The local voices prevailed as the National-led government of the time changed tack and agreed to exempt software, in most situations.
Christie and his cohorts decided to formally organise their lobbying efforts and the non-profit NZRise was born - a group of business leaders from NZ-owned IT firms who would stand up for local interests, which they often saw as aligned to our broader growth.
It would be involved in a number of campaigns over the next few years.
Two stand-out for Christie.
One was NZRise's efforts on the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal - where members of his group were able to meet with NZ negotiators and directly discuss a heavy-handed, US-authored section of the treaty addressing copyright. It was ultimately watered down (and then effectively killed as incoming US President Donald Trump killed the TPP - in something of an irony given most NZRise members shared little of his politics on other levels, and indeed had feared the trade pact would boost the influence of US-based multinationals).
The other was NZRise's efforts to open up government procurement to smaller local companies, and counter the rise of all-of-government deals that locked Crown agencies into multi-year deals, with a complicated request-for-proposal and bidding structure that favoured multinationals.
Christie - a UK-expat turned Wellingtonian - saw an element of cultural cringe involved, with ministries bedazzled by of the big techs at the expense of local players, even when the multinationals had a track-record of going over-budget and under-delivering.
The Novopay debacle helped to underline his point. And although prising open procurement is still a work in progress, change is happening. Christie points to Inland Revenue's multi-billion overhaul. Initially, IRD was poised to award all of the work for the mega-project offshore. But after talks with NZ Rise and others, it opened up the project to locals, too.
Christie has his days full as a director of Catalyst IT, one of the larger local IT players, but he says his decision to stand down as NZRise co-chair does not mean he intends to pipe down. Rather, he says it will give him more latitude to directly speak his mind. Expect to hear a lot more from him about various government's efforts to put a leash on the tech giants.
He is a big fan of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's 23 recommendations for new measures to wrangle Facebook and Google, released across the Tasman on Friday, which he doesn't see as mutually exclusive to his stance that Australia, New Zealand and other countries have to do more to enforce laws that already on their books.
The sorts of tightening up outlined by the ACCC are "well overdue," he says. "I talk about enforcing existing laws as a first step. But recognising the asymmetry in power that these platforms have over our individual and national interests is critical."
The government is currently mulling whether to introduce levy a 2 or 3 per cent "digital services tax" to wait on moves to counter revenue and profit-shifting from the OECD, which have already been years in gestation.
Christie says the government should get a wriggle-on with the digital services tax - after all, Australia, the UK and France have all introduced unilateral measures while they wait, and wait, on the OECD.
And he hopes that the March 15 mosque massacres will, amid the tragedy, help to crystalise thinking about how big tech turned so toxic, and how local initiatives can be a positive force for change.
"We need to think about our defence mechanisms. How to build societal and national resilience. Our Government needs to have a strategy about how it uses internet technologies and how to build safe, positive spaces for Kiwis to enjoy the best that technology has to offer," he wrote recently.
"We have the means of production, we don't need to seize anything. Google, Facebook, and Amazon all used free and open-source software to build their empires. New Zealand and New Zealanders can do the same."
Victoria MacLennan will remain NZRise co-chair, with Christie's co-leadership spot taken by Breccan McLeod-Lundy, founder and CEO of software development company Ackama.
