forum)
Dates	11–13 July 2012
Venue	SkyCity Convention Centre, Auckland, New Zealand
Theme	Regional governance themes
Participants	More than 600 delegates
Host	InternetNZ

(See the source list at the end of this article.)

Discussion Digest — from the Session Records

Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.

1. 'The Enemy Is the US' — Judge Harvey's TPP Remark and the Dotcom Case

Sessions: Copyright discussions during the event, at the launch of the Fair Deal campaign

"We have met the enemy and he is [the] US."
— Judge David Harvey (District Court Judge) [3]

The remark came at the launch of Fair Deal, a campaign against TPP-driven copyright expansion, criticising proposed restrictions on circumventing DVD region codes [3]
Judge Harvey was then presiding over the US extradition proceedings against Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom; within about a week he withdrew, accepting the comments 'could reflect on his impartiality' [3]
Judge Nevin Dawson took over the case, then scheduled for 2013 — a rare instance of a national-IGF remark reshaping a globally watched legal battle [3]

2. Regulating Bad Behaviour Online — The Law Commission Review

Sessions: Session 'Regulating Bad Behaviour Online' (11 July, moderated by Judge David Harvey)

"If I hold the opinion that Jamie is a scumbag and say that on my blog… I have hesitation about a body being able to say 'you must take that from the Internet.'"
— David Farrar (blogger, Kiwiblog) [2]

"A takedown isn't a remedy in the slightest for this scenario."
— Brenda Wallace (technologist) [2]

The Law Commission had recommended new offences for malicious impersonation, amended harassment law, and a tribunal-and-commissioner body for swift remedies against online harm [2]
Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff backed an appealable takedown power to protect vulnerable people from persistent abuse [2]
Free expression versus harm prevention, jurisdiction over offshore content and education against cyberbullying recurred throughout — debates that fed into the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 [2]

3. Growing Past 600 Delegates — A Ministerial Address and Economic-Impact Reports

Sessions: Ministerial address by Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce (morning of 12 July) and related sessions

Attendance topped 600 in year two while the NZ$40 (GST-inclusive) ticket held, and outreach extended to new communities such as the health sector [1][4]
Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce gave a ministerial address, and InternetNZ launched two reports on the Internet's economic impact during the event [1][4]
Pre-event forum threads covered innovation and open government, and building te reo Māori and other multilingual content online was on the agenda [1][4]

4. The Dotcom Zeitgeist — Revisiting 'Governments Have No Sovereignty in Cyberspace'

Sessions: Advisory board commentary and discussions during the event

"Sixteen years ago John Perry Barlow described cyberspace as the new home of the mind, and told Governments they had no sovereignty there. More recently Kim Dotcom proved Barlow wrong. It's timely for local denizens of cyberspace to meet and discuss how best to harness the opportunities the internet delivers."
— Mike O'Donnell (Head of Operations, TradeMe; advisory board member) [1][3]

The January 2012 Megaupload takedown and raid on Dotcom's mansion had shaken New Zealand, making the reach of state power over the Internet the national question of the year [1][3]
Government figures such as GCIO Colin MacDonald publicly endorsed NetHui as an open forum for complex issues, cementing its role as a government–community bridge [1][3]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What made this NetHui special?

A. A sitting judge lost a world-famous case over one line here. Judge David Harvey's TPP quip — 'we have met the enemy and he is [the] US' — led him to step down from the Kim Dotcom extradition hearing to protect the court's impartiality.

Q. What did the forum itself achieve?

A. It doesn't 'decide', but the Law Commission's proposals on online harm — takedown powers, impersonation offences, a fast-remedy tribunal — were stress-tested by bloggers, technologists and the Privacy Commissioner, feeding the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015.

Q. Why should I care?

A. TPP copyright politics and legal remedies for online abuse were live issues across the Pacific — and the Harvey episode remains a case study in how much public forum remarks can matter.

What Is New Zealand IGF? (for first-time readers)

New Zealand IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.

Why It Matters to You

What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2012 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.