Free Speech Union renews bid to reshape InternetNZ; says it opposes ‘wokester rule’

The Free Speech Union’s fresh bid to elect supporters to InternetNZ’s board appears to have been prompted by concerns InternetNZ might change its membership rules to reduce the lobby group’s influence.

In a message to supporters, Franks drew attention to minutes of an InternetNZ board meeting that referred to a Government review of cybersecurity.

InternetNZ’s board said the review might “necessitate a future review of membership numbers and types to provide the Government with assurance that the membership has a commitment to the work of InternetNZ, that the organisation is stable and that the board has appropriate skills and diversity”.

Franks appeared sceptical. “Who in government is seeking that assurance? What part of government? Officials, or politicians? For what purpose?”, he said in his message to supporters, questioning whether it was “really the incumbent board that wants to purge the membership”.

Voting on the society’s board vacancies opened on July 24 and closes on Monday.

Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith told The Post he did not have concerns about the stability of InternetNZ and its membership base.

The issues were for InternetNZ to work out, he said. “I’ll work with them as best I can.”

InternetNZ chairperson Stephen Judd said the government review did not directly raise any questions about the stability of InternetNZ, but had referred to the Domain Name System and expressed a general interest in the governance of organisations that had a bearing on cybersecurity.

No motions on its membership structure were planned for its annual meeting on August 13, he said.

The tensions with the Free Speech Union were not within InternetNZ’s control, Judd said.

“If people look at what has actually happened in terms of the running of our registry and what the organisation actually does in terms of rules and so forth, they would see nothing of concern has happened.

“If we continue to provide really good registry services at a high quality then I think, over time, that will be the solution,” he said.