Simulations Control Act
The Simulations Control Act was the most controversial law ever enacted under the VCC. It declared that the President of the Commonwealth could, by merely posting, change any situation existing in the forums that he chose to alter, in any way he saw fit. From the weather to the business climate to anything s/he wanted to be different. Intended as an attempt to order the simulation, critics said that it made the President, in effect, God.
The Act became the butt of many satires, (such as the Imperial Simulations and Lunch Money Act) by the likes of Michael Rosario, Jacobus and others.
The full text of the Act is quoted below.
C.F.C. 98-011 The Simulation Control Act of 1998
Section 1. The President of Cyberia has the sole legal power to determine the conditions of, and circumstances occurring in, the Cyberian simulation involving actors that are not actual people.
Section 1.1. The President will be assisted in this duty by the Vice-President, Chief Justice and Speaker of the Assembly, and may delegate this power, in writing only, to other Cyberian citizens.
Section 2. While there shall be no specific criminal penalty for unauthorized Cyberian citizens determining the conditions of, and circumstances occurring in, the Cyberian simulation involving actors that are not actual people, such unauthorized persons shall hold full legal and financial responsibility for any acts, omissions or situations occurring as the result of such unauthorized tampering with the simulation.
Section 2.1. Alterations to the simulation made by non-citizens shall be considered never to have occurred and shall be considered null and void.
Section 3. The ratio of actual citizens to simulated citizens shall be set at 1:75,000.
Seemingly mild in its text, the Act was used by successive Virtual Cyberian regimes to enforce the partisan political views of the Cyberian Oligarchy and their supporters, and to squelch dissent.
Since dissent and satire were thus effectively banned at the whim of the executive (or those pulling his strings), the only recourse of the people was to either leave the country (see Cyberian Memorial) or to engage in rebellion, secession or revolution. The Simulations Control Act was and is the crux of revolutions, rebelions and schisms among Cyberians and the Cyberias.
