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Well apparently the folks at Telecom saw it too, and they didn't like it one little bit.

So, while Theresa was issuing heart-felt assurances that the telco was no longer a big evil ogre hell-bent on ankle-tapping the government and other ISPs who only want a level playing-field, Telecom complained and had the spoof-ad pulled.

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However, the way this ad was pulled and the comments of Telecom spokesman John Goulter would seem to throw doubt on the sincerity of Theresa's promises made on the very same day.

The Herald quotes Goulter as saying "YouTube on its site has a statement that it does not endorse breaching of copyright, so we did feel that that ad did breach copyright".

Now is it just me or does that sound as if Telecom is spinning this to look as if they were doing YouTube a favour by simply pointing out a breach in their policy -- rather than actually admitting that they got snotty about the spoof and wanted it pulled, not just because it *might* have been a breach of YouTube's policies, but because the truth hurts.

In fact, in another part of town, Theresa was busy keeping her face as straight as possible while proclaiming ""We are not arguing to turn back time. We are not going to be obstructive. We are not going to mount any rearguard actions. We are not going to fight old regulatory battles. We are not going to hide behind legalistic arguments."

Cue Tui's billboard....

Sorry Theresa but your man Mr Goulter really made you look like a fool by turning around and winding up the spin over the spoof ad. Nothing's changed in the halls of Telecom. Either you're being honest and open or you're continuing to obfuscate the facts with disingenuous spin -- which is it?

But is the spoof ad actually a breach of copyright?

Well Section 42 of part 3 of the Copyright Act 1994 makes exclusions for the purposes of "Criticism, review and news reporting" and it would not be hard to argue that the spoof ad was indeed a harsh criticism of Telecom :-)

If Telecom were really turning over a new leaf, they'd have embraced the spoof ad and even put it on their own website with a little statement such as:

"We admit we could have done better to offer NZers a fair deal and apologise for our past deficiencies and the contempt we may have held for our customers and competitors. We now pledge to turn ourselves around and commit to playing fair, with the goal of retaining your loyalty through nothing more than providing the best services at the best price. The spoof ad you see here may be a comment on our past practices but the future will be different. Are you staying with us?"

Now a simple, honest admission and commitment like this would (I believe) have been far more convincing than Theresa's rhetoric as it was effectively shot down by Goulter's disingenuous spin.

What do you think?

And, in my final piece of cynicism for the day, have you noticed how the benefits of LLU have been scheduled not to kick in until 2008? Well, have I got my math wrong or is this (coincidentally) an election year too. Serendipity perhaps?

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