Apologies for the throwaway, but I thought I'd share my letter to Nicky Wagner here. For the uninitiated, ICT is "Information and Communication Technology" - roughly the equivalent to IT in the states.

  Hi Nicky,
  
  I'm a Software Engineer in the United States. My wife and
  I are presently in the process of migrating to New Zealand,
  specifically Christchurch, under the Skilled Migrant
  Category visa. 

  I'm sure I don't need to inform you that ICT is on
  New Zealand's list of long term skills shortages. Further,
  I'm sure that you're acutely aware of the significance that
  ICT growth can play to the economic resurgence of Christchurch.
  As someone who is hoping to aid in this effort, I feel
  obligated to inform you that the GCSB is a huge deterrent for
  me. Being that my peers in the ICT industry are also quite
  sensitive to issues such as these, I can't imagine that this
  will help the ICT skills shortage for Christchurch, or the rest
  of New Zealand.

  Please vote against the GCSB, and urge your colleagues to do
  the same.

Edit 2: Sent the following clarification. And here's hoping I didn't just get added to some watch list and screw over my chances for visa approval!

  Just for clarification, I'm referring to the GCSB bills
  below, not the entire GCSB. I support the GCSB as a whole,
  as well as its greater purpose, but I'd much rather be
  moving to a country that didn't allow for warrantless
  surveillance of its people.

For those not from NZ and wondering like me what the "GCSB Bill" is:

GCSB is the Government Communications Security Bureau of New Zealand[1]. There seem to be two bills[2], and the topic has been on HN several times, but never got many points[3].

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Communications_Secur...

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5989010

[3] https://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=GCSB+bill

Some of these are already a write off. Paul Foster Bell has publicly said on Twitter that he will not reconsider as there are "real threats" in NZ and that IT company networks "need security" from the government. If you try debate this, they'll just block you: https://twitter.com/ow/status/369769923427307520

I've just written to all the MPs on this list. I'd ask that all other Kiwis do the same. It will take just a couple of minutes and if just a single MP crosses the floor it will stop the bill (as I understand it - I'm living outside of NZ at the moment).

Crazy. And here I was thinking NZ would be my refugee when the rest of the world goes to hell in a hand-basket.

Or, better, spread the word on how to secure your own communications. Make people realize there could be no expectations of privacy when the letter's not in the envelope, and educate them on what's going on in the digital world. Make insecure communications look outdated and simply uncool, as they already should be for a while.

That is, unless you believe your government, ISP and their peer ISPs (including some US, Chinese or Russian ISP your e-postcard passes through) are totally trustworthy and good-mannered noblemen so they won't even accidentally peek onto your e-postcards if they're told they mustn't.

Disclaimer: I'm not NZ citizen and unaware of exact situation. I'm Russian citizen, and we have SORM-2 for years. So, I've just shared my opinion on any government or corporate spying case out there. I just think it's pointless to legally forbid spying as this makes false sense of security without any real effect.