[GA- PASSED] Repeal: “Whistleblower Protection Act”

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General Assembly Resolution #539 “Whistleblower Protection Act” (Category: Civil Rights; Strength: Significant) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.

The World Assembly finds as follows:

1. Privacy is an important right. People who work for the government have privacy rights in the same way normal citizens do. The vast majority of people who work for the government, being inferior officers thereof, take salaries and live peacefully. The provision in section 4, which indemnifies media outlets from punishment for "the dissemination of financial information of a government official", is at best the World Assembly saying that "if you have nothing to fear, you have nothing to hide". At worst, it opens government workers to identity theft and harassment. Privacy rights are sometimes overridden by other important public interests. Release of such information should be judged on a case-by-case basis: a civil servants' personal financial information should not be turned into public knowledge without a credible suspicion of malfeasance.
   
   
2. Section 3 prohibits the media from publishing a person's personally identifying information (such as names) unless that person is party to a crime committed by a government official. This is a substantial limit on the freedom of the press: media outlets would no longer be able to report on crimes committed entirely by private individuals and unconnected to government action. This not only harms press freedom, but also the ability of the press to report on private misdeeds, meaning more unethical behaviour goes unreported, harming society writ large.
   
   
3. Section 6(a) prohibits 'seek[ing] legal recourse' for libel unless the statement was "proven to be demonstrably false". "Proven" is in the past tense. Such a bar in effect closes off all recourse: to have something proven false in a court of law, it must first be proved before a judge, which cannot directly happen because "seek[ing] legal recourse" is prohibited. Both governments and citizens ought to have a right not to be lied about, destroying that right indulges in the worst incentives for misinformation and slander.
   
   
4. Replacement for this vital legislation should be passed which corrects these flaws.

Now, therefore, be "Whistleblower Protection Act" repealed.

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Note: Only votes from TNP WA nations and NPA personnel will be counted. If you do not meet these requirements, please add (non-WA) or something of that effect to your vote.

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Voting Instructions:

• Vote For if you want the Delegate to vote For the resolution.
• Vote Against if you want the Delegate to vote Against the resolution.
• Vote Abstain if you want the Delegate to abstain from voting on this resolution.
• Vote Present if you are personally abstaining from this vote.

Detailed opinions with your vote are appreciated and encouraged!

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Overview
This proposal aims to repeal GAR #539, "Whistleblower Protection Act" owing to the target Resolution preventing civil and criminal penalties being imposed for libel, its inadvertent prohibition of media entities publishing identifying information of individuals involved in unethical or criminal activities unrelated to government activities, and its indemnification of media entities that propagate the financial information of any government officials.

Recommendation
GAR #539 was written with benevolent intentions and attempted to tackle a significant area of concern for the General Assembly. However, the flaws pointed out by the authors (one of whom, Hulldom, is in fact the author of the target Resolution) are too serious to ignore. The haphazard dissemination of the personal financial information of government officials- the vast majority being otherwise mundane, lower-level officials- has the potential to yield catastrophic consequences for those not involved in any sort of impropriety. The apparent accidental restriction upon media entities seeking to report on the wrongdoings of individuals where said misdeeds are not related to government activities effectively neuters the ability of the press to inform the public of unethical conduct. As for the authors' point about libel, we wholeheartedly agree with their assessment that "... Both governments and citizens ought to have a right not to be lied about." Given that we are assured of a suitable replacement to this Resolution, and that the original author of the target Resolution has taken on the responsibility to repeal their own flawed work, we look forward to the passage of this proposal.

For the above reasons, the Ministry of World Assembly Affairs recommends a vote For the General Assembly Resolution at vote, Repeal: "Whistleblower Protection Act".

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For. As mentioned on the Forums, I assume there will be a replacement coming soon? And yes I did read the resolution in compliance with GAR#122, in case anyone asks.

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Against

Abstain

Until there is coupled legislation to replace it, I'm not ready to repeal it.

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I believe there is a replacement on the way.

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Present. Evidently democracy is being fickle once more and the Comrades' Assembly has little time to vote on this matter at this time.

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For (non-WA. Due to it being having one of the authors is the original author and is repealing their legislation in favor I believe of a better one, I am wholeheartedly in support for this proposal. Also, there is quite a bit of things that will need to be worked on to make this proposal better and that is another reason for the support.