There’s low, there’s lower and then there’s what New Zealand did.

Lawmakers took advantage of provisions under an emergency order after February’s massive earthquake in Christchurch to ram through controversial three strikes legislation.

It’s not the fun kind of three strikes that California has, which puts repeat felons in prison for life. No, this one doesn’t require an actual conviction. If a content provider accuses you three times of downloading copyrighted content without their permission, your ISP is required to cut off your access to the Internet, no questions asked. In a real world equivalent I picked up from Tom Merritt of Tech News Today, it’s like someone taking your license plate number, reporting it to the DMV three times for speeding with no proof and your license being pulled based on those accusations.

The fact that this had to be slipped through under a state of emergency should show just how smarmy this legislation truly is.