We are working on a brand new version of the game! If you want to stay informed, read our blog and register for our mailing list.
Bill: Information Purchase Treaty
Details
Submitted by[?]: Cooperative Commonwealth Federation
Status[?]: passed
Votes: This bill is a resolution. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: April 2048
Description[?]:
Another international treaty for Parliament's consideration. THE SIGNATORIES agree to the following laws governing the use, license and purchase of information between their nations. A. Information held in the commons of one or more of the signatory nations shall not be used for profit outside of their nations. B. Information copyrighted in one or more of the signatory nations shall not be used without permission of the copyright holders. C. Information held in the commons of one or more nations may be licensed or purchased by citizens of other signatories, as legislated by the nation the information originated in. D. The signatories agree to enforce laws to prevent the illegal use of information within their nation. Signatories: Malivia Ikradon Kundrati Union |
Proposals
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
Date | 06:35:02, May 01, 2005 CET | From | CNT/AFL | To | Debating the Information Purchase Treaty |
Message | The CNT/AFL will not support this treaty, we are against sections B and D. |
Date | 05:15:54, May 02, 2005 CET | From | Leviathan Party | To | Debating the Information Purchase Treaty |
Message | Chance are, the CNT/AFL is actually for sections B and D, though they don't realize it yet. Allow a hypothetical to illustrate. Suppose an musician in Lodamun created a catchy tune that, thanks to the wonders of the internet, became an internationally downloaded hit. A foreign business hears the song and uses it in an advertising campaign, which naturally nets them millions in sales, but they don't give the song's creator a cent. What recourse does the musician have to stop someone from using their music without their permission? Regardless of whether you're for individual copyrights or an information commons, you are certainly against using information for profit without permission or payment. Currently, however, there is no internaional law regarding copyright or information, and so that artist in our hypothetical is left completely out in the cold. The IPT, however, creates that international law. If your nation has an information commons, the IPT prevents citizens in nations that use copyrights from using information from your commons for their profit without permission. If your nation has individual copyrights, as Lodamun does, the IPT prevents the use of those copyrighted materials without permission or compensation. That's what we call a win win situation; even if you are for an information commons you need protection against that commons being raided for profit. We hope the CNT/AFL and the entire Lodamun legislature will support joining the IPT. R. Alexander Foreign Minister of Malivia |
Date | 15:57:01, May 02, 2005 CET | From | National People's Gang | To | Debating the Information Purchase Treaty |
Message | We are opposed to this treaty. Information and knowledge should be accessible to the world community. |
Date | 18:18:51, May 02, 2005 CET | From | Cooperative Commonwealth Federation | To | Debating the Information Purchase Treaty |
Message | Thank you to the Malivian foreign minister for the clarification. The CCF is in favour of Lodamun's current copyright law, which allows copyright for individual artists but not for software. We feel thjat this treaty may well make a useful contribution, but will await further debate. |
Date | 03:06:42, May 04, 2005 CET | From | Chorus of Amyst | To | Debating the Information Purchase Treaty |
Message | The Council would support this particular treaty to better protect the intellectual rights of our citizens. It would also like to note to the CCF that software can in fact be copyrighted; it's the algorithms and such behind a particular piece of software that are not. It's similar to how a particular novel may be copyrighted, but the individual words themselves are not. |
Date | 17:06:17, May 04, 2005 CET | From | Cooperative Commonwealth Federation | To | Debating the Information Purchase Treaty |
Message | Then thank you to the Amystian Council for its clarification.... The CCF feels that this treaty marks a useful step towards a freer international information order. The copyright laws of Lodamun are open to debate and change in the future, and if other parties wish to create an information commons, then this is certainly open to debate. In the meantime, we feel this marks a step towards greater freedom of information and in no way restricts free flow of information. We agree with the Malivian foreign minister: whether you favour copyrights or information commons, the IPT is a useful treaty. |
Date | 17:17:54, May 05, 2005 CET | From | Cooperative Commonwealth Federation | To | Debating the Information Purchase Treaty |
Message | Any more opinions before this goes to a vote? |
Date | 00:40:05, May 06, 2005 CET | From | CNT/AFL | To | Debating the Information Purchase Treaty |
Message | "If your nation has an information commons, the IPT prevents citizens in nations that use copyrights from using information from your commons FOR THEIR PROFIT without permission" With that in mind, the CNT/AFL have decided to support this treaty. |
subscribe to this discussion - unsubscribe
Voting
Vote | Seats | ||||
yes |
Total Seats: 78 | ||||
no | Total Seats: 10 | ||||
abstain | Total Seats: 0 |
Random fact: Submitting a bill without any proposals in it will not attract or detract voters. It will not raise your visibility or change your political position. |
Random quote: "We must face the fact that the preservation of individual freedom is incompatible with a full satisfaction of our views of distributive justice." - Friedrich August von Hayek |