Second Life Herald

Copyright, Content & Behavior: The Vagina Monologues

by Jessica Holyoke

As reported here, http://sexsecond.blogspot.com/2008/01/is-hbo-stopping-vagina-monlogues-in-sl.html, HBO has stated that the in-world production of the Vagina Monologues be halted due to HBO holding the broadcast rights to the production.  Vday.org, the holder of the live performance rights, told the organizers of the SL Vagina Monologues that they had to rescind their authorization of a live performance due to the nature of HBO's broadcast rights.

Copyright treats various types of performances differently.  Going to a real life club and seeing a cover band would entails the band or the bar paying for a performance right.  If that band wants to create an album with those songs, they have to pay a statutory license to the song writer.  If they want to sample a song in a song,  they would have to pay the song writer and the performer a license.  But if they make a video of the song, then they have to pay a film synchronization license, which is more expensive.  (The story of the movie Clerks is that it cost $5000 to produce, until they started looking for music to play in the film.)

If SL is considered an audio-visual work under the copyright statute, then all of the club owners are violating the license held by the internet radio stations.  While there is no other movement on a licensing front, SL could be the next Napster or Grokster.

In the meantime, look for more information on In The Pink at http://sexsecond.blogspot.com/2008/01/our-day-in-sl.html .

Scripter d3adlyc0d3c Retires From PN Griefing Group

PN griefers issue security alert for d3adlyc0d3c’s version of SL client
Does LL’s open source GPL license require publishing exploits?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Even the most jaded metaverse resident may raise an eyebrow at the idea that Linden Lab’s open source software license could compel sharing exploits among griefers. But this is the legal theory being advanced by members of the notorious PN griefing group - who would benefit from a peek under the covers of d3adlyc0d3c’s modified version of the ShoopedLife client. The PN has also issued a security alert warning against using the modified SL client until they inspect it's inner workings. It is unlikely that the irony of the PN issuing security warnings and invoking GPL legal arguments is lost on anyone - except PN members.

Why is there such a high level of interest in a 3rd party SL client? Until retiring recently, Mr. Cod3c was one of the main scripters for the PN, and his latest work holds out the possibility of taking advantage of a number of exploits to evade various parcel bans - shifting the balance of power from the landowner to the griefer. Thus far Mr. Cod3c has resisted calls to publish his exploits - explaining in a series of exclusive interviews with the Herald that he wants to go straight and rejoin mainstream SL society. This may place him on shaky legal ground with respect to the GPL-licensed SL client from which the griefer-friendly ShoopedLife client is derived. Most Internet lawyers agree that under the GPL derivative works must publish source code - but what happens when the modified source may illustrate serious exploits in SL itself?

the retirement announcement

Our story begins before Christmas as Mr. Cod3c explained to the Herald that much of the charm of griefing was gone, saying "I have decided to call it quits due to many many personal reasons, including but not limited to, our legal grey area and the fact that we may be vulnerable to civil or even criminal prosecution. Another reason for my retirement is that during my 'career' as a griefer I actually became a very skilled scripter. I intend to use those skills to profit in second life".

Op/Ed: I'm Too Old for This...

Why are Residents believing in Linden Lab's proclamations?

by Jessica Holyoke

The more people discuss Age Verification, the more questions are raised.   The biggest one is why are Residents believing in Linden Lab's proclamations.

The Lab states that "[w]hile not foolproof, age verification can provide an additional layer of trust for inworld businesses and Residents. It also helps ensure that minors can't gain access to inappropriate adult, mature content in Second Life."  In the first sentence, taken from the Knowledge Base FAQ given on the blog, it suggests that age verification will build up trust.  But if you page down on the FAQ, it states  "[o]ther Residents will not be able to view your age verification status -- for example, within your profile.  However, if you are on a parcel that requires age verification, other Residents on that parcel (or having access to your location information) may be able to deduce that fact."  So how does this build trust for inworld businesses and Residents?  It would seem only to do so if you restrict access to your parcel or estate to age-verified avatars.  Otherwise, a resident would never know if someone is age verified unless they ask for proof. 

The second sentence lowers the standard of what should be age-verified.  Inappropriate and mature content goes beyond sexual content and could mean other content such as excessive violence or even political speech depending on the country.  Worse is that the Lab requests that "the community . . . continue to be effective and responsible in ensuring that Residents are sufficiently protected from potentially inappropriate and/or offensive content that is adult in nature. "  Apparently, all people who use SL need to be protected from content, not just minors. 

Age Verify or AgeLock?

by Jessica Holyoke

Agelock - another path to implausible deniability

As Age Verification continues to throw residents for a loop; some cannot verify, some can verify using false information, parcels marked as mature content are not allowing age verified people in, more and more questions are raised as a competing service, AgeLock, is being offered.

AgeLock is a database linked to a scanner placed on mature land.  It provides a drop down window that asks if you are over 18 and asks for your birth date to enter in a database.  Your birthdate and avatar name are linked and would allow you to access adult content anywhere AgeLock is used.  Conceptually, its just like the adult internet sites that ask if you are 18 or over before allowing you to view the content inside.

Stronger Protection for Virtual Sex Toys in SL

Stimulating prospects for fapping-based economy?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Benjamin Duranske reports at the Virtually Blind site that a judgement by consent has been filed, settling the copyright and trademark lawsuit brought by several SL content creators against SL resident Rase Kenzo’s real life typist Thomas Simon.

The content creators - including part time nude model Stroker Serpentine - will take away $525 USD in damages from Rase Kenzo - and priceless publicity for their products - having established a what Virtually Blind refers to as “the first formal, if tentative, recognition of virtual property by a U.S. court”. Stroker Serpentine’s SexGen bed is generally acknowledged to be a valued addition to many resident’s virtual McMansions and starter castles/dungeons - and unauthorized copies of the SexGen bed helped spark the lawsuit.

Midas Bank Insolvent - Trouble On The WSE

L$ Spacebuck banking risks get real - liquidity crisis spills over to stock exchange

by Jessica Holyoke

The Midas Bank touches insolvency - creates WSE stock ripples

As suggested in the comments on the SL Crime Wave! - L$3 Million Bank Heist!!! story, Midas Bank is another bank facing insolvency. 

Mr. Midas Commons owns Midas Bank.  He also ran Empire Funds, one of the last known holdings of Ginko Financial.  Midas Bank reported 0.10% daily interest on deposits, which places it in the bottom of the Outlander Bank Survey of daily bank rates.  Back in February of 2007, Midas Bank was described as being primarily invested in gambling and casinos, but weathered the gambling ban for a time. The deposits were listed as being re-invested in loans, capital ventures and WSE and AVIX investments.  As of November 2nd, Midas Bank claimed L$8 million in deposits.

While there have been some concern about Midas Bank's financials, no public signs of trouble occurred until November 2nd.  Midas Commons released a notecard stating that an interest payment that was due on Hope Capital Bonds (HCB) was not paid.  Midas reported having L$3.5 million invested in HCB. The Second Life Exchange Commission reports that L$650,000 was owed to Midas Bank as the interest payment on their HCB holdings.   The WSE reported on October 16th that there would be no interest payment on HCB as scheduled in early November.  Midas Bank contacted the WSE stating that there would be liquidity problems if the interest payment was not paid as promised.

Stop Acting Childish

LL reminds residents they really don't like ageplay

by Jessica Holyoke

What about babyfur avatars?

In another 5pm post from the Labs, Ken D Linden reminds the Community that Sexual Ageplay is not allowed on Second Life.  This is not the first warning - but this time the Lab goes a bit further detail and scope.

The unsurprising prohibition is the depiction prohibition.  You can't "appear to represent minors" in any Sexual or Lewd Act .  Keep in mind that any form also includes text.  So if you and your partner look like adults, you may not be able to call him "Daddy".  (...whether, based on the circumstances, an avatar is speaking or acting like a child (e.g. "My Mommy says...")). 

The second non-surprising no-no is showing children in a lewd or sexual manner.  So at least one of the Lisae Boucher pictures of this summer might be prohibited using this definition - depending on who you are and how you define lewd.

Will the Discrimination Never End? Bush Calls for Ban on Furries.

by Urizenus Sklar, POTUS and Furries Desk

I don't know how we missed this, but we only just picked up the story via Raw Story, which in turn gets the story via Bloggers for Brownback in an article entitled Furries: A Twisted Freak Show of Utter Depravity. The Lefties at Raw Story think its a parody, but we know parody and we know better. Bloggers for Brownback are every bit as serious as we are!

Quoting B4B:

"Fortunately President Bush has recognized the danger of furries and has spoken out against them:

[Quoting the State of the Union Address]: "America Must Recognize The Value Of Every Life. The President called on Congress to pass legislation to prohibit ... creating human-animal hybrids...."

“And furries are completely sick and wrong,” President Bush later added, off the record. “The less said about them the better.” We couldn’t agree more. Well said, Mr. President. We salute you.

But, not surprisingly, “Great” Britain is forging ahead, blissfully unaware of the Pandora’s Box they are opening. The consequences could be dire for the entire planet. Furries around the world rejoiced at this news. Satan himself let out a hearty cheer."

And yes, Nacon, this is important newz, so stuff it.

LL Ducks Responsibility

Our world, your liability

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Will university faculty be held responsible for bringing students to the libertine free for all educational opportunity that is Second Life? How long until controversy spills over to real life for in-world harassment? Michael Bugeja, director of the school of journalism and communications at Iowa State University, asks these questions in his Second Thoughts about Second Life piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The article suggests that lawsuits can be brought against faculty and their institutions when participation in Second Life is required or recommended and harassing behaviors occurs in-world. Of course, it is hard to imagine harassment in-world. Not evah! There are almost no hard ass pipe hitting PNs in SL who indulge in greifing "for the lulz". So - this is not a problem. What on earth was Bugeja worrying about? Perhaps he was listening to legal council? Sadly, it appears so.

Melissa Blevins - a lawyer who practices civil law - is quoted as saying “If you're requiring participation, holding classes in Second Life, you and/or your institution also may be accepting liability for virtual events that happen there”.

Dutch Politicians Furious With Prosecutor for Dropping SL Ageplay Investigation

by Luuc Writer

Luuc Writer (Lucien Baard irl) is a reporter for the Tentsche Courant Tubantia newspaper in The Netherlands

As reported in the Herald back in February, a Dutch prosecutor opened an investigation into ageplay in Second Life on the grounds that representations of child sex are illegal in the Netherlands, even if children were not involved in the making of the porn. Politicians in the Netherlands are now upset that the prosecutor has dropped the investigation of ageplay in Second Life. The prosecutor’s office in The Hague says the avatars are not realistic enough. Politicians now want an intense discussion with the Department of Justice concerning virtual child porn in general, and specifically in SL.

Spokesman E. Boersman of the prosecutor’s office says that they have been investigating a number of cases, but that prosecutor T. Nooij is sure that a judge will never convict their suspects. "[There is only a prosecutable case] if the virtual children are so realistic that you can't tell whether they are real or not. You have to be thinking there is really a child involved. SL is too much a computer animation."

He also said that prosecutions of child porn cases typically involve large quantities of pornographic material – something that is not the case in Second Life. "Most of the time we find thousands of pictures and movies in the suspect’s possession. [In Second Life] in some cases we find a few virtual pictures. You can imagine that a prosecutor prefers to use the real pictures, so that he is sure that he will get an conviction. You don't want to lose a case, because of the virtual porn is not strong enough evidence."

M. de Pater spokesperson of the Christian Democratic Party (CDA) believes that the Dutch law gives enough opportunities to start a legal case concerning SL-ageplay. "I am not convinced. I want to hear a good explanation why the investigation stopped. Every display of child abuse must be stopped." She gets support from other parties.

Dutch forensic psychiatrist J. Bushman earlier said that “ageplay in SL is a perfect 'school' for a pedophile." He didn’t want to comment now on the prosecutor’s decision, but is convinced that virtual child porn is extremely dangerous for real kids.

Stay tuned.

Dutch Prosecutor Drops Second Life Ageplay Investigation

“child avi’s not realistic enough”

Urizenus Sklar, Dutch Morality Desk

As reported in the Herald back in February, a Dutch prosecutor opened an investigation into ageplay in Second Life on the grounds that representations of child sex are illegal in the Netherlands, even if children were not involved in the making of the porn. Ageplay, which involves adults adopting child avatars and (sometimes) engaging in simulated sexual activities online was at the time a widespread phenomenon on the grid. Since then, Linden Lab has cracked down on ageplay and other forms of “broadly offensive” behavior, but its new policy has been criticized as vague and excessively broad by residents and legal experts alike.

While visiting the University of Twente in the Netherlands this past June, I discussed the issue of the Duch prosecutor with reporter Lucien Baard (Luuc Writer in Second Life)of the Tentsche Courant Tubantia newspaper. Lucien contacted the prosecutor’s office immediately, but was told that the matter was still under investigation. Today, Lucien reports the following:

I know what will happen: nothing. There will be no case. They think the children in SL are not realistic enough.

All of which makes us wonder: Did Linden Lab jump the gun on their new ban on the “broadly offensive?” Did they freak over nothing? Did they do the right thing anyway?

Duranske Blasts New Linden Policy on the “Broadly Offensive”

Just wondering: Who on gopod’s green pixilated earth is in charge of Linden Lab’s legal policy and why do they seem to be on a mission to destroy the company? First, there was the Bragg vs. Linden Lab fiasco, which anyone who has been paying attention would have seen as an obvious legal trap for the Lindens. Now there is the new kneejerk reaction to the problem of ageplay in Second Life, and the Linden’s new policy that they are going to remove “broadly offensive content”, ban people for such content, and enlist the population of Second Life as abuse reporting comrades to police and edit the content of this world.

Setting aside issues of morality for the moment, what is the problem with the policy? Well, according to our friend Benjamin Duranske in Legally Blind, not only is the policy “a poorly considered, dangerously over-broad, and annoyingly opaque policy statement” that “on its face prohibits every military simulation in Second Life” but worse, the Lindens have actually opened themselves up to criminal prosecution by this move. How so? Well very simple:

“it potentially takes Linden Lab out from under the protection of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and thereby exposes it to liability for Second Life users’ creations.” More below the fold. --Uri

Mario Gerosa: "Stop the Criminalization of Second Life!"

It seems like every day there is more bad press about the moral and legal problems with Second Life. Ageplay, for example, has caught the attention of courts and media outlets ranging from the US, to the Netherlands, to Germany, to France to Italy. Mario Gerosa has said "enough is enough" and is fighting back.

Readers will recall Mr. Gerosa as the real life editor of Architectural Digest Italia and author of Mondi Virtuali. He has also made headlines here and elsewhere with his projects that include a virtual tourism agency and and a convention for the preservation of virtual architecture. What will the protest amount too? At this point it appears largely symbolic -- fellow travellers are encouraged to have virtual mug shots taken. Will this protest have traction in the metaverse? Time will tell.

--Uri

"Unconscionable!" Court Blasts Linden Terms of Service, Holds that Philip can be target in Bragg Lawsuit.

Yesterday the US District Court for the District of Pennsylvania ruled on two motions by Linden Lab in the case of Bragg vs. Linden Research. One motion had to do with removing Philip Linden as a target of Bragg's lawsuit. The second issue had to do with Linden Lab's terms of service, which says that any disputes with Linden Lab must go to arbitration. Here is the skinny: Philip *can* be personally targeted, and the ToS is "unconscionable" for a gazillion reasons (We told you so!) -- indeed it is unfair in so many ways it is not even fixable by "bluelining". In other words, this baby is going to court. But beyond this decision, there was the language of the Court, which suggests that not only does the Court understand the issues, but also that Philip is in a great big shitpile of trouble. Following are some choice passages:

p. 14, regarding specific person jurisdiction

Rosedale's personal role was to "bait the hook" for potential customers to make more interactive contact with Linden by visiting Second Life's website. Rosedale's activity was designed to generate additional traffic inside Second Life. He was the hawker sitting outside Second Life's circus tent, singing the marvels of what was contained inside to entice customers to enter. Once inside Second Life, participants could view virtual property, read additional materials about purchasing virtual property, interact with other avatars who owned virtual property, and, ultimately, purchase virtual property themselves. Significantly, participants could even interact with Rosedale's avatar on Second Life during town hall meetings that he held on the topic of virtual property.

That may sound harsh, but think about it. Linden Lab is in the position of (i) telling people that the stuff they buy in Second Life is theirs, but (ii) then turning around and seizing the property. The marketing quotes from Philip are damning:

Updated: Is Business Week Stealing Herald Intellectual Property?

Update: April 18, 10:30PM Linden Time

As of 10:30 this morning the SL Herald attribution has been added to the BallerMoMo pic. Thanks to author Douglas Macmilllan for getting Business Week to fix this in a timely manner.

As Prokofy Neva noted on April 16, Business Week is running an online article in which they lead with a Herald Screenshot of ubergriefer BallerMoMo King. Business Week has been contacted by at least three Herald representatives regarding this matter, and one was told that the matter would be rectified. I personally have emailed the author of the article three times, and he has not responded to any of my inquiries.

Business Week was originally given permission to use Herald screenshots provided that they included attribution to the Second Life Herald. After initial complaints they have included attributions to three of the screenshots, but have not provided an attribution to my screenshot of BallerMoMo King. Accordingly I am revoking their permission to use any Herald screenshots in their article, and I am asking them to immediately remove all such screenshots from their website.

From Business Week, April 16.

From the Herald, December 28, 2004.

Simulating A Gambling Crackdown

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Thursday Robin Linden stimulated metaverse simulated casino owners to come up with an acceptable euphemism for simulated gambling today with the announcement that the Lab will no longer “accept any classified ads, place listings, or event listings that appear to relate to simulated casino activity”. A few Second Life casino owners noted that the world simulated gives them a great excuse to continue their ads - as long as the gambling in-world is real. With things of value being wagered, that argument may have some merit - but could raise other thorny issues.

Observers expect casino owners to take a page from the metaverse pedo-community - which simply changed their group names from “ageplay” to “roleplay” in response to a similar Linden crackdown - as reported earlier in the Herald.

It was probably pure coincidence that the Lindex L$ to hard currency exchange was seriously broken earlier Thursday - limiting options for those who feel that a simulated crackdown on metaverse casinos might affect the in-world economy. It seems hardly worth comment that the same company that lost a number of resident's billing information has promised to “implement features that will enable Residents to optionally confirm aspects of each other’s identity, including age and jurisdictions”.

With the Lab's nearly stellar record of security and reliability, most residents don’t expect any problems with the promised verification/categorization services - which would depend on the Linden Lab being able to retain records consistently. As Herald correspondent Inigo Chamberlin - a victim of the Lindens loss of his billing information this week - said, “my account was disabled, all payment info snuffed... And people told me having money in GINKO was risky? Bah - having money in SECOND LIFE is an unacceptable risk! They just broke the ONE THING that has to work”.

FBI Investigates Metaverse Casinos

G-men to consider punishing players?

by Onder Skall

Reuters reports that the FBI have been snooping around Second Life's casinos and debating what laws are being broken here.

After all, playing unregulated Poker for money is illegal - which of course means that those of you who've been playing Poker all this time have been hurting somebody somehow and should feel terrible shame about it. In fact, you should all be locked in cells where you can't harm the rest of us by playing games with each other. US law, as defined by rich old guys who lie to you, is morality. Respect it more than you respect yourself.

The particular issue is that current laws don't deal with virtual currencies. Since L$ can be exchanged for US$, there may be a violation of the nail-'em-all "something of value" phrasing of the anti-gambling statutes. The issue may not even be that the law is being broken, but rather who is to blame: casino owners, or Linden Lab.

Another Bad Hair Day: Virtually Blind Enters Fray

Same or different? Virtually Blind calls attention to the radical differences in the hair designs. (Image on right from Virtually Blind)

Herald readers will recall a recent article by Seola Sassoon on the alleged design copying by Rach Snookums. Now Benjamin Duranske (Benjamin Noble in SL) an IP lawyer currently working on a novel has written a very interesting article on the controversy in his blog Virtually Blind. Benjamin contacted Rach, and reports that she has taken a fair bit of grief since the Herald article -- "after the story broke, she was banned from many designers’ parcels, and about sixty Sellers Guild members came to her shop and were abusive to her customers". 60? Bajeebers!

Of course the central question is whether this was a case of infringement, and Benjamin weighs in as follows:

In the real world, there aren’t copyright suits over hairstyles for at least two reasons: (1) enforcement would be so expensive and the value of a potential win so low that the question is unlikely to ever make it to a courtroom, and (2) there’s a threshold question as to whether a real-world hairstyle is sufficiently “fixed in a tangible form of expression,” to qualify for protection under US copyright law.

But in a virtual world, avatars’ hairstyles are just as “fixed” as any other user-created content, and mass production of identical hairstyle designs means lawsuits are at least potentially feasible.

It is an excellent article and the Herald Brain Trust strongly recommends that interested readers check it out.

Gorean Copyright Fight

Ethics of copyright violations divide Gorean community

by Curious Rousselot

For over a year, a Gorean copyright fight has been raging over the ethics of distributing the novels of Gor in Second Life. John Norman's Gor novels are the basis for the Gorean role-play - and some eager Gorean scribes have ignored real life copyright in their zeal to spread the good word of Gor.

At issue is whether it is appropriate to distribute Second Life virtual copies of a book from the real world. 26 books, beginning with "Tarnsman of Gor", were written and published between the 1960s and 1990s. These works spawned the Gorean community and describe the core philosophies and lifestyles for the Second Life Goreans. The works are real books, and clearly covered by modern real world copyright laws.

Thraxis Epsilon and Arete Calliope fight against Gor copyright violations

Arete Calliope, the Scribe of Ko-ro-ba, and a number of others are fighting to keep the copyright of the novels of Gor respected in SL. She and her friends have succeeded in bringing the leaders of several Gor sims to their way of thinking. Arete said to me, "Well, my Ubar, Scar Statosky, is fervent in his support of my work." (An Ubar is the leader of a city in Gor). In other interviews I learned that Fidelio Matador, the owner of Glorious Ar, and Kelerion Kava, owner of The Plains sim, have both outlawed the books from being kept in their scriberies - the Gorean equivalent of a library - and the shops found in their sims.

Chilling Effect? SL Hockey League Skates Over NHL IP

by Fiend Ludwig

[Editor's note: When we sent Fiend Ludwig to cover the SL Hockey League, he found the gameplay impressive, though it looks like their merchanidising scheme could use some help from a virtual zamboni.
--Walker Spaight]

I have watched hockey for as long as I can remember. In the winter when it is cold enough I play shinny on the outdoor rink near my house. In the summer I play hockey in an arena on my in-line skates. I love hockey. A couple of days ago, I watched a hockey game in Second Life; the final game of the Second Life Hockey League's first season. Currently there are only two teams, the Whales and the Wolves, though sources tell the Herald this may expand to four next season.

Hockey probably has reasonable potential to become a popular spectator sport in Second Life, and with an increased number of teams in the league, this potential will only grow. The game appears fun to play and easy to learn. A basic equipment package is even available (almost) free -- L$1 -- at the rink. But not all was as smooth as it seemed.

Harvard Law Mock Trial: Jury Votes Bragg 6, Linden Lab 3

Since our interview with Bragg Attorney Jason Archinaco we've heard plenty of pontificating about the Bragg vs. Linden Lab case from the breathtakingly uninformed, but what would happen if a group of Harvard Law students held a mock trial? What would the jury decide? What would be the nature of their deliberations. Well, now we know. Virtually Blind sums up the deliberations thus:

The nine-member mock jury held 8-1 that Bragg was the owner of the virtual property he purchased. It also found 7-2 that Bragg’s exploit was improper, justifying Linden Lab’s decision to take the property that he acquired using the exploit. However, on the question that is arguably at the heart of this dispute, the mock jury found 6-3 that Linden Lab was not justified in taking property that Bragg had acquired without using the exploit.

There is a transcript of the jury deliberations here, and the course wiki is here. Valuable stuff and well worth the read.

Is the SL Infringement Honeymoon Over?

There is a very interesting article by John Bringardner in Law.com covering a number of issues surrounding Intellectual Property in Second Life. The topics range from copybot, to Bragg vs. Linden Lab, but the issue that caught my attention was the following:

Will the same brand owners that have spent millions trying to crack down on counterfeit goods in real-world venues like China be forced to take the fight to Second Life, too? Kenyon & Kenyon's Boyd says Second Life and other MMORPGs are enjoying a honeymoon period when it comes to IP infringement and other types of regulation. "In the next decade, these worlds will certainly garner more attention as their population grows and as the value of virtual property within the worlds increases," he says. "That increased attention will almost certainly result in companies searching those games more diligently for infringement."

That would certainly make for an interesting cat and mouse game.

Is Second Life Being Used for Money Laundering? Could it be?

Raph Koster has pointed to a sobering post by Kenneth Rijock, on the World-Check site. World-Check is a site that tracks risks world-wide, and Rijock is an attorney who has a rather interesting resume, to say the least:

He has more than 25 year’s experience in the field of money laundering, as a practising laundryman, financial institution compliance consultant, and trainer/lecturer to law enforcement and the intelligence services of both the United States and Canada. After serving as a banking lawyer in an international law firm, he spent the decade of the 1980s as a money launderer and advisor to narcotics trafficking organisations operating in North and South America.

Not addressing Second Life in particular, he raises a red flag about the unmonitored flow of money through virtual worlds *like* Second Life, and envisions scenarios like the following:

-I open 15 to 25 accounts at the virtual universe website, all with counterfeit identification.

-I fund the accounts with narcotics proceeds cash, all patiently deposited at the available ATMs by my smurfs.

-I then purchase some virtual real estate from a co-conspirator, as a partnership of my bogus identities, and funnel all the virtual purchase money into his account.

-The "seller" can then access these funds, either through ATMs, or through a bank. Perhaps I open a small bank account, using bogus ID,and obtain cashiers' cheques with my now-converted "virtual" profits.

Is this a great way to move criminal profits ? You bet it is. Have they created a " financial institution" as the term is defined in the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 ? It would seem that the answer is yes. Let us see just how long regulators and law enforcement allow this scheme to exist before taking action.

The main problem here is that opening an account in Second Life is even easier than Rijock imagines. Any unverified account will do. One wonders if some of the million or so unverified are being used for precisely this purpose already.

Linden Lab *Still* Hates Academic Freedom *and* the Free Press

It seems like just yesterday we were complaining about the Linden policies on academic freedom and free press. Not long after, we addressed Lindens about the matter face to face, and I do mean like in Real Life (remember that?). So we were eager to see what changes would be made to the Research Ethics in Second Life policy. And guess what? They still hate acacemic freedom, and they still hate free press. Let's start with their rules for the conduct of academic research:

If you are engaged in a classroom or research project, or plan to write about the Second Life community as part of your project you must contact Linden Lab via email at education@lindenlab.com. Please send a detailed proposal for us to review. If we feel you have a valid project, we will alert the community to your proposal. After we hear from the members, we'll make a final decision on whether/when you can begin. You will be asked to sign an agreement that you will adhere to our mutually agreed-on conditions of your project.

Excuse me? This is what Institutional Review Boards and human subjects committees are for. Academics conducting research in whatever setting involving human subjects have to go through a rigorous review process by experts on research ethics, and I'm sorry I don't see any fucking experts in research ethics at Linden Lab. There is absolutley no reason for the Lindens to be vetting research that might, for example, be studying how Lindens treat SL residents like rats in a cage.

You say you are a reporter and don't care about such things. Well then please keep the following in mind:

Members of the press can write generally about Second Life without following this process. However, if you plan to interview any Second Life residents please contact our Marketing Department.

Hope all you reporters are following that! (Tip of the bowler to prok for noticing the revision.)

Colonia Nova: Civilization on the frontiers of Second Life

Confederation of Democratic Expands

[editor's note: Saladin Salyut was a member of the original team that proposed the Colonia Nova project and will be a landholder in what is hoped to be a new democracy in Second Life. Here Mr. Salyut describes the project and their plans.]

by Saladin Salyut
Colonia Nova has opened to the general public for land sales. The sim,
ostensibly an "extension" of the recently renamed sim of Neufreistadt
(formerly Neualtenburg), is in fact more of a companion to the
original sim, and the newest member of the Confederation of Democratic
Simulators (CDS). Colonia Nova, at a glance, is a radical departure
from Neufreistadt's theme, a mashup of medieval Bavarian architecture
and modern themes. In truth, however, the new sim is not far from its
predecessor - at least not geographically. Colonia Nova is based
loosely on the Roman city of Colonia Agrippina, which is known in
modern times as the German city of Cologne or Koln. This close
proximity to Neufreistadt's real-world inspiration makes a connection
between the two far from unrealistic.

Residents of 400 Dreamland Sims vote to Ban PR and Marketing Flacks!!!!!

Residents vote unrepentant flacks off of 400+ islands!

In one of the most significant developments in the history of virtual worlds and Massively Multiplayer Online Games, Residents of the Second Life gated community Dreamland have voted to ban unrepentant PR Flacks from their 400-500 Sim region. Conservative estimates suggest that Dreamland consititutes 10% of the land mass and 10% of the active resisidents in Second Life -- each sim roughly equivalent to 65,000 meters of land. (Dreamland, of course was developed by SL resident Anshe Chung, who was recently featured on the cover of Business Week Magazine). Residents were apparently incensed by the recent spate of "false first" claims by PR Flacks, marketing mavens, and clueless corporations and by their arrogance and inability to admit error. The resolution:

[18:28] Second Life: Some PR agencies and RL companies have abused SL and made claims in RL media of being first to do things many SL residents have done long before them ("1st radio station in SL", "1st fashion brand", "1st tabloid").

SHOULD WE BAN THEM FROM DREAMLAND?
Group Dreamland Citizens Proposal PASSED!

Reached for comment by the Herald, Dreamland Developer Anshe Chung indicated that she had not yet determined how to enact the initiative, and plans a public statement in the near future. Clearly there is room for interpretation of the initiative. For example, it is unclear precisely how egregious an offense must be to warrant banning and equally unclear what would count as a suitably contrite apology. Presumably Ms. Chung could make these determinations by herself, or an in game court system like the Metaverse Superior Court could be called upon.

Of course these events raise profound philosophical questions...

LL Swings Ban Stick, Stays Mute on Chat Log Leaks

Asking questions that Linden Lab will not answer

by Pixeleen Mistral, Herald National Affairs desk

This week started on a happy note, as the Lindens completed their temporary weekend ban from answering the phones and began nibbling their way through the monumental task of resetting passwords for 660,000 avatars (or is it really 260,000?) after the SL customer database was compromised last week. Friendly queries from the SL Herald and others to determine if IM and chat logs were also exposed in the database leak have not been answered as of press time, but this is easily explained. Either Linden Lab simply refuses to answer, or they're too busy threatening to ban good upstanding Second Life citizens for expressing dissenting opinions on the new and exciting Official Linden Blog.

Now that the noisiest SL forums are being shut down, comment cleansing and threatening in-world disciplinary action for unhappy comments on official blogs seems to be the order of the day over at Linden Lab. With the move, Second Life joins the sterling ranks of Project Entropia (now Entropia Universe, for some reason), where dissent on any Web-based forum, whether run by the company or not, is grounds for the ban-stick. LL ain't quite that bad, but they'll ban you when you least expect it, apparently, rather than let people have their say on the shiny new blog. Wouldn't want it to get tarnished by the truth, after all.

SecondCast #30: Privacy and Private Jokes

Johnny "Jazz Hands" Ming is back, with the latest episode of Second Life's favorite podcast, SecondCast. In Episode #30 we talk to Mark Barrett, who created the SLStats.com site, which has caused no small amount of controversy among SL residents. SLStats, until Mark altered the site, tracked how much time you'd spent in Second Life, where you'd been and who you'd met there. But community pressure over privacy concerns led Mark to scale down the functionality. It's an interesting discussion over privacy concerns in general, and how they manifest themselves in virtual worlds in particular. We've been on a bit of a hiatus lately, but stay tuned for more -- including SecondCast's first taping in front of a live audience, at the recent Second Life Community Convention. Fun stuff.

SecondCast #29: zzzzz . . .

Second Cast Episode #29 is out, and it's a real snoozer! Actually, I haven't listened to it yet (I missed the taping yet again, unfortunately), but as Johnny Ming puts it in his show notes, "The show was so riveting that Cristiano fell asleep." The crew also interviews SL resident Tony Tigereye, owner of the Tropics Casino, discusses the recent Suzanne Vega concert in SL, and more on texture IP rights. Your challenge: stay awake through the entire thing.

Poof! LL's Smoke and Mirrors Do Away With Starax Statosky

Starax Statosky is no more! Linden Lab's magic wand has apparently done away with him. The master scripter, whose own magic wand had become one of the most popular SL diversions over the last six months or so -- even being featured by kingpin Philip Linden at a talk at Google -- no longer appears in the in-world Search utility, and forum traffic has it that his land is now owned by Governor Linden. It was well known that LL's last patch broke Starax's wand, but it seems it broke his will as well. Which raises an important question: How big does your wand have to be to believe that the patchwork software that is SL isn't still a beta product? It's been more than three years since SL came out of beta and went "live," but so far it has not even come close to resembling anything like a stable product. Claims that you can make a lot of money in SL -- as Starax had -- are all well and good. But the Lab isn't exactly going out of its way to inform users that their source of income may be cut off at a whim. And with bigger and bigger projects coming in-world from the likes of radio stations, educational institutions and hit bands like Duran Duran, it's only a matter of time before one of these undertakings crashes to the ground under the weight of LL's "change anything anytime" development paradigm. Let's just hope the lawsuits aren't aimed at the residents who are providing all that content. Not to mention the fact that people build real lives in SL -- only to have the ground shift beneath them just when they thought they'd found a safe place to get their fill-in-the-blank on. If they should be holding off, it's up to LL to inform them. And just putting it into the ToS isn't enough. Here's hoping your project doesn't go poof too.

SL's Second-Class Citizens Lead a CaddyShack Second Life

by Pixeleen Mistral, Herald sports desk

Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a miracle -- It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole! --Caddyshack (1980)

Philip Linden takes advantage of unverified labor during the Holly Kai Ocean Nine's opening day

In the wake of recent changes made by Linden Lab, which no longer requires payment information to be collected from new members on free, or "unverified," accounts, a split has developed between residents who think the changes are all for the good, and those who fear they can only mean an influx of unaccountable griefers to the virtual world. But how do the unverified themselves feel about being looked on by some as second-class citiazens within Second Life? Herald sports reporter Pixeleen Mistral visited the Holly Kai Ocean Nine golf course recently to find out. Here is her report:

The Unverified Unverifieds
Even if you've been locked in a decompression chamber for the last week and a half, you know that golf is the hottest new SL sport. But if sport is a microcosm of society, what larger meaning can be found in the duffers that are now flocking to Second Life? Is the the Holly Kai Ocean Nine to be the set for a Bill Murray movie in SL? And why are all the caddies named Unverified?

Plastic Duck On the Air This Thursday

The Duck is back! Even a letter to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from Linden Lab PR operative Catherine Linden couldn't stop him. At long last, the infamous CBC interview with alleged griefer extraordinaire Plastic Duck -- who took third place in competition for the Herald's coveted 2005 Avatar of the Year award -- is being aired. (Other residents are featured as well, of course.) The program goes on this Thursday, July 6, at 9:30 in the morning, though check the schedule for local listings. You should be able to listen on the streaming section of the CBC site as well. Find out if the Duck's really dirty, or if Catherine has been smoking quack. (Sorry, couldn't resist. Note to Coco: You can blame Walker for that one, just fyi. :)

SL Residents Protest New Members

SL's third birthday celebration was not without its excitement and controversy today -- although it wouldn't be SL if it had been, would it? To voice their dissatisfaction with the new registration requirements -- or lack thereof -- put in recently by Linden Lab, a group of residents got together to protest what they say will open SL to limitless griefing and the sullying of young people's virgin ears (and prim private parts). Fortunately, SL machinima-maker Pierce Portocarrero was on the scene and caught some footage of the event, which we present above. Is this the kind of place they should be letting just anyone into? You decide.

Happy Birthday SL: Snapzilla Closes in Protest!

Happy Birthday, Second Life! Although it's not such a happy birthday present that Snapzilla is offering up to Linden Lab today. Everyone's favorite SL photo-sharing site has closed its doors for the day today in protest of Linden Lab's new all-ages policy:

To coincide with the third anniversary of Second Life's launch on June 23rd, this site will be closed for the day in protest of recent changes made by Linden Lab to the registration requirements for Second Life. Specifically, Linden Lab without warning has removed any billing information requirements from the account creation process, which allows complete unrestricted access to Second Life by minor children and destructive users with no accountability and no ability to ban problem users. It exposes the residents of Second Life to unnecessary stress and even potential legal liability and is contrary to the advertised promise of an adults only service that users have subscribed to.

New Crimes, New Punishments

The New Scientist is running an article in its May 20th edition all about crime and punishment in the virtual world -- one of the Herald's favorite subjects. In fact, most of the piece could have been ripped from the Herald headlines -- and probably was. Of course, it features yet another interview with mafia don and media hound Marsellus Wallace, but don't let that stop you. Mars even outs his gf in this one!

Relevant portions excerpted below for your discussion:

Town Hall: Philip Getting Friendly With the Feds

by Dow Jonas

At a packed town hall meeting with live Skype call-in as well as typed text in-world, SL chief executive Philip Linden, in reply to a query from Second Life club owner Trader1 Whiplash, responded to residents' concerns about repeated grid-grashing by unnamed griefers by commending them to federal authorities:

"If you are a club owner in SL, that's exactly like being a Web site owner on the Web," Philip said. "Interrupting somebody's commerce on the Web is a serious crime. In cases where we are able to establish a reasonable equivalance between that kind of disruption, we have, and we will be, and we will get better at, turning those people in, in general to the FBI here in the US. We are serious about doing this and we have done it."

Land Lawsuit Lands on Linden Lab

SL resident Marc Woebegone is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore. According to a press release