Yulai - CONCORD asked the organizers of the Alliance Tournament for a list of every alliance entering, the name of their captain, and what organization they are representing. The public refusal of the request has brought CONCORD under fire from several corners.
"Quite frankly, that information is none of their business," said Ryuk Archer, one of the representatives for the Bank of Luminaire. "It's a violation of privacy and decency to make that request."
According to CONCORD representatives, the information was only for research and filing purposes and nothing else. "To consider that we would do something untoward with this information is quite frankly ridiculous," said Vice-Admiral Rem Mustang. "The alliance tournaments are becoming more and more important among the pod pilot community. As an organization that regulated interstellar peace and trade - which pod pilots have a large influence on - information on the tournament is very important to us to remain informed."
Many, including the tournament organizers, remain unconvinced. "It's obvious that they want this information so they can easily mark who has decided to represent the so-called 'pirate factions'," said Jaguara Yagami, an expert on capsuleer-empire politics. "Obviously, claiming to support the actions of an organization isn't illegal in two of the four empires, nor to CONCORD itself. So even with the information, it's unlikely anything would immediately come of it. However, I can easily see them assigning closer watch to those who support the factions CONCORD doesn't like."
"If all CONCORD wants the information for is records keeping," said Archer, "then they can have it after the tournament is over."
CONCORD has stated it will not pressure the tournament organizers for the information.