Credit where credit is due on NZ tech regulation

From Andrew Cushen at InternetNZ writing in Flexibility of regulation for technology (no longer online):

…the government moving relatively quickly to respond to technical innovation in a sensible, considered matter, and that seeks to accommodate that innovation rather than stifle it.

…I hope that when we continue to talk to the government about challenges that regulation creates for new internet based technologies, and continue to do so with reference to the policy principle listed above, that the government will continue to have such an accommodating attitude to innovation through technology.

Cushen is commenting here on the response to calls from Uber to change the legislation around taxis, but his point is general.

He is right on this, the current NZ government seems to have the right balance when dealing with technology innovation. This isn’t about ideology, the last government was also flexible when it came to regulating on technology. Long may that new tradition continue.