[Passed] The Crashing, Phishing and Spamming Reform Act (The C.P.S.R. Act)

[Vivanco]

My fellow members of The North Pacific, I come to you once again to bring to your attention another reform of our Criminal Code within our Legal Code.

As it currently stands, the structure followed by our Legal Code is to disclose and delimit the actions of those interacting in our region, where we have legal sovereignity, in the form of either rights or crimes. In what's referred to crimes, they follow a simple structure: Name of the crime and Concept of the crime.

It's clear from the E.T.A. Act the need of properly adapt some of the structural parts of the legal code to follow the same coherence, and upon simple view, we find a clear discrepancy.

While we have a list and go crime by crime, we then find Section 1.5 that holds not one crime, or two in one act such as it was the former Section 1.4 and the old definition or Perjury, but three different crimes. Crashing, Phishing, and Spamming. For those unaware on the reason behind these crimes, this comes from the Convention on Off Site Property Security, from 2008.

The only thing we can find in this treaty on the method these crimes to be placed upon is to all to "enact laws against acts proscribed in this Treaty or on a regional or organizational basis."

Is based on this that I see no reason other than formality to keep them crumbled in a single article, when the same can be achieved in a more accessible, and more digestible way with different sections for each of these crimes. However, I don't see it necessary to update Section 2.6 of the Legal Code within our Penal Code for, if the penalities for these crimes ought to be the same by the original redactors, I shall leave it to the general debate in the Regional Assembly to give their arguments on if this part should be updated as well, but I don't think so.

I would also like to add a further modification to these crimes by expanding the crime of Spamming, which by its current regulation, who's redaction comes directly from the convention, states that it will only be considered as a crime in the case of it coming from any non-region national, giving a leap of juditial insecurity in the case of a national ocassionating such spamming.

This addition would also come at the reasoning that if the crime is committed by people who are non-region nationals, this leeway could have the members of our region, if one would even do such a thing, th be considered exempt of responsability, for as the current writing of the Bill of Rights, Article 7, the trials are only mentioned to be for "Nations of The North Pacific", but this whole discussion shall be for another debate.

For this, I present foward the following reform:

Chapter 1 of the Legal Code is amended to read as follows:

Chapter 1: Criminal Code

1. No criminal case may be brought before the Court of the North Pacific against any resident for any crime not listed in the Criminal Code.

Section 1.1: Treason
2. "Treason" is defined as taking arms or providing material support to a group or region for the purpose of undermining or overthrowing the lawful government of The North Pacific or any of its treatied allies as governed by the Constitution.
3. Specifically, no player maintaining a nation in a region or organization at war with TNP may maintain a nation within TNP, or participate in the governance thereof, for the duration of hostilities.
4. At this time, there are no regions or organizations at war with TNP. At this time TNP is allied with Balder, Equilism, Europe, Europeia, Greater Dienstad, International Democratic Union, Lazarus, Osiris, Stargate, Taijitu, The East Pacific, the Rejected Realms, and the South Pacific.
5. The Speaker will update the preceding clause as appropriate.

Section 1.2: Espionage
6. "Espionage" is defined as sharing information with a group or region when that act of sharing has not been legitimately sanctioned by the entity the information is gathered from, as limited by this section.
7. The information shared must not be accessible to a person who is not a member of the region or group it is gathered from except by cracking technical security measures.
8. The information must be gathered from The North Pacific or a foreign power the Regional Assembly has ratified a treaty of alliance with.
9. The preceding clause also applies to foreign powers that the Regional Assembly has, by treaties other than alliances, agreed to prohibit espionage against.
10. The Regional Assembly has ratified treaties of alliance with Balder, Equilism, Europe, Europeia, Greater Dienstad, International Democratic Union, Stargate, Tajitu, The East Pacific, the Rejected Realms, and the South Pacific.
11. The Speaker will update the preceding clause as appropriate.

Section 1.3: Fraud
12. "Election fraud" is defined as the willful deception of residents with regards to the candidates running, the time and venue of the elections, or the requirements and methods by which one may be eligible to vote or run for office.
13. "Fraud" is defined as an intentional deception, by falsehood or omission, made for some benefit or to damage another individual.

Section 1.4: Perjury
14. "Perjury" is defined as the willful provision of deceptive testimony provided under oath with the intent to deceive in a criminal trial being heard by the Court of The North Pacific.

Section 1.5: Evidence Tampering
15. "Evidence Tampering" is defined as the willful manipulation or destruction in any way of evidence with the intent to deceive in a criminal trial being heard by the Court of The North Pacific

Section 1.6. Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming
16. "Crashing" is defined as any unauthorized action which could cause a forum to go out of service or lose information, including the deletion of posts, the deletion of a forum, spamming, or any other act of such kind.
17. "Phishing" is defined as any attempts to gain access to off-site property controls or passwords by deception, especially by posing as administrators or moderators for any unauthorized use.
18. Phishing also includes the collection of personal information kept at the Forum.
19. "Spamming" is defined as any action by non-region nationals to waste space or cause shock on any off-site property or regional message board to make it unusable.
20. Spamming includes any attempts to force a DOS error on forums and any attempts to flood the RMB of a region which is not that nation's normal abode.
21. No Nation of The North Pacific may perform, order, condone, or accept as legal, Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming.

Section 1.7. Phishing
17. "Phishing" is defined as any attempts to gain access to off-site property controls or passwords by deception, especially by posing as administrators or moderators for any unauthorized use.
18. Phishing also includes the collection of personal information kept at the Forum.

Section 1.8. Spamming
19. "Spamming" is defined as any actions to waste space or cause shock on any off-site property or regional message board to make it unusable.
20. Spamming includes any attempts to force a DOS error on forums and any attempts to flood the RMB of a region which is not that nation's normal abode.

Section 1.9: Proxying
21. "Proxying" is defined as use of a proxy server to render a forum user anonymous or any practice which allows a member multiple accounts.
22. Forum administrators will inform the Government and Court of Proxying they observe.

Section 1.10. Adspam
23. Recruitment for other regions on the Regional Message board may be regulated or prohibited by Delegate Decree.

Section 1.11. Conspiracy
24. "Conspiracy" is defined as planning, attempting, or helping to commit any crime under this criminal code.

Section 1.12. Gross Misconduct
25. "Gross Misconduct" is defined as the violation of an individual's legally mandated sworn oath, either willfully or through negligence.

Section 1.11. Exceptions
26. Exceptions for treason, espionage or proxying may be given to members of the military and intelligence services with the consent of the Delegate and the appropriate Minister when on officially sanctioned missions for the purposes of preserving regional security.

 

[Vivanco]

I have also deleted the "21. No Nation of The North Pacific may perform, order, condone, or accept as legal, Crashing, Phishing, or Spamming.", for if it's considered a crime, it would be redundant to say that no nation should accept it as legal.

 

[Dreadton]

I like how 1.8.20 has always been worded that spamming is a crime if done to another regions RMB if you live in TNP, but not a crime if you live in TNP and spam the TNP RMB.

 

[Vivanco]

I like how 1.8.20 has always been worded that spamming is a crime if done to another regions RMB if you live in TNP, but not a crime if you live in TNP and spam the TNP RMB.

That's something that has bugged me since the day I've read it, and I believe this can fix that juditial insecurity situation.

 

[Great Bights Mum]

The law allows us to spam our own RMB because there were times when spamming the RMB was necessary to preserve the link to the forum which had been removed by some bad-boy delegate.

 

[bootsie]

The law allows us to spam our own RMB because there were times when spamming the RMB was necessary to preserve the link to the forum which had been removed by some bad-boy delegate.

So is that something you are in favor of keeping in the law, or think it should be changed now that those occasions aren't as common?

 

[Comfed]

The law allows us to spam our own RMB because there were times when spamming the RMB was necessary to preserve the link to the forum which had been removed by some bad-boy delegate.

I’m not really sure how much section 1.8.20 of the criminal code is important in that situation

Anyways, it doesn’t matter very much because spamming is against NS rules and thus a reason for summary banjection.

 

[Great Bights Mum]

What I mean is the law was enacted during a time when older RMB posts could not be viewed. Once your words scrolled off, they were lost to the ages. You or someone else had to re-post the information, and rather frequently at times. On the other hand, the law also pre-dates post suppression, which is certainly a tool that a rogue would use to silence opposition. I just wanted to clarify what the RA was taking into account at the time.

So... I'm not sure it is needed, so long as we continue to elect fine, upstanding, loyal delegates. Yet I also do not see a benefit to removing that protection.

 

[Pallaith]

GBM, I don’t think it really works as a protection. And in the event you need to spam because of a rogue delegate, I would submit that following TNP’s legal code is a bit beside the point. I think we would employ whatever tools we need to employ in those situations, and good faith civil disobedience won’t be held against such people. What we have here is a quirk that allows us to tangle ourselves in red tape and trip when we don’t have to. Tear this tape out.

 

[Great Bights Mum]

I don't think it is much of a protection anymore either, for the reasons I stated above. But take note, the legal code is "beside the point" until you are the one being hauled up on charges for civil (or not so civil) disobedience.

 

[Vivanco]

About GBM's arguments, I should comment that in the current wording of the article in the modifications, there is a clear mens rea, a clear motive for prosecution that would make it a crime to spam, that is if it's done in order to make it unusable. So, keeping that in mind it is not only the action that is punished, but the motive that goes along with it.

 

[Vivanco]

The law allows us to spam our own RMB because there were times when spamming the RMB was necessary to preserve the link to the forum which had been removed by some bad-boy delegate.

That would still be allowed for the reasoning explained above (mens rea).

 

[Tinhampton]

Isn't 1.8.21 as it is to facilitate COPS compliance?

 

[Whole India]

I liked the changes. Thumbs up from my side.

 

[Dreadton]

If we are in a coup, wouldnt the Emergency Situation clauses start kicking in?

 

[Vivanco]

Isn't 1.8.21 as it is to facilitate COPS compliance?

It is, however, I find it redundant to have it in the Legal Code.
With the signing of COPS, we are already agreeing to such status, and when adding it to the list of crimes within the Criminal Code, we would be as well facilitating COPS complaince, since we can all agree that it won't be accepted as legal (for obvious reasons, such as being considered a crime), and when added as a crime it will also direct to the fact that they won't be able to condone a crime, order a crime, or more specifically, perform a crime.

 

[Vivanco]

If we are in a coup, wouldnt the Emergency Situation clauses start kicking in?

Yes, as far as I'm concerned (Chapter 8; Section 8.4 of the Legal Code)
I don't see the correlation with this and the amendment at hand

 

[Dreadton]

Yes, as far as I'm concerned (Chapter 8; Section 8.4 of the Legal Code)
I don't see the correlation with this and the amendment at hand

We were talking about the need to spam our own RMB and bing charged for it when we have a rouge delegate

 

[Vivanco]

We were talking about the need to spam our own RMB and bing charged for it when we have a rouge delegate

Ah! I see. Well, in that case, the Emergency Situation clauses would kick in without need of declaration of emergency by the RA.

 

[Vivanco]

If there is no further comment;

I would like to motion this for a vote.

 

[Praetor]

So is that something you are in favor of keeping in the law, or think it should be changed now that those occasions aren't as common?

Why not just make those situations more common instead?

 

[bootsie]

The motion to vote is noted. Formal Debate shall begin for a period of 5 days, ending at (time=1638451800) (your forum time). Voting will begin approximately at (time=1638495000) (your forum time)