Made In Express: The Contest

TheLibyanGuy wrote:

I tried to fill in the form for entering the competition
at this url:
http://www.madeinexpress.com/entry.asp

and was disapointed when I couldn't find my country "Libya" listed in the countries  list box  .. 
So I will not participate until such an issue would be corrected ..

I hope that this was an error and not based on prejudice or racist view on your part ...

TheLibyanGuy wrote:

Mr Dan

I don't see any justificastion of your explanation but utter ignorance and misunderstanding ...
Just to keep you in the know .. I assure you that Microsoft is already officially doing business in Libya..
And the rules you put in your contest are unfair .. just for the sake of argument rephrase your rule number 5 to read as follows:

"5) ELIGIBILITY: This Contest is open to individuals 13 years of age or older at time of entry. Void where prohibited by law, including the countries of Germany, Italy, France , Malta and Mexico .  etc...."

I'm sure that such a rule would be considered unfair and unjust.


And another argument is that any person above 13 years may participate .. So let's assume that some-one  under 16 was considering participation .. According to you rules he'll be accepted if he is above 13 .. In other words such a person would fall in the age range of 13 to 16 .. and hence he would be considered as a child ..
And this rule would be a violation to his right because someone from the mentioned countries would not be allowed .. in contrary to the
"United Nations General Assembly adopted Convention on the Rights of the Child" and specifically Article 2 which states:

Article 2
1. States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.

see http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/pdf/crc.pdf for more details


SO I would kindly ask you to remove rule number (5) from your contest rules which I consider offensive and unfair ..

May be such a rule slips un-noticed due to the frequent usage in various instances, but for me I do recognize it's negative impact on many people...

Thanks for your Reconsideration ..

Noting that I had been a regular visitor to your excellent Channel9 site

Hello again,

Below is the response from our legal counsel with regards to Libyan participation in the contest:

Thanks for your inquiry.  Unfortunately U.S. Export Administration regulations and trade sanctions restrict U.S. Corporations from conducting certain types of business in the countries mentioned in the ineligible list in the official rules.  As Microsoft could be prohibited from sending a resident of those countries a prize, we have voided the contest in those countries.   Please understand that these decisions are solely based on United State laws.

With regards to the age requirement, for various reasons including privacy protection, Microsoft has determined that 13 years is an appropriate age at which to limit entry.  We appreciate your interest in the contest, however, the rules as published govern the execution and administration of the contest and they will not be altered.   But we do appreciate your thoughtful comments and will take them into consideration when planning future contests.

Thanks,
-Dan