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.