This is where Lazarus Divine comes into the picture. A few months ago, Divine began buying up small slivers of land near other Second Life residents and erecting on them giant, garish billboards emblazoned with the text: "SUPPORT OUR TROOPS. End the Illegal War in Iraq. Restore US Credibility. IMPEACH BUSH." The towering blue signs ruined the views of nearby residents and consequently threatened the value of their property. ... A few residents vented their frustrations by erecting "Impeach Lazarus Divine" billboards. Others joined forces and sent Divine endless instant messages complaining about his actions, but to no avail.
Apparently it was kinda politics, kinda extortion. Also, a : O quote from the "Declaration of the Rights of Avatars" that would probably take months to "unpack":
The principle of all sovereignty in a virtual space resides in the inalterable fact that somewhere there resides an individual who controls the hardware on which the virtual space is running, and the software with which it is created, and the database which makes up its existence.
Obvious point: is this actually the same weird metaphysical basis on which our regular constitutional rights rest -- that, allegedly, but probably/certainly incorrectly, there's some magical "individual" inside the hardware of our bodies and the software of our culture and the database of our, um, databases (memories?)? Freedom blogs.
Both quotes come from Steven (Berlin?) Johnson, "Brave New World: Online Fantasy Worlds Put Our Democratic Ideals to the Test," Discover 2 April 2006.
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