Saturday, September 29, 2007
Real time manifesto (after the Tales of Tales)_part2
Part2
Be an author.
Do not hide behind the freedom of the user in an interactive environment to ignore your responsibility
as a creator.
This only ends in confirming cliches.
Do not design in board room meetings or give marketeers creative power.
Your work needs to come from a singular vision and be driven by a personal passion.
Do not delegate direction jobs.
Be a dictator.
But collaborate with artisans more skilled than you.
Ignore the critics and the fanboys.
Make work for your audience instead.
Embrace the ambiguity that the realtime medium excells in.
Leave interpretation open where appropriatebut keep the user focused and immersed the worlds
that you create.
Commercial games are conservative, both in design as in mentality.
They eschew authorship, pretending to offer the player a neutral vessel to take him or her through
the virtual world.
But the refusal to author results in a mimicing of generally accepted notions, of television and
other mass media.
Banality.
Reject pure commercialism.
Individual elements of many commercial games made with craft and care produce artistic effects
but the overall product is not art.
Some commercial games have artistic moments,
but we need to go further.
Step one: drop the requirement of making a game.
The game structure of rules and competition stands in the way of expressiveness.
Interactivity wants to be free.
Gaming stands in the way of playing.
There are so many other ways of interacting in virtual environments.
We have only just begun to discover the possibilities.
Games are games.
They are ancient forms of play that have their place in our societies.
But they are by far not the only things one can do with realtime technologies.
Stop making games.
Be an author.
Be an author.
Do not hide behind the freedom of the user in an interactive environment to ignore your responsibility
as a creator.
This only ends in confirming cliches.
Do not design in board room meetings or give marketeers creative power.
Your work needs to come from a singular vision and be driven by a personal passion.
Do not delegate direction jobs.
Be a dictator.
But collaborate with artisans more skilled than you.
Ignore the critics and the fanboys.
Make work for your audience instead.
Embrace the ambiguity that the realtime medium excells in.
Leave interpretation open where appropriatebut keep the user focused and immersed the worlds
that you create.
Commercial games are conservative, both in design as in mentality.
They eschew authorship, pretending to offer the player a neutral vessel to take him or her through
the virtual world.
But the refusal to author results in a mimicing of generally accepted notions, of television and
other mass media.
Banality.
Reject pure commercialism.
Individual elements of many commercial games made with craft and care produce artistic effects
but the overall product is not art.
Some commercial games have artistic moments,
but we need to go further.
Step one: drop the requirement of making a game.
The game structure of rules and competition stands in the way of expressiveness.
Interactivity wants to be free.
Gaming stands in the way of playing.
There are so many other ways of interacting in virtual environments.
We have only just begun to discover the possibilities.
Games are games.
They are ancient forms of play that have their place in our societies.
But they are by far not the only things one can do with realtime technologies.
Stop making games.
Be an author.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
transmission transgression
WIRE FRAUD - 18 USC 1343, makes it a Federal crime or offense for anyone to use interstate wire communications facilities in carrying out a scheme to defraud.
A person can be found guilty of that offense only if all of the following facts are proved beyond a reasonable doubt:
First: That the person knowingly and willfully devised a scheme to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false pretenses, representations or promises; and
Second: That the person knowingly transmitted or caused to be transmitted by wire in interstate commerce some sound for the purpose of executing the scheme to defraud.
It is not necessary that the Government prove all of the details concerning the precise nature and purpose of the scheme; or that the material transmitted by wire was itself false or fraudulent; or that the alleged scheme actually succeeded in defrauding anyone; or that the use of interstate wire communications facilities was intended as the specific or exclusive means of accomplishing the alleged fraud.
What must be proved is that the person knowingly and willfully devised or intended to devise a scheme to defraud; and that the use of the interstate wire communications facilities was closely related to the scheme because the person either wired something or caused it to be wired in interstate commerce in an attempt to execute or carry out the scheme.
To "cause" interstate wire facilities to be used is to do an act with knowledge that the use of the wires will follow in the ordinary course of business or where such use can reasonably be foreseen.
Each separate use of the interstate wire facilities in furtherance of a scheme to defraud constitutes a separate offense.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Real time manifesto (after the Tales of Tales)
REALTIME ART MANIFESTO
1. Realtime 3D is a medium for artistic expression.
Games are not the only things you can make with realtime 3D technology.
And modification of commercial games is not the only option accessible to artists.
Realtime 3D is the most remarkable new creative technology since oil on canvas.
It is much too important to remain in the hands of toy makers and propaganda machines.
We need to rip the technology out of their greedy claws and put them to shame by producingthe
most stunning art to grace this planet so far.
(And claim the name “game” for what we do even if it is inappropriate.)
Real-time 3d interactives can be an art form unto themselves.
Do not render!
All elements serve the realisation of the piece as a whole.
Models, textures, sound, interaction, environment, atmosphere, drama, story, programming are
all equally important.
Do not rely on static renderings.
Everything happens in real time.
The visuals as well as the logic.
Create multi-sensorial experiences.
Simulate sensorial sensations for which output hardware does not exist (yet).
Make the experience feel real (it does not need to look real).
to be continued:
Thursday, September 20, 2007
MMORPG
Are MMO worlds ideal late capitalist machinebased on the social interaction
play and cultural simulation
or they can be seen as ideal
social laboratories based on
social interaction, play
and cultural simulation?'
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
CONTROL TACTICS /THE PLAN : phase one_press assault
.....on the darker side, there are also weapons armouries in SL where people can get access to guns, including automatic weapons and AK47s. Searches of the SL website show there are three jihadi terrorists registered and two elite jihadist terrorist groups.
With the game taking such a sinister turn, terrorism experts are warning that SL attacks have ramifications for the real world. Just as September 11 terrorists practised flying planes on simulators in preparation for their deadly assault on US buildings, law enforcement agencies believe some of those behind the Second Life attacks are home-grown Australian jihadists who are rehearsing for strikes against real targets. Terrorist organisations al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah traditionally sent potential jihadists to train in military camps in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Southeast Asia. But due to increased surveillance and intelligence-gathering, they are swapping some military training to online camps to evade detection and avoid prosecution.
Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside al-Qaeda, says it is a new phenomena that, until now, has not been openly discussed outside the intelligence community….”They are rehearsing their operations in Second Life because they don’t have the opportunity to rehearse in the real world”
With the game taking such a sinister turn, terrorism experts are warning that SL attacks have ramifications for the real world. Just as September 11 terrorists practised flying planes on simulators in preparation for their deadly assault on US buildings, law enforcement agencies believe some of those behind the Second Life attacks are home-grown Australian jihadists who are rehearsing for strikes against real targets. Terrorist organisations al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah traditionally sent potential jihadists to train in military camps in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Southeast Asia. But due to increased surveillance and intelligence-gathering, they are swapping some military training to online camps to evade detection and avoid prosecution.
Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside al-Qaeda, says it is a new phenomena that, until now, has not been openly discussed outside the intelligence community….”They are rehearsing their operations in Second Life because they don’t have the opportunity to rehearse in the real world”
a message sent to A/SA/SYN from the dotcommune
A Spectre is haunting multinational capitalism--the spectre of free information. All the powers of ``globalism'' have entered into an unholy alliance to exorcize this spectre: Microsoft and Disney, the World Trade Organization, the United States Congress and the European Commission.
the bill of rights VERSUS the right to force
1. Freedom of Opinion, Expression, thought and conscience.
2.Right to Privacy and Anonymity
3.Right to Due Process
including the Right to an Effective Remedy
and a fair Hearing of Avatarpeers
4. Right to the Presumption of Innocence
5. Freedom from Arbitrary Suspension or Banning
6. Right to Cryptography
7. Right to Access to the Grid
including the right of access to any publicly available information,
restricted only by the cost to disclose.
8. Right to avatar life and liberty
9. Right to be free from cruel, in-avataran and degrading punishment
10.Right to Dignity
11.Right to Equal Protection of the Rules governing SL
12.Freedom of Assembly and Association
13.Freedom of Movement
14.Freedom of Access to Information
15.Freedom of Access to Information Infrastructure
16.Adequate standard of Connectivity
17.Rights in and to all property and copyright
including the right to control and license intellectual property
invested in original expressions.
18.Entitlement to Rights and Freedoms Without Distinction
19.The Right to accept any information from any source,
including the right to transform in any way any information
an avatar originates or receives.
20.The Right of every avatar to refuse to disclose any information
they originate or receive,
including the right to transmit any information
to any person or avatar received by them.
21.The Right to ignore information of any nature.
22.The Right to seek legal recourse for damages
caused by the actions and expressions of others.
23.The Right to publish any information in any public forum,
and to submit any information to any moderated forum,
limited only by intellectual property rights
but otherwise without censorship
of any kind by any forum moderator or the Developer.
24.The Right to distribute in electronic form any publicly available report,
policy, regulation or law.
25.The Right to require the Developer to observe,
discuss, refine and promote the rights and responsibilities of all SL Avatars
as those rights are identified in this document.
26.The Right to be free from contracts of adhesion and oppression.
the phantasm of democracy or direct action ?
THE SECOND LIFE CONSTITUTION
We the Avatars of Second Life, in Order to form a more perfect Virtual Grid Community, to establish Justice, to insure grid Tranquility, to promote the general Welfare, and to secure Liberty, Privacy, Persistence, and Connectivity to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this to be the Second Life Constitution.
Article. I.
Section 1.
All Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of Second Life, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Section. 2.
Clause 1: The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen to serve for one term of three (3) months at a general election by the Avatars of Second Life. The House shall provide for one Member for every 100,000 registered residents. The Developer shall implement the elective technology necessary to enable elections of these Representatives, at the rate of one Avatar one vote without regard to avatars with multiple accounts. Any Avatar that obtains the “signature” of 500 other Avatars shall receive a Writ of Election and be placed on the next ballot for election to the House. The Members with the highest number of popular votes shall constitute the Elected Representatives.
Clause 2: The Developer shall not participate in the election and it and its representatives shall do no more than provide the mechanism, maintain its integrity, announce the results, and archive the results for a twelve month period with all results to be transparent to the entire Population.
Clause 3: The Developer shall provide a sufficient number of adjacent sims to allow the then existing total number of Members to meet on a regular monthly basis to convene and consider the Business and Welfare of the Population.
Clause 4: All actions, directives, orders and requests by the House shall be approved by a simple majority vote of the Members attending at any regularly scheduled Meeting of Members. No quorum or minimum number of Members shall be required to be present to open the meeting or to take or commit any official act at any regularly scheduled Meeting of Members.
Clause 5: The House of Representatives shall retain exclusive responsibility for updating and managing the Open Letter Project and the Developer shall timely respond and address all issues raised in that letter to the satisfaction of a majority of the Members.
Clause 6: The Developer or its appointee, shall be the Speaker of the House and maintain decorum and professionalism throughout all proceedings and meetings. In the event the Developer or its appointee fails, is unable, or refuses to act, the Members may appoint a Substitute Speaker to oversee any regularly scheduled Member Meeting with all powers and authority of the original Speaker. The Substitute Speaker shall be appointed by a majority vote of the attending Members present at the regularly scheduled Monthly Meeting.
Section. 3.
Clause 1: The Second Life Senate shall be composed of all current landowners. Neither a landowner or tenant shall have any obligation or duty to act as a Senator; however, the right to act as a Senator shall not be abrogated and may be asserted at any time without regard to any action or non-action previously taken by that Senator.
Clause 2: Each Senator shall be entitled to one vote regardless of the amount of land owned.
Clause 3: The Developer or its appointee shall be the Speaker of the Senate. The Speaker of the Senate shall not be the same avatar as the Speaker of the House.
Clause 4: The term of a Senator shall be equal to the term of time the Senator remains a landowner.
Clause 5: The Senate shall have the exclusive sole Power to resolve all suspensions and bans initiated and/or proposed by the Developer that exceed a period of seven (7) consecutive days, or that aggregate to a total of thirty (30) days in any twelve month period of time.
Clause 6: The Senate shall have the exclusive sole Power to resolve all forfeitures initiated and/or proposed by the Developer in connection with any avatar’s property interests of any kind.
Clause 7: Any decisions, resolutions, orders, or directives issued by the Senate in connection with any matter except that which involves a forfeiture or any avatar’s property of any kind, shall be by a simple majority vote of the present Senators attending at a regularly scheduled Meeting of the Senators.
Clause 8: Any decisions, resolutions, orders, or directives issued by the Senate in connection with a permanent ban of privileges or rights of any kind, a suspension in aggregate totaling more than thirty (30) days in any twelve month period, or any forfeiture of any property of any Avatar of any kind, shall require a two-thirds vote of the present Senators attending at a regularly scheduled Meeting fof the Senators.
Clause 9: Neither the Developer nor any of its employees, appointees, surrogates, or other representatives of any kind shall intentionally cause a forfeiture of any Avatar’s property of any kind without the Senate’s approval as described above except in a situation that is deemed by the Developer to be an emergency situation threatening an un-repairable or irreversible substantial and material detrimental impact on the Second Life grid as a whole. In the event of such an Emergency, the Developer shall limit its actions to the minimum necessary to protect the community as a whole, and shall immediately notify all Senators by instant IM of the action taken and the reasons therefore. The Senate shall then immediately convene with the then available on-line Senators present and willing who shall review the action taken by the Developer and either Affirm, Reverse, or Modify in a directive directly to the Developer which shall be immediately accepted and implemented by the Developer.
Clause 10: The Senate shall be the High Court of the grid and vested with the authority to create lower courts for hearings of disputes between Avatars and to resolve all disputes appealed from the lower courts to the Senate. No punishment of any kind shall be imposed by the Senate without just notice and due process. The Senate shall be responsible for suggesting the notice and process requirements to be used by the Population, submitting the requirements to the Population for consideration and comment, revising the requirements consistent with the general populace sentiment, and the finalizing those requirements for submission to the Population for vote. The Developer shall submit the requirements as suggested by the Senate to the Population via each Avatar’s email account, explaining the process for comment, and ultimately to ensure each Avatar has been provided a reasonable opportunity to vote. The final requirements created by the Senate and approved by a simple majority of the voting Population shall be adopted and technologically implemented by the Developer.
Section. 4.
Clause 1: Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings which shall contain the vote of each Member and Senator to each issue presented, and from time to time, the Developer shall publish the same without censorship or editing.
Section. 5.
Clause 1: The Developer shall have Power To lay and collect Tier Taxes from land owners only, in amounts that are reasonably necessary to grow and maintain the grid consistent with the Powers and Rights reserved in this Constitution.
Clause 2: The Developer shall not have the right to regulate Commerce between Avatars. The regulation of commerce between Avatars shall not be regulated except as may be implemented by the Senate upon approval of a two-thirds majority vote by the general Population.
Clause 3: To Developer shall have the exclusive right to regulate the its Linden exchange and/or to modify, assign, and implement its Lindens as it deems fit in its own discretion.
Clause 4: The Developer shall have the continuing affirmative duty to promote the Progress of Science and Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Creations, Objects, Scripts, Writings and Discoveries.
Section. 6.
Clause 1: No ex post facto rules or technological devices shall be implemented by the Developer without two-thirds approval by the Senate and simple majority vote of the House.
Clause 2: No Preference shall be given by the Developer to any Avatar or corporate entity, except that the Developer may in its discretion provide preferences and assistance to any non or not for profit SL Group pursuing artistic goals or education as their primary priority.
Clause 3: The Developer shall not intentionally destroy, erase, or remove any creations, property, or script of any Avatar without a majority vote of both houses of Congress. The Developer may temporarily disable or suspend access to any creation, property, or script of any Avatar only for emergency reasons which the Developer believes in good faith cause an imminent danger to the functionality of the grid, or the property of another Avatar; however, any act by the Developer to disable or suspend access must be submitted for immediate review to the delegates of Congress identified by its Members for the receipt and resolution of any emergency suspensions or disablements
Article. II.
Section. 1.
Clause 1: There shall be no executive branch or executive Powers conferred on any Avatar, person, corporate or other legal entity, or the Developer; its assigns, employees, representatives, heirs, or appointees.
Article. III.
Section. 1.
The judicial Power of Second Life shall be vested in the Senate, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges shall be appointed by a simple majority vote of both houses, and shall hold their Offices for a period of one (1) year from the date of appointment provided they timely and reasonably attend to the matters assigned to them.
Section. 2.
Clause 1: The judicial Power of the Senate shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, including the Laws of each country from which the Avatars accounts originated to the extent that those laws are consistent between the Avatars involved in any dispute. In the event there is a conflict of laws, then the laws of the United States shall be deemed to prevail, and in the case of a conflict of laws between the several states of the United States from which the Avatars originate, then the law of the State of California shall prevail.
Clause 2: The Trial of all cases where suspension in excess of seven (7) days or banishment is a possibility, shall be by a Jury of twelve Avatars; and such Trial shall be held in the sim where the said act giving rise to the trial shall have been committed; but when not committed within any sim, the Trial shall be at such sim or sims as the Congress may by directive so direct.
Article. IV.
Section. 1.
Clause 1: All Avatars shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities across the grid.
Section. 2.
Second Life shall guarantee to every Avatar a continuing elective Form of Government.
Article. V.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution and shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by a two thirds vote of each House.
We the Avatars of Second Life, in Order to form a more perfect Virtual Grid Community, to establish Justice, to insure grid Tranquility, to promote the general Welfare, and to secure Liberty, Privacy, Persistence, and Connectivity to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this to be the Second Life Constitution.
Article. I.
Section 1.
All Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of Second Life, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Section. 2.
Clause 1: The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen to serve for one term of three (3) months at a general election by the Avatars of Second Life. The House shall provide for one Member for every 100,000 registered residents. The Developer shall implement the elective technology necessary to enable elections of these Representatives, at the rate of one Avatar one vote without regard to avatars with multiple accounts. Any Avatar that obtains the “signature” of 500 other Avatars shall receive a Writ of Election and be placed on the next ballot for election to the House. The Members with the highest number of popular votes shall constitute the Elected Representatives.
Clause 2: The Developer shall not participate in the election and it and its representatives shall do no more than provide the mechanism, maintain its integrity, announce the results, and archive the results for a twelve month period with all results to be transparent to the entire Population.
Clause 3: The Developer shall provide a sufficient number of adjacent sims to allow the then existing total number of Members to meet on a regular monthly basis to convene and consider the Business and Welfare of the Population.
Clause 4: All actions, directives, orders and requests by the House shall be approved by a simple majority vote of the Members attending at any regularly scheduled Meeting of Members. No quorum or minimum number of Members shall be required to be present to open the meeting or to take or commit any official act at any regularly scheduled Meeting of Members.
Clause 5: The House of Representatives shall retain exclusive responsibility for updating and managing the Open Letter Project and the Developer shall timely respond and address all issues raised in that letter to the satisfaction of a majority of the Members.
Clause 6: The Developer or its appointee, shall be the Speaker of the House and maintain decorum and professionalism throughout all proceedings and meetings. In the event the Developer or its appointee fails, is unable, or refuses to act, the Members may appoint a Substitute Speaker to oversee any regularly scheduled Member Meeting with all powers and authority of the original Speaker. The Substitute Speaker shall be appointed by a majority vote of the attending Members present at the regularly scheduled Monthly Meeting.
Section. 3.
Clause 1: The Second Life Senate shall be composed of all current landowners. Neither a landowner or tenant shall have any obligation or duty to act as a Senator; however, the right to act as a Senator shall not be abrogated and may be asserted at any time without regard to any action or non-action previously taken by that Senator.
Clause 2: Each Senator shall be entitled to one vote regardless of the amount of land owned.
Clause 3: The Developer or its appointee shall be the Speaker of the Senate. The Speaker of the Senate shall not be the same avatar as the Speaker of the House.
Clause 4: The term of a Senator shall be equal to the term of time the Senator remains a landowner.
Clause 5: The Senate shall have the exclusive sole Power to resolve all suspensions and bans initiated and/or proposed by the Developer that exceed a period of seven (7) consecutive days, or that aggregate to a total of thirty (30) days in any twelve month period of time.
Clause 6: The Senate shall have the exclusive sole Power to resolve all forfeitures initiated and/or proposed by the Developer in connection with any avatar’s property interests of any kind.
Clause 7: Any decisions, resolutions, orders, or directives issued by the Senate in connection with any matter except that which involves a forfeiture or any avatar’s property of any kind, shall be by a simple majority vote of the present Senators attending at a regularly scheduled Meeting of the Senators.
Clause 8: Any decisions, resolutions, orders, or directives issued by the Senate in connection with a permanent ban of privileges or rights of any kind, a suspension in aggregate totaling more than thirty (30) days in any twelve month period, or any forfeiture of any property of any Avatar of any kind, shall require a two-thirds vote of the present Senators attending at a regularly scheduled Meeting fof the Senators.
Clause 9: Neither the Developer nor any of its employees, appointees, surrogates, or other representatives of any kind shall intentionally cause a forfeiture of any Avatar’s property of any kind without the Senate’s approval as described above except in a situation that is deemed by the Developer to be an emergency situation threatening an un-repairable or irreversible substantial and material detrimental impact on the Second Life grid as a whole. In the event of such an Emergency, the Developer shall limit its actions to the minimum necessary to protect the community as a whole, and shall immediately notify all Senators by instant IM of the action taken and the reasons therefore. The Senate shall then immediately convene with the then available on-line Senators present and willing who shall review the action taken by the Developer and either Affirm, Reverse, or Modify in a directive directly to the Developer which shall be immediately accepted and implemented by the Developer.
Clause 10: The Senate shall be the High Court of the grid and vested with the authority to create lower courts for hearings of disputes between Avatars and to resolve all disputes appealed from the lower courts to the Senate. No punishment of any kind shall be imposed by the Senate without just notice and due process. The Senate shall be responsible for suggesting the notice and process requirements to be used by the Population, submitting the requirements to the Population for consideration and comment, revising the requirements consistent with the general populace sentiment, and the finalizing those requirements for submission to the Population for vote. The Developer shall submit the requirements as suggested by the Senate to the Population via each Avatar’s email account, explaining the process for comment, and ultimately to ensure each Avatar has been provided a reasonable opportunity to vote. The final requirements created by the Senate and approved by a simple majority of the voting Population shall be adopted and technologically implemented by the Developer.
Section. 4.
Clause 1: Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings which shall contain the vote of each Member and Senator to each issue presented, and from time to time, the Developer shall publish the same without censorship or editing.
Section. 5.
Clause 1: The Developer shall have Power To lay and collect Tier Taxes from land owners only, in amounts that are reasonably necessary to grow and maintain the grid consistent with the Powers and Rights reserved in this Constitution.
Clause 2: The Developer shall not have the right to regulate Commerce between Avatars. The regulation of commerce between Avatars shall not be regulated except as may be implemented by the Senate upon approval of a two-thirds majority vote by the general Population.
Clause 3: To Developer shall have the exclusive right to regulate the its Linden exchange and/or to modify, assign, and implement its Lindens as it deems fit in its own discretion.
Clause 4: The Developer shall have the continuing affirmative duty to promote the Progress of Science and Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Creations, Objects, Scripts, Writings and Discoveries.
Section. 6.
Clause 1: No ex post facto rules or technological devices shall be implemented by the Developer without two-thirds approval by the Senate and simple majority vote of the House.
Clause 2: No Preference shall be given by the Developer to any Avatar or corporate entity, except that the Developer may in its discretion provide preferences and assistance to any non or not for profit SL Group pursuing artistic goals or education as their primary priority.
Clause 3: The Developer shall not intentionally destroy, erase, or remove any creations, property, or script of any Avatar without a majority vote of both houses of Congress. The Developer may temporarily disable or suspend access to any creation, property, or script of any Avatar only for emergency reasons which the Developer believes in good faith cause an imminent danger to the functionality of the grid, or the property of another Avatar; however, any act by the Developer to disable or suspend access must be submitted for immediate review to the delegates of Congress identified by its Members for the receipt and resolution of any emergency suspensions or disablements
Article. II.
Section. 1.
Clause 1: There shall be no executive branch or executive Powers conferred on any Avatar, person, corporate or other legal entity, or the Developer; its assigns, employees, representatives, heirs, or appointees.
Article. III.
Section. 1.
The judicial Power of Second Life shall be vested in the Senate, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges shall be appointed by a simple majority vote of both houses, and shall hold their Offices for a period of one (1) year from the date of appointment provided they timely and reasonably attend to the matters assigned to them.
Section. 2.
Clause 1: The judicial Power of the Senate shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, including the Laws of each country from which the Avatars accounts originated to the extent that those laws are consistent between the Avatars involved in any dispute. In the event there is a conflict of laws, then the laws of the United States shall be deemed to prevail, and in the case of a conflict of laws between the several states of the United States from which the Avatars originate, then the law of the State of California shall prevail.
Clause 2: The Trial of all cases where suspension in excess of seven (7) days or banishment is a possibility, shall be by a Jury of twelve Avatars; and such Trial shall be held in the sim where the said act giving rise to the trial shall have been committed; but when not committed within any sim, the Trial shall be at such sim or sims as the Congress may by directive so direct.
Article. IV.
Section. 1.
Clause 1: All Avatars shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities across the grid.
Section. 2.
Second Life shall guarantee to every Avatar a continuing elective Form of Government.
Article. V.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution and shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by a two thirds vote of each House.
That is what we call real labor exploitation in a fake world.
"The union is expecting hundreds of avatars of Italian IBM workers, as well as IBM staff from around the world, and other trades unionists, to converge flash-mob style later this month, to demonstrate and spread the word about the dispute..." writes John Wood of Tigmoo, a blog network for UK labor unions.
That is what we call real labor exploitation in a fake world.
Real? Fake? Come on, it's all good. Or bad. I don't know whether I think paying less than the minimum wage in one country for virtual labor by a worker sitting in front of a computer in another country really qualifies as "sweatshop" work. And I don't know whether the spectacle of avatars creating a picket line around a virtual IBM office is clever or ridiculous. But somewhere there is a budding labor economist who is going to make his or her career with a dissertation on this topic, and I can't wait to read it.
Source:www.salon.com
Friday, September 14, 2007
American Apparel Store in SL Taken Hostage in Fight for Voting Rights.
''Following the lack of any progress towards introducting citizens voting rights to Second Life the [Second Life Liberation Army] began in-world military operations.
As more and more mainstream politicians--like Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards--begin using Second Life as a campaign venue, the question arises of whether more radical political parties, grassroots groups and activist organizations will also take root in the virtual world. And if they do, it raises the possibility, as comical as it may seem, that these online groups could carry their activities over into the physical world''.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
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