NationStates Jolt Archive

This is the proposal that would replace Resolution # 5 "DVD Region Removal."

I would appreciate any thoughts/comments/suggestions. Thank you very much.


The United Nations,

-A- NOTING that the entertainment industry is a growing sector and is essential to the economic development of our Nations and the happiness of our people"

-B- CONVINCED that the former ban of the “regional system” for DVD’s did not hurt any economy and that Universal standards increase the confidence of customers in this standard and then the likelihood of its success"

-C- REGRETTING the compatibility issues caused by multiple media formats around the world, and the further lack of coordination between media companies

-D- REGRETTING the problems consumers face when using incompatible media formats, and when attempting to transport media from other cultures,

-E- DEFINES a “regional system” as any method to prohibit the transmitting or viewing of media from one region or nation in another region or nation,

-1- URGES all Nations to encourage the growth of the entertainment industry"

-2- BANS any "regional system" for commercial DRM’s (Digital Rights Management) and media formats, such as Blu-ray disc, High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD DVD), Universal Media Disc (UMD), Super Audio CD (SACD), DualDisc, Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD) and any previous or future storage medium,

-3- URGES STRONGLY all the different consortiums who develop each on their side a similar generation of new media support or DRM systems to have closed talks with each other, in order to find an agreement to present a universal format standard,

-4- URGES STRONGLY all nations to regulate DRMs, in order to assure compatibility for customers with most digital music or video portable players,

-5- MANDATES developed nations who propose a media support or DRM system standard to regulate the cost of its patent licensing in order to be financially available to developing nations. Developing nations will be free to develop their own media support, DRM system or HDTV standard if they feel adopting a worldwide one can put their economy at risk,

Co-authored by Love and esterel

Sweet making piracy against capitalist pigs even easier.

Piracy... the foundation of Information Technology here in Marxist rhetoric....

Media and DRM Act

The United Nations,

-A- NOTING that the entertainment industry is a growing sector and is essential to the economic development of our Nations and the happiness of our people

-B- DEFINES a “regional system” as any method to prohibit the transmitting or viewing of media from one region or nation in another region or nation,

-C- CONVINCED that the Universal standards are likely to increase the confidence of customers in the standards and then the likelihood of their success

-D- REGRETTING the compatibility issues caused by multiple media formats around the world, and the further lack of coordination between media companies

-E- REGRETTING the problems consumers face when using incompatible media formats, and when attempting to transport media from other cultures,

-F- REGRETTING that the current restrictions on media use increase privacy and hurt content and distribution industries,


-1- URGES all Nations to encourage the growth of the entertainment industry"

-2- BANS any "regional system" for commercial DRM’s (Digital Rights Management) and media formats, such as Blu-ray disc, High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD DVD), Universal Media Disc (UMD), Super Audio CD (SACD), DualDisc, Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD) and any previous or future storage medium,

-3- URGES STRONGLY all nations to regulate DRMs and Media duplication protections, in order to assure compatibility for customers with most media players,

-4- MANDATES developed nations where companies propose a commercial media support or DRM system standard to regulate the cost of its patent licensing in order to be financially reasonable and available to developing nations

Co-authored by Love and esterel

The people of Iyira approve of this redrafting and expansion of one of the older resolutions, particularly the sensible act of providing a clear definition of "regional system".

-C- CONVINCED that the Universal standards are likely to increase the confidence of customers in the standards and then the likelihood of their success

Iyira's one quibble would be that its delegate found the above sentence a bit difficult to read, perhaps due only to the tiredness of its delegate following a long night of gecko-racing. Would rephrasing it to something along the lines of "convinced that universal standards are more effective because they increase customer confidence in (in what? the enforcability of the standards across national borders? something else?)" perhaps make it a little more clear? This is just an idle suggestion, however, overall this proposal appears reasonable and well-drafted.

It's all good in my opinion. Have a few ideas for tweaks though.


-C- CONVINCED that the Universal standards are likely to increase the confidence of customers in the standards and then the likelihood of their success


CONVINCED that the Universal standards are likely to increase consumer confidence, and their practical and economic viability and success as a result


-E- REGRETTING the problems consumers face when using incompatible media formats, and when attempting to transport media from other cultures,


-E- REGRETTING the problems consumers face when using incompatible media formats, and when attempting to transport media from other cultures, which is a barrier to cultural awareness,



-F- REGRETTING that the current restrictions on media use increase privacy and hurt content and distribution industries,


Is it not "piracy" instead of "privacy"?


Other than these elaborations and nitpicks, I don't feel I could improve it at all. Good job.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: why give a damn?

Mathieu Vergniaud
Deputy Speaker to the UN

I think this is a fairly well-written proposal but I think it may be redundant legislation.

Immediately before introducing this proposal, we will be submitting a proposal to repeal the flawed "DVD Region Removal" resolution. We believe that the spelling and grammatical errors, and the fact that that resolution only covers DVD media is a huge loophole that must be repaired. Once "DVD Region Removal" is repealed, our new proposal will no longer be redundant.


As for the question about why we are sponsoring this resolution, competing and incompatible media formats create huge amounts of frustration for consumers and can actually inhibit the growth of the media and entertainment industry. The "Media and DRM Act" will encourage these industries to remove compatibility barriors to allow more consistent and engaging access to media in hopes that it will increase legal media sharing and creation in our Internet focused society.

Much thanks to all nations who submitted suggestions and criticism. Does anyone have any thoughts on #3?
Thanks again.


Draft 9/16/05
Media and DRM Act

The United Nations,

-A- NOTING that the entertainment industry is a growing sector and is essential to the economic development of our Nations and the happiness of our people

-B- DEFINES a “regional system” as any method to prohibit the transmitting or viewing of media from one region or nation in another region or nation,

-C- CONVINCED that the universal standards are likely to increase comsumer confidence, further adding to the practical and economic viability and success of these standards,

-D- REGRETTING the compatibility issues caused by multiple media formats around the world, and the further lack of coordination between media companies

-E- REGRETTING the problems consumers face when using incompatible media formats, and when attempting to transport media from other cultures, which is a barrier to cultural awareness,

-F- REGRETTING that the current restrictions on media use increase piracy and hurt content and distribution industries,


-1- URGES all Nations to encourage the growth of the entertainment industry"

-2- BANS any "regional system" for commercial DRM’s (Digital Rights Management) and media formats, such as Blu-ray disc, High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD DVD), Universal Media Disc (UMD), Super Audio CD (SACD), DualDisc, Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD) and any previous or future storage medium,

-3- DISCOURAGES any media sharing, distribution, or reproduction methods which are illegal or restricted by law in each individual UN nation,

-4- URGES STRONGLY all nations to regulate DRMs and Media duplication protections, in order to assure compatibility for customers with most media players,

-5- MANDATES developed nations where companies propose a commercial media support or DRM system standard to regulate the cost of its patent licensing in order to be financially reasonable and available to developing nations

Co-authored by Love and esterel

Media and DRM Act

The United Nations,

-A- NOTING that the entertainment industry is a growing sector and is essential to the economic development of our Nations and the happiness of our people

Agreed.

-B- DEFINES a “regional system” as any method to prohibit the transmitting or viewing of media from one region or nation in another region or nation,

Idem to above.


-C- CONVINCED that the Universal standards are likely to increase the confidence of customers in the standards and then the likelihood of their success

One small question: Is there a possibility of universal standards being perceived as a form of censorship amongst some smaller nations and media outlets?

-D- REGRETTING the compatibility issues caused by multiple media formats around the world, and the further lack of coordination between media companies

Could this transgress on independance of content, should broadcasters adopt an approach of coordination?

-E- REGRETTING the problems consumers face when using incompatible media formats, and when attempting to transport media from other cultures,

A tricky problem and one I have personal experience in (damn Compadrian area coding!)

-F- REGRETTING that the current restrictions on media use increase privacy and hurt content and distribution industries,

Privacy? I would like a definition of 'increase privacy' and how it hurts content and distribution industries?

-1- URGES all Nations to encourage the growth of the entertainment industry"

-2- BANS any "regional system" for commercial DRM’s (Digital Rights Management) and media formats, such as Blu-ray disc, High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD DVD), Universal Media Disc (UMD), Super Audio CD (SACD), DualDisc, Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD) and any previous or future storage medium,

Could the lack of regional systems create problems in logging traffic of medias?

-3- URGES STRONGLY all nations to regulate DRMs and Media duplication protections, in order to assure compatibility for customers with most media players,

I like the idea of consumer choice, though I do wonder if companies could object to the idea of regulation of DRM's and Media duplication as a violation of intellectual copyright?

-4- MANDATES developed nations where companies propose a commercial media support or DRM system standard to regulate the cost of its patent licensing in order to be financially reasonable and available to developing nations

Excellent, we've held this view for some time and thoroughly support this suggestion.

Co-authored by Love and esterel[/QUOTE]

We like the sound of the resolution in total and merely request that you answer some of our questions, so that we can work with you with full support to ensure its passing.

Leonard Otterby
Ambassador for the Republic of Compadria to the U.N.

Long live free-media format Compadria!

Why is this the concern of the UN?

Draft 9/16/05
Media and DRM Act

The United Nations,

-A- NOTING that the entertainment industry is a growing sector and is essential to the economic development of our Nations and the happiness of our people

-B- DEFINES a “regional system” as any method to prohibit the transmitting or viewing of media from one region or nation in another region or nation,

I believe the definition may come into dispute. In some case, these "regional systems" may be intended to be for data of a restricted nature due to content or other reasons. Sometimes entertainment data is restricted from some regions or nations due to content.

-C- CONVINCED that the universal standards are likely to increase comsumer confidence, further adding to the practical and economic viability and success of these standards,

-D- REGRETTING the compatibility issues caused by multiple media formats around the world, and the further lack of coordination between media companies

-E- REGRETTING the problems consumers face when using incompatible media formats, and when attempting to transport media from other cultures, which is a barrier to cultural awareness,

-F- REGRETTING that the current restrictions on media use increase piracy and hurt content and distribution industries,

The only problems you are going to have is integration between differing levels of technology. Even in the real world, the variance between technology levels can be as much as centuries. In NS, this variance can be as much as billions of years. In some cases, incompatibility of entertainment medias may simply be a difference in technology levels.

-1- URGES all Nations to encourage the growth of the entertainment industry"

-2- BANS any "regional system" for commercial DRM’s (Digital Rights Management) and media formats, such as Blu-ray disc, High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD DVD), Universal Media Disc (UMD), Super Audio CD (SACD), DualDisc, Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD) and any previous or future storage medium,

-3- DISCOURAGES any media sharing, distribution, or reproduction methods which are illegal or restricted by law in each individual UN nation,

-4- URGES STRONGLY all nations to regulate DRMs and Media duplication protections, in order to assure compatibility for customers with most media players,

-5- MANDATES developed nations where companies propose a commercial media support or DRM system standard to regulate the cost of its patent licensing in order to be financially reasonable and available to developing nations

Once again, the issue of technology levels is your only real problem.

The United Nations,

-A- NOTING that the entertainment industry is a growing sector and is essential to the economic development of our Nations and the happiness of our people

-B- DEFINES a “regional system” as any method to prohibit the transmitting or viewing of media from one region or nation in another region or nation,

-C- NOTING that some regional systems are desgined to prevent access to graphic or restricted types of media content in individual nations,

-D- CONVINCED that the universal standards are likely to increase comsumer confidence, further adding to the practical and economic viability and success of these standards,

-E- REGRETTING the compatibility issues caused by multiple media formats around the world, and the further lack of coordination between media companies

-F- REGRETTING the problems consumers face when using incompatible media formats, and when attempting to transport media from other cultures, which is a barrier to cultural awareness,

-G- REGRETTING that the current restrictions on media use increase piracy and hurt content and distribution industries,


-1- URGES all Nations to encourage the growth of the entertainment industry"

-2- BANS any "regional system" for commercial DRM’s (Digital Rights Management) and media formats, such as Blu-ray disc, High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD DVD), Universal Media Disc (UMD), Super Audio CD (SACD), DualDisc, Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD) and any previous or future storage medium. The media content and distrbution industries should work to integrate current and past standards, and make a reasonable effort to ensure that the new universal standard is backwards compatible with these previous standards.

-3- DISCOURAGES any media sharing, distribution, or reproduction methods which are illegal or restricted by law in each individual UN nation,

-4- URGES STRONGLY all nations to regulate DRMs and Media duplication protections, in order to assure compatibility for customers with most media players,

-5- MANDATES developed nations where companies propose a commercial media support or DRM system standard to regulate the cost of its patent licensing in order to be financially reasonable and available to developing and less economically stable nations.

Co-authored by Love and esterel

The United Nations,

-A- NOTING that the entertainment industry is a growing sector and is essential to the economic development of our Nations and the happiness of our people

-B- DEFINES a “regional system” as any method to prohibit the transmitting or viewing of media from one region or nation in another region or nation,

-C- NOTING that some regional systems are desgined to prevent access to graphic or restricted types of media content in individual nations,

-D- CONVINCED that the universal standards are likely to increase comsumer confidence, further adding to the practical and economic viability and success of these standards,

-E- REGRETTING the compatibility issues caused by multiple media formats around the world, and the further lack of coordination between media companies

-F- REGRETTING the problems consumers face when using incompatible media formats, and when attempting to transport media from other cultures, which is a barrier to cultural awareness,

-G- REGRETTING that the current restrictions on media use increase piracy and hurt content and distribution industries,


-1- URGES all Nations to encourage the growth of the entertainment industry"

-2- BANS any "regional system" for commercial DRM’s (Digital Rights Management) and media formats, such as Blu-ray disc, High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD DVD), Universal Media Disc (UMD), Super Audio CD (SACD), DualDisc, Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD) and any previous or future storage medium. The media content and distrbution industries should work to integrate current and past standards, and make a reasonable effort to ensure that the new universal standard is backwards compatible with these previous standards.

-3- DISCOURAGES any media sharing, distribution, or reproduction methods which are illegal or restricted by law in each individual UN nation,

-4- URGES STRONGLY all nations to regulate DRMs and Media duplication protections, in order to assure compatibility for customers with most media players,

-5- MANDATES developed nations where companies propose a commercial media support or DRM system standard to regulate the cost of its patent licensing in order to be financially reasonable and available to developing and less economically stable nations.

Co-authored by Love and esterel

Taking after our exhange of telegrams concerning this proposal, I can communicate through this forum the view of my government that we now fully support this text.

Good luck and May the blessings of our otters be upon you.

Leonard Otterby
Ambassador for the Republic of Compadria to the U.N.

This resolution has been brought under my region's attention and commented there on the forum in a discussion with Love and Esterel.

Our main concern as a nation is that this resolution is restricting free trade, which is bad for the economy. It should be left up to the companies how they want to protect copyright; whether that's a regional system, or some other system. Also, media standards don't need regulation. It has been proven over time (see VHS, CD and DVD) that a format can become standard without government influence, but by companies marketing their product. Why should the UN care?

Entertainment isn't some god-given right. It's frankly disgusting that before major concerns like war, food, shelter, and health care, we want to make sure that developing countries can watch their movies cheaply. That's not what they should be spending their money on in the first place if their economy is so bad!

My only recommendation is to put this resolution in the rubbish bin. And if the authors feel it's necessary to write a resolution on this, let it be a free trade one where it is ruled that governments aren't to interfere with media standards, and should leave it up to companies whether they want to use a regional system, copycontrol, DRM or whatever system. The only legislation ont his field should be that it is not illegal for customers to find workarounds for those system to play/watch/use the content for which they paid.

But frankly, I'd rather see that this resolution won't continue. There is no reason why a national government should legislate about this, nevermind the UN. It's a corporate matter, not a government's.

The United Nations,

-A- NOTING that the entertainment industry is a growing sector and is essential to the economic development of our Nations and the happiness of our people

-B- DEFINES a “regional system” as any method to prohibit the transmitting or viewing of media from one region or nation in another region or nation,

-C- NOTING that some regional systems are desgined to prevent access to graphic or restricted types of media content in individual nations,

-D- CONVINCED that the universal standards are likely to increase comsumer confidence, further adding to the practical and economic viability and success of these standards,

-E- REGRETTING the compatibility issues caused by multiple media formats around the world, and the further lack of coordination between media companies

-F- REGRETTING the problems consumers face when using incompatible media formats, and when attempting to transport media from other cultures, which is a barrier to cultural awareness,

-G- REGRETTING that the current restrictions on media use increase piracy and hurt content and distribution industries,


-1- URGES all Nations to encourage the growth of the entertainment industry"

-2- URGES STRONGLY all nations to regulate DRM (Digital Rights Management) systems and Media duplication protections, in order to assure compatibility for customers with most media players,

-3- BANS any "regional system" for commercial DRM’s and media formats, such as Blu-ray disc, High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD DVD), Universal Media Disc (UMD), Super Audio CD (SACD), DualDisc, Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD), Holographic Versatile Disc (HDV) and any previous or future storage medium. The media content and distribution industries should work to integrate current and past standards, and make a reasonable effort to ensure that the new universal standard is backwards compatible with these previous standards.

-4- DISCOURAGES any media sharing, distribution, or reproduction methods which are illegal or restricted by law in each individual UN nation,

-5- MANDATES developed nations where companies propose a commercial media support or DRM system standard to regulate the cost of its patent licensing in order to be financially reasonable and available to developing and less economically stable nations.

Co-authored by Love and esterel

-3- BANS any "regional system" for commercial DRM’s and media formats, such as Blu-ray disc, High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD DVD), Universal Media Disc (UMD), Super Audio CD (SACD), DualDisc, Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD) and any previous or future storage medium. The media content and distrbution industries should work to integrate current and past standards, and make a reasonable effort to ensure that the new universal standard is backwards compatible with these previous standards.

I strongly suggest all nations when writing proposals, especially with paragraphs this long, to use a list. It makes it neater and more visually appealing.

The list could look something like this:

-3- BANS any "regional system" for commercial DRM’s and media formats, such as
~Blu-ray disc
~High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD DVD)
~Universal Media Disc (UMD)
~Super Audio CD (SACD)
~DualDisc
~Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD)
~Any previous or future storage medium.

The media content and distrbution industries should work to integrate current and past standards, and make a reasonable effort to ensure that the new universal standard is backwards compatible with these previous standards.

-4- DISCOURAGES any media sharing, distribution, or reproduction methods which are illegal or restricted by law in each individual UN nation,

This line seems a little repetative. If you already discouraging media sharing, etc, then you don't need to make it illegal. I suggest having.

-4-BANS all media sharing, distribution, or reproduction methods in all UN nations. [/QUOTE]

Final draft???

Thank you again to everyone that made suggestions!


The United Nations,

-A- NOTING that the entertainment industry is a growing sector and is essential to the economic development of our Nations and the happiness of our people

-B- DEFINES a “regional system” as any method to prohibit the transmitting or viewing of media from one region or nation in another region or nation,

-C- NOTING that some regional systems are desgined to prevent access to graphic or restricted types of media content in individual nations,

-D- CONVINCED that the universal standards are likely to increase comsumer confidence, further adding to the practical and economic viability and success of these standards,

-E- REGRETTING the compatibility issues caused by multiple media formats around the world, and the further lack of coordination between media companies

-F- REGRETTING the problems consumers face when using incompatible media formats, and when attempting to transport media from other cultures, which is a barrier to cultural awareness,

-G- REGRETTING that the current restrictions on media use increase piracy and hurt content and distribution industries,


-1- URGES all Nations to encourage the growth of the entertainment industry"

-2- URGES STRONGLY all nations to regulate DRM (Digital Rights Management) systems and Media duplication protections, in order to assure compatibility for customers with most media players,

-3- BANS any "regional system" for commercial DRM’s and media formats, such as
-Blu-ray disc
-High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD DVD)
-Universal Media Disc (UMD)
-Super Audio CD (SACD)
-DualDisc
-Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD)
-Holographic Versatile Disc (HDV)

and any other previous or future storage medium. The media content and distribution industries should work to integrate current and past standards, and make a reasonable effort to ensure that the new universal standard is backwards compatible with these previous standards.

-4- DISCOURAGES any media sharing, distribution, or reproduction methods which are illegal or restricted by law in each individual UN nation,

-5- MANDATES developed nations where companies propose a commercial media support or DRM system standard to regulate the cost of its patent licensing in order to be financially reasonable and available to developing and less economically stable nations.

Co-authored by Love and esterel

It's still not good enough for the UN as long as you don't change the fundamental thinking behind it.

Why would this not be suitable for the U.N., as it seems find to me, what objections do you have?

May the blessings of our otters be upon you

Leonard Otterby
Ambassador for the Republic of Compadria to the U.N.

It is not up to the UN to support one industry throughout all nations specifically, especially when luxury goods are concerned.

It is not up to the UN to regulate media formats, as companies (IRL) have shown that they can do so themselves (or fail when they do it wrong).

It is not up to the UN to decide on corporate issues like DRM.

That's why.

It is not up to the UN to support one industry throughout all nations specifically, especially when luxury goods are concerned.

It is not up to the UN to regulate media formats, as companies (IRL) have shown that they can do so themselves (or fail when they do it wrong).

It is not up to the UN to decide on corporate issues like DRM.

That's why.

This isn't about support of the industry, it's about its regulation and ensuring that media formats are kept to a universal standard, in order to offer the best possible service for consumers and ameliorate trade of medias. The market is incapable of regulating itself and needs someone to keep track of it, so that it doesn't resort to unfair practices and anti-consumer/competitive methods.

The U.N. has a mandate to regulate and oversee all issues, corporate, media
and otherwise; so it is very much an matter for our discussion.

May the blessings of our otters be upon you.

Leonard Otterby
Ambassador for the Republic of Compadria to the U.N.

when luxury goods are concerned.


we are dealing with cultural goods
Many UN Nations have a strong economy, and in these Nations, cultural goods are common, not luxury

It is not up to the UN to regulate media formats, as companies (IRL) have shown that they can do so themselves (or fail when they do it wrong).

It is not up to the UN to decide on corporate issues like DRM.



it's your opinion, we respect it
but as digital media with DRM and media formats cross borders more and more, we think it's up to the UN, to help transport media from other cultures, to discourages piracy, to protect comsumer and to free trade from some practices

This isn't about support of the industry, it's about its regulation and ensuring that media formats are kept to a universal standard, in order to offer the best possible service for consumers and ameliorate trade of medias. The market is incapable of regulating itself and needs someone to keep track of it, so that it doesn't resort to unfair practices and anti-consumer/competitive methods.

The market is perfectly able to regulate itself. Proof please that it isn't. Companies rarely resort to truly anti-consumer methods; those are the consumers that have to buy their products, after all. Especially with media and entertainment, as luxury goods, there is no real need to buy it, so it has to appeal to customers.

If we look at Real Life, there appear to be CD's, DVD's, and various digital audio/video formats such as MP3, WMV, RM, OGG, etc. Now, it looks to me that the market is perfectly able to come up with various standards, all working on the equipment I have at home, without government interference. I don't see a reason to assume differently for NationStates.

Of course, you and lots of angry young people may see DRM, regional systems, etc as the work of the devil because everything should be free, but these serve as methods to protect copyright, protect property of those companies. This proposal aims to take part of the protection away but gives nothing in return. Any person with a bit of economic sense can see that piracy will grow, prices go down and the economy will suffer.

And that for a resolution that isn't even necessary. Why should a government regulate something that works? Don't fix it if it ain't broken! It's not up to the UN to sit in the (extremely comfy and expensive) seat of the CEO of entertainment companies.

we are dealing with cultural goods
Many UN Nations have a strong economy, and in these Nations, cultural goods are common, not luxury

Again, you show a lack of knowledge about economy. "Luxury goods" is a common term, like "basic goods". Find out what those mean first before you misinterpret me.

it's your opinion, we respect it
but as digital media with DRM and media formats cross borders more and more, we think it's up to the UN, to help transport media from other cultures, to discourages piracy, to protect comsumer and to free trade from some practices

With your restrictive attitude towards companies, it is more likely that those media won't even reach other cultures.

The market is perfectly able to regulate itself. Proof please that it isn't. Companies rarely resort to truly anti-consumer methods; those are the consumers that have to buy their products, after all. Especially with media and entertainment, as luxury goods, there is no real need to buy it, so it has to appeal to customers.

If we look at Real Life, there appear to be CD's, DVD's, and various digital audio/video formats such as MP3, WMV, RM, OGG, etc. Now, it looks to me that the market is perfectly able to come up with various standards, all working on the equipment I have at home, without government interference. I don't see a reason to assume differently for NationStates.

Of course, you and lots of angry young people may see DRM, regional systems, etc as the work of the devil because everything should be free, but these serve as methods to protect copyright, protect property of those companies. This proposal aims to take part of the protection away but gives nothing in return. Any person with a bit of economic sense can see that piracy will grow, prices go down and the economy will suffer.

And that for a resolution that isn't even necessary. Why should a government regulate something that works? Don't fix it if it ain't broken! It's not up to the UN to sit in the (extremely comfy and expensive) seat of the CEO of entertainment companies.

Really? If the market is able to regulate itself then why do I seem to hear constantly, news of lawsuits, accusations of insider trading, anti-trust laws being enacted (especially and pertinantly with case of Microsoft) and in general a sort of organised duplicity being conducted by said companies. If the market was able to regulate itself, it wouldn't ever have to worry about meeting standards, except those imposed by itself, which can be so flexible as to be meaningless. Regulating the market means that the company cannot maneouvre itself into a monopoly position and abuse this to the detriment of customers. Equally, the market may come up with standards for goods, yet what if these standards are sub-sufficient? Who should ensure (assuming the company is unwiling to do so) that this is not left to be ignored and thus harm customers, through the sale of faulty goods.

May the blessings of our otters be upon you

Leonard Otterby
Ambassador for the Republic of Compadria to the U.N.

Really? If the market is able to regulate itself then why do I seem to hear constantly, news of lawsuits, accusations of insider trading, anti-trust laws being enacted (especially and pertinantly with case of Microsoft) and in general a sort of organised duplicity being conducted by said companies.

First of all, that's not what this resolution about. Secondly, that is the market regulating itself. Most of the lawsuits are business vs business rather than government vs business. Of course there should some minor rules that prevent against companies dominating the market, because a monopoly isn't a free market. But that's about it.

If the market was able to regulate itself, it wouldn't ever have to worry about meeting standards, except those imposed by itself, which can be so flexible as to be meaningless. Regulating the market means that the company cannot maneouvre itself into a monopoly position and abuse this to the detriment of customers. Equally, the market may come up with standards for goods, yet what if these standards are sub-sufficient? Who should ensure (assuming the company is unwiling to do so) that this is not left to be ignored and thus harm customers, through the sale of faulty goods.

Companies selling faulty goods die out as no-one will buy their goods. Companies not adhering to the standard die out, because no-one can play their format. Compare Sony's MiniDisc with Phillips' CD. One was a succes and one wasn't. Partly through marketing, mostly because Phillips didn't restrict the use of the CD, so all other companies adopted the format. Without regulations like this resolutions propose.

By the way, I have seen it has been submitted in the "Free Trade" category. I have protested this, as this resolution regulates trade, imposes barriers, rather than work to free trade. I find that abuse of the term "free trade".

If they both reach quorum, the replacement will be in queue before the repeal of DVD region removal. Unless DVD region removal is repealed first, this one is illegal.

Attempting to enforce universal standards will not only harm domestic DVD production as rival DVD producing countries no longer have to cope with differing standards in external markets, but it will also harm innovation. Our domestic DVD markets will be opened up to mass produced DVDs from rival nations, and I am quite sure that many economies willl be HARMED by this resolution rather than protected. This will do nothing to protect the industry from piracy, and it will do much to force the industries of smaller fledgling nations to become more and more dependant upon developed states as their own DVD production industry goes bankrupt and folds.

The nature of innovation is such that two or more companies will be competing to be the first to produce a marketable product. Three conglomerates raced to produce the first stable DVDR and DVDRW discs. Each attempted to make their own standard the most stable, the most easily usable and the most capable of storing information. If all companies are forced to comply to the same standards, several huge problems are introduced into the innovation process.

1) How do companies know which of their rivals are developing similar items or devices?
2) How do companies know which standard their rivals are developing?
3) How do companies coordinate research and development to one standard without giving away industrial research secrets which cost millions to reach?
4) Who is responsible for deciding which standard to use, since the decision would have to be made very early on in the innovation process?
5) How are companies compensated when they spend years and huge amounts of money researching new media, only to be told that they must comply to another company's standard?

Remember that rivals in innovation take considerable measures towards ensuring the secrecy of their research and design projects so that other companies cannot gain any details of their progress or designs.

This legislation also apparently includes one nation blocking the transmissions or viewing of a neighbour state's television signals. My government has no desire to subject our people to the hate-mongering propaganda of neighbouring rival states, and yet in protecting our population from happening across such signals we will apparently be breaching a UN resolution.

-1- URGES all Nations to encourage the growth of the entertainment industry"

I refuse to consider domestic budget decisions or tax exemptions when 'urged' to do so by external parties. The UN has no business in trying to decide domestic financial policy.

-4- DISCOURAGES any media sharing, distribution, or reproduction methods which are illegal or restricted by law in each individual UN nation,

This is oddly worded. Does this mean that if the people of Lazy Days, for example, prohibit a certain method of media reproduction then this legislation attempts to discourage use of that same method in other nations?

-5- MANDATES developed nations where companies propose a commercial media support or DRM system standard to regulate the cost of its patent licensing in order to be financially reasonable and available to developing and less economically stable nations.

If this is mandated, who is to decide whether or not licensing is "financially reasonable" or indeed what a "less economically stable" nation is?

Finally, resolution #5 would need to be repealed before this was proposed, otherwise this is just duplicating existing legislation. Let's get rid of the old legislation before we start talking about what needs to be in the new. It's entirely possible with current voting that attempting to repeal current legislation would meet with failure.

-3- BANS any "regional system" for commercial DRM’s and media formats, such asThis could harm industry developing nascent standards in test markets that have yet to be adopted worldwide.

We would likely have supported a resolution that simply assured that each nation would permit the sale of globally-standard players. However, there should be a chance for local standards, which could be improvements over existing global standards, a chance to compete fairly against entrenched technologies.

Remember that, in terms of digital media, standards and technologies are changing so quickly that, no sooner are certain formats becoming widespread than they are already declared obsolete.

Since DVD region removal needs to be repealed first, consider drafting this again with language that is more progressive and adaptive to new nascent technology.

I do like the idea that you might put certain standards in international trust, but might this actually backfire and keep certain commercial providers away if they felt that their research and development might end up without profit, seeing their designs put in public trust?

I believe we need to encourage worldwide standards, and definitely lower the barriers to trade, but we have to be prudent to not squat on the market and enforce certain standards over others not even envisioned at this time.

Regional variations should also be permissible so long as overseas export of such regional equipment, and importation of international standard equipment are allowed without prohibitive tarriff or licensing.

I understand your intent, but again, use prudent language and think through things from both an internationalist, as well as a parochial mindset (in the best sense of each word).

If they both reach quorum, the replacement will be in queue before the repeal of DVD region removal. Unless DVD region removal is repealed first, this one is illegal.

thanks for you post

The author, Richard2008, posted the following on the mods forum:


Dear Mods,
We wanted to check on this before submitting our resolution- We don't think that our proposition "Worldwide media standards" will be a duplication violation of resolution #5. We are refering to the following jurisprudence about UNCoESB, dolphins and whales
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=437778&highlight=uncoesb

In the same way as #119 "UNCoESB" was not a duplication of #106 "Protection of Dolphins Act" and #70 "Banning whaling"; we think our proposal is broad enough and that it doesn't qualify as redundancy.

Furthermore "regional system" is one of the different clause of the proposition along with DRM, piracy, encouragement of the growth of the entertainment industry and regulation of the cost of patent licensing in this area

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=444102

We are pleased to inform UN delegates that:

"DRM and Media Act" get already 115 approvals (13 missing)

and

"Repeal "DVD region removal"" get 121 approvals (7 missing)

http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi/93357/page=UN_proposal/start=15

We hope some UN delegates will consider our 2 propositions and add their approvals, in order they will reach quorum

"DRM and Media Act" is now 6 Approvals from quorum

and "Repeal "DVD region removal"" only 4.

Please, We invite every UN delegate to consider approving these 2 propositions.

http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi/page=UN_proposal1/match=drm
and
http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi/page=UN_proposal1/match=removal


Thanks a lot

It looks like the DRM resolution failed to reach quorum. We would like to call upon all delegates not to support the resolution in the interest of the global economy, which will not profit from the restrictions of that resolution.

It looks like the DRM resolution failed to reach quorum. We would like to call upon all delegates not to support the resolution in the interest of the global economy, which will not profit from the restrictions of that resolution.

Should it be resubmitted, we concur... for this and other reasons.

bump

I am pleased to find the repeal proposal seems to be passing whereas the promotion proposal has failed.

I believe that the proposal to promote worldwide media formats was misguided in principle. There were at least two separate points on which I found the proposal lacking:

1) firstly, the failure to distinguish between true cultural exchange and the entertainment industry. The proposal held that all UN member nations should commit themselves to promote the entertainment industry. We however feel that there is a difference between the entertainment industry and certain higher pursuits, such as are normally referred to as art. Only the latter should in our opinion be promoted by political institutions. In addition we feel the separation between art and entertainment, incidentally only one of which is normally associated with the term "industry", and with good reason, is a tricky and complicated issue not to be regulated by such crude measures as a few hundred words of UN legislation.

2) As has already been pointed out, notably by Listeneisse, promoting the development of a truly universal format - which may or may not be a good idea - does not necessarily mean we should BAN other formats. Banning other formats would mean
a) that there would be no possibility for the free development of new and better technologies, and
b) that the basic rights of people who happen for one reason or another to prefer, say, vinyl over CD's, would be violated, and
c) that in situations where different formats may be truly more practical than others, we would have less choice.

For all these and also some other reasons, some of which Groot Gouda was good enough to put into words, I feel the UN should feel nothing but relief at taking its hands off this issue unless some, excuse the wordplay, more constructive and less constrictive ideas be proposed.

-4-URGES all Nations to uphold legislation against any media sharing, distribution, or reproduction methods which are widely considered piracy

The Dominion of Greater Onactia is opposed to such legislation due to the fact that banning any sort of piracy would go against the religious beliefs of a majority of citizens in our nation, 90% of which are pastafarian and believe that if piracy ceases to exist, our suprieme deity, the Flying Spaghetti Monster will become angered and continue to raise global temperatures until the world becomes a blazing inferno.

Flying Spaghetti Monster...outstanding! :D