NationStates Jolt Archive

Greetings, fellow national leaders! I am Serennco, currently proposing the United Nations Resolution "Software Restriction Act".

Obviously, some of you might be worried about the 'restriction' part of the title. Contrary to what you might believe, the act is targeted not at individuals trying to override DVD regional restrictions, but at those individuals who create malware, which we all hate. Spammers, viruses, worms, Trojan horses, adware, spyware.

This Act will restrict the creation and propagation of such malware, and punishing individuals who insist on harming society. The only individuals who will be negatively effected by this act are the criminals who create such evil conceptions. Stability and productivity on the Internet, or even off the Internet, will drastically improve, as national police forces will be authorized to remove dangerous individuals responsible for these counter-productive crimes.

The full text of this proposal can be found in the UN Proposals section, under the title of "Software Restriction Act". If you have any questions about the Act, please feel free to send me a personal telegram - "Corporate Dictatorship of Serenneco". Other than that, all I can do is urge you to support this resolution, for the good of the people!

Death to Viagra spam! Death to 1,000,000th Visitor pop-ups!

-Serenneco-

For future reference, it's considered polite to post a copy of your proposal in the thread where you advertise it...

I apologies for this lack of foresight. The complete text is NOW listed below:

1. DEFINING "software" as any computer program that performs a task on any computer system;

2. DEFINING "malware" as any computer program whose function is primarily to intrude and/or damage the property, productivity and/or pursuit of happiness of other individuals, primarily any form of electronic data, either directly or indirectly;

3. RECOGNIZING the dangers posed by malware to general productivity and efficiency, in the economic, social and political contexts;

4. BANNING the development of any for of malware technology, including the creation of and/or modification of existing malware technology by private individuals, except under the authorization of government agents;

5. BANNING the adaptation of software that would not be considered malware to perform a function similar to or identical to a malware program by private individuals, except under the authorization of government agents;

6. ORDERING the destruction of all existing malware possessed by private individuals, including the deletion of all computer code that creates a malware program, both electronic copies and physical copies;

7. AUTHORIZING all national governments to confiscate any media of data retention suspected or known to contain malware, including, but not limited to, computer hard drives, Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM), external electronic data devices and/or paper printouts;

8. ORDERING the creation of an international agency run by the United Nations, to be called the "United National International Malware Analysis Agency", abbreviated herein as UNIMAA, whose function it is to keep electronic records of all known forms of malware, and to employ a staff of experts from United Nations Member States to analyze malware, and help develop computer software capable of nullifying the effects of malware, and informing national governments of United Nations Member States of relevant security risks posed by malware;

9. DESIGNATING any network that willing and knowingly stores data relevant to the creation, modification and/or application of malware, including electronic copies of malware, as illegal organizations, and ordering their immediate dissolution by police forces, as designated by the national government.

Logopia shares Serenneco's concern about malicious software. However we cannot support this proposal in its current form

1. DEFINING "software" as ...

2. DEFINING "malware" as any computer program whose function is primarily to intrude and/or damage the property, productivity and/or pursuit of happiness of other individuals, primarily any form of electronic data, either directly or indirectly;

Given that malware is defined as a computer program, we do not see the relevance of defining "software" in the first clause. Perhaps this clause should say "DEFINING "malware" as any software whose... ".

More importantly, we are concerned about the definition of malware not being clear about the software commonly known as "spyware", and that it doesn't seem to include software whose function is to display advertisements(forcibly and without authorization).

We are also not comfortable with the inclusion of "the pursuit of happines". This seems like a term best suited to be used in a declaration of rights than in a technical definition.



4. BANNING the development of any for of malware technology, including the creation of and/or modification of existing malware technology by private individuals, except under the authorization of government agents;

5. BANNING the adaptation of software that would not be considered malware to...



Perhaps the text would be more clear if the clauses from number four were expressed in a more "action-indicating" manner:
4.BANS...
5.BANS...
6.ORDERS...
7.AUTHORIZES...
8.ORDERS...
9.DESIGNATES...

There is a typo, in clause four, I believe it was mant to say form of malware

Since we believe there are instances in which the creation of malware would be legitimate, we like it that these clauses allow national governments to permit the creation of malware. However we also believe that the distribution of this soft of software should also be regulated. We would be more willing to support this proposal if it were included.

6. ORDERING the destruction of all existing malware possessed by private individuals...

As much as we share Serenneco's desire, we can't support this clause. We seriously doubt it is enforceable

7. AUTHORIZING all national governments to confiscate...

We have nothing against the clause per se, but we do not believe national governments actually need UN authorization to confiscate materials that are considered illegal.

8. ORDERING the creation of an international agency run by the United Nations, to be called the "United National International Malware Analysis Agency", abbreviated herein as UNIMAA, whose function it is to keep electronic records of all known forms of malware, and to employ a staff of experts from United Nations Member States to analyze malware, and help develop computer software capable of nullifying the effects of malware, and informing national governments of United Nations Member States of relevant security risks posed by malware;

As per the rules of UN proposals (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=420465), I am not sure if the proposed staffing is actually legal.

9. DESIGNATING any network that willing and knowingly stores data relevant to the creation, modification and/or application of malware, including electronic copies of malware, as illegal organizations, and ordering their immediate dissolution by police forces, as designated by the national government.

We must admint that the word network confused us at first. Given the context of the proposal, it seemed to refer to a computer network, and not to an organization, which is what we believe you are trying to outlaw.

More importantly, we believe that this clause should include organizations that create or distribute malware or that assist those activities in any way whatsoever. We see no reason to limit it to the storing of data.




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Iris Fairchild
Logopian Ambassador to The U.N.