Second Life

by Jessica Holyoke

When talking about avatar or human rights, one right that is often ignored is the right to privacy. While this right led to reproductive rights in the US, its erosion in the virtual world needs to be halted.

Privacy policies usually revolve around the use and sale of personal information. And Linden Lab has such a policy where they will not sell your personal information unless they go bankrupt. Then your information is an asset to be sold. http://secondlife.com/corporate/privacy.php

But this is not the main assault on privacy. The privacy of our electronic communications is not protected. In the US, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Stored Communications Act both protect privacy, but that protection can be waived.  Second Life, There, World of Warcraft and certain aspects of Yahoo all ask that this protection is waived.  The businesses mentioned retain the right to monitor and record communications for law enforcement requests, business reasons, fraud prevention, abuse report follow-up and other reasons.  Red Light Center goes one better and says that no communication is private, but that they will not go through what is recorded without good reason. 

One of the negatives that came out of Bragg v. Linden was the reliance on chat logs in the course of the litigation.  Both sides encouraged their publication.  But in part, Linden Lab used a resident’s private communications against them.  And the Terms of Service to an extent gives them this right.

When it was suggested that Tizzer Foxchase’s chat logs were published after she was permabanned, it was implied that their publication was not against the ToS because she was no longer a resident.  But the privacy of the chat logs should not change because of the use of Second Life.  That would suggest that if an account was deleted, then all of the user’s chat logs were fair game for publication.  The same standard of privacy protection applies while on Second Life or when a user has left Second Life.

In this way, the Lab gets privacy wrong.  When the community needs information, they do not receive it.  I asked Lewis PR and Robin Linden, what, if any, criminal sanctions were applied to the two bank heisters as reported in the Herald.  Robin Linden’s response was that their privacy had to be respected. When the community needs privacy, there are no guarantees, other than voice.  There is no reasonably posted policy on how long chat logs are kept or how they are accessed or by who. 

For a business platform, there is no assurance that trade secrets will not be poached.  Attorney/client privilege may be waived even though the two are in IM’s.

A society under constant surveillance by a sometimes adverse party is not free.  There must be limits to how long chat logs are retained, if at all, by all virtual worlds.  Why should there be uproar over e-mail monitoring and not IM monitoring?

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by Jessica Holyoke

Madelena Rossini

Woodbury University is reappearing in Second Life.  Madelena Rossini is the new administrator listed on the Woodbury group.  Ms. Rossini was a SL resident who was introduced to members of the Woodbury faculty through SL.  She recently started teaching classes at the California school and took some time to talk with me early one morning.

Madelena Rossini: I want to start emphasizing the positive work that is being done by Woodbury in SL with regards to education.  I know that may sound boring to some people but really it isn’t.  It is about each person going on fantastic journeys of self-discovery and learning.  It is also about people discovering that they can do more and be more than they thought possible. We focus on the people who have been marginalized by society.  We may not be Harvard or Yale, but we cater to the little people. In many respects that is what it is like for Woodbury in SL. Of course when you open your doors to just about anyone you are also bound to attract people that will give you a bad name as quickly as they would give you a good one.  Hence the fact that the PN got through our door.

Woodbury University in real life recruits in places like Compton in LA. These are places people want to forget. Students are often the first in their family to get a college education. “

When asked about the recent uproar with Edward Clift’s land purchase and seizure, she had this to say:

“He did not know it was next to Prokofy Neva. He knew it was prime real estate and close to the Linden Lab headquarters. That is what motivated him to buy it. He is currently appealing the ban and we do not anticipate there being a problem once it is proven that he was and is in control of his own account.’

Ms. Rossini claims authorship of the metaversemuse blog which lists Susanna Hendy as the author of the blog posts.  Susanna Hendy is a recently hired instructor for the purpose of conducting Second Life based learning at Woodbury University according to the VP of Academic Affairs, David Rosen. 

Mr. Rosen confirms that Woodbury remains interested in using Second Life as a platform for learning.  In a previously published e-mail at Second Thoughts, Mr. Rosen was quoted as saying that there is no authorized representative of Woodbury in SL, even though the Woodbury students are still bound by the Woodbury Student Code of Conduct.

You can read more from Ms. Rossini at metaversemuse.blogspot.com.

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Ravenglass rental agent gloats over neighbor’s land confiscation

by Pixeleen Mistral and Jessica Holyoke

Prokofy Neva smiles as Agent Linden confiscated more land this week

An empty plot in Furness sim may be a warning to anyone expecting rule of law and property rights in the metaverse. According to a report published by Shaun Altman, the virtual land was seized by Linden Lab earlier this week. But why would the normally disengaged Lab suddenly take action? Several sources report that Prokofy Neva, a role-playing advocate of rule-of-law and property rights has stepped out of character and is claiming credit for Linden Lab’s land seizure. The land seized was formerly owned by a group of students building a tower next to several plots of land owned by Mr. Prokofy Neva. Mr. Neva claims that these same residents have harassed him for over a year - this apparently means that these students are ineligible to purchase virtual land - at least if this displeases Mr. Neva.

According to Mr. Altman’s account, the students were said to be from Woodbury University - an institution who’s island was destroyed by Linden Lab last spring. Mr. Neva has waged a long standing battle against all thing Woodbury, and the newly purchased plot in Furness was in close proximity to Mr. Neva’s virtual land holdings. The result seems to have been a volitile combination, resulting in more than a little irony - irony which seems to be entirely lost on Mr. Neva. The long time critic of insider dealing by Linden Lab now brags of special connections that can result in avatar bans from the metaverse and property confiscation - without anything like due process or public hearings getting in the way of LL’s rough justice.

As Shaun Altman writes, “This event is alarming mostly because when I viewed the build prior to it, there didn’t seem to be anything present which violated the rules of Second Life. Prokofy Neva often theorizes about the existence of a secretive and elite cabal of Second Life residents, known as the “Feted Inner Core”, or “FIC” for short. According to Prokofy Neva, this is a group of residents who are well-connected with Linden Lab, and receive special favors and/or special treatment within Second Life as a result of those connections.”

Shaun Altman feels deep concern for what the future of Second Life may be like

Mr. Altman confirmed for the Herald that Mr. Neva now claims a certain FIC status for himself - and seemed to be indulging in a bit of victory dancing on his victims’ land:

Pixeleen Mistral: did Prok really say he can get people banned?
Shaun Altman: Thats what he said to me (roughly, I didn’t log it).
He said “do you see that land”
“do you remember what used to be on that land?”
“do you remember who owned it?”
“check who owns it now” …
“check find people”
“now do you see what I can get done if I want to?”
That’s a rough recollection, but thats more or less it

Pixeleen Mistral: I guess it pays to be Robin Linden’s super-friend
Shaun Altman: Well I wouldn’t want to speculate about how Prokofy accomplished this or if its even true.
The facts are LL snatched the land, the guy is gone, and Prokofy says “do you see what I can get done if I want to?”

Attempts by Pixeleen Mistral to contact Mr. Neva for comment were met with silence. Once the Herald located a reporter that Mr. Neva would consent to speak with, Mr. Neva said he was simply exercising his game-god given right to abuse report as he sees fit:

Jessica Holyoke: Hello. My name is Jessica Holyoke and I am a reporter for the Herald. I am following up with a story found here: http://www.shaunaltman.com/articles/2008/01/24/property-snatched-by-linden-lab, that states that you used your insider connections with Linden lab in order to get people banned from Second Life and their plots seized. I am following up for my editor in case her attempts to contact you for your comments were in vain due to her possibly being muted.
Prokofy Neva: ROFL I didn’t use any “inside contacts,” I filed an Abuse Report against a group of people who had harassed and stalked me for a year and who crashed 4 sims repeatedly where my rentals are, where the bought property. I guess the Lindens finally read and acted up on their abuse reports

While Mr. Neva’s trash talk has been confirmed by both Shaun Altman and Intlibber Brautigan, was Prokofy Neva responsible for the land confiscation and account bans? We may never know for sure. It does appear that Mr. Neva will reach for the abuse reports if he believes there are any connections to Woodbury University. Why would Mr. Neva compromise his former commitment to due process and transparency in this fashion? It all makes a certain amount of sense if it lowers the cost of expansion of the Ravenglass empire by depressing land prices near Mr. Neva’s holdings. Virtual land barons agree that buying low and selling high is the ticket to success - particularly if you are not concerned about how fair the game is. Should we look forward to another Ravenglass rental plot in Furness once Agent Linden puts the land on sale?

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Philip shown venting at Cory over open source initiative

by Urizenus Sklar

In this shocking video, smuggled to the Herald via secret interweb connections, we see the current drama inside Linden Lab. Stuggling with the burdens of copybot, bank fraud, griefing, grey goo, penisings, yiffing, ageplay, and Cory’s betrayal, Philip dresses down his remaining Linden Lab brain trust, and it isn’t pretty.

>>>>

hat tip to Crystal Studio for smuggling us the secret tape.

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by Metaverse Muse

designer Wingless Emoto

Maldavius Figtree, notorious for having destroyed builds in the Woodbury University sim last summer, is in the news again this week after his controversial firing of avatar designer Wingless Emoto.

According to reliable sources, Figtree held an suspiciously timed staff meeting last Friday morning - a meeting timed for when Wingless Emoto would be asleep and therefore unable to attend. During this meeting it was determined that the talented avatar creator Emoto was earning too much and should therefore be removed from staff. The terms of service for Figtree’s company, Darkphere Creations, were then conveniently changed, and Miss Emoto was removed from her position, all before she awoke to the news.

Wingless Emoto was also accused of “sitting on her ass” despite the fact that she had been unable to work for a short period of time due to technical malfunctions. Her remaining avatars and creations continued to sell well throughout this period, generating significant real life money for the company. Now that Wingless is gone, Maldavius Figtree is continuing to sell her avatars, refuses to return her creations, and has ceased paying her the commission they had agreed upon.

Maldavius Figtree

This isn’t the first time that Maldavius Figtree has been involved in heated debates over ownership of content creation.

Last summer Figtree was contracted to work for Brautigan and Tuck Holdings to script their orientation island in North. When disputes over direction arose between Figtree and BNT CEO, IntLibber Brautigan, Figtree insisted on removing his own creation. It is perhaps ironic that the shoe is not on the other foot today as Figtree continues to sell Emoto’s designs.

Wingless Emoto refuses to be put down by this incident. Others have suggested she form her own company for quite some time, and she sees this new development as an opportunity to do so. Commenting on Figtree, Emoto said, “I always knew he was an ass but this is just low, even for him.”

It remains to be seen how well Figtree’s Darksphere Creations will weather this storm - particularly if public sentiment is roused and consumer boycotts follow.

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[Note from Justine; Millie Bekkers sent me a hello weeks and weeks ago about being a Post 6 Grrrl and due to our schedules and time zones it seemed like it took even longer than usual for us to actually meet. As you can see she is worth the wait!]

Hey there sugar, my name is Millie.
I came to know about Second Life through a news story on TV.  I found it so intriguing I decided to explore this strange new world. Of course, like everyone who starts, this new adventure was not without some difficulties and more than a few embarrassments as the quintessential naked newbie.

As providence would have it,  in the first weeks of my existence I found myself being drawn to the warm and genuine friendship of what is known throughout Second Life as the Perfumed Garden club. As a poor, penniless young girl I was quickly accepted into this little band of sisters. Nurtured, protected, encouraged by those who were so eager to “pay it forward,” I now have the opportunity to “pay it forward” myself once again. There seems to be 2 types of people on SL, the creative ones who have built this wonderful world and those like me who quietly stare in awe and enjoy the hard work and inspiration of those smarter than myself. However,  building a house in SL, as it is in RL, is not the same as building a home and the Perfumed Garden is in every sense a home- not a group of pixels clumped together and drawn out on my laptop by my graphics cards or video card or whatever it is that thingy does.

The thought of this photo shoot was at first rather exciting and I am slightly nervous at the prospect of exposing myself for all to see, but as in all things in life, one must grow up and move on and the examples of so many that have come before me have given me the courage to take this step. I just want to say thank you to all my friends who have created the monster that is here before you today and to Justine Babii and the SL Herald for giving me this opportunity.

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by Jessica Holyoke

A week after the announcement of the upcoming Linden Banking Ban, Lindens and residents are reacting in different ways.  The Linden reaction is that “payment of interest”, the main prohibition on offering a bank goes both ways.  Paying interest on deposits is prohibited, but according to some Lindens that responded in writing, receiving interest on loans or credit cards is also prohibited. 

Various banks are coming up with new business plans.  While BCX Bank and SL Investor’s Bank are exploring new possibilities, some banks like Bank of SL are no longer going to be paying interest on balances. 

Other banks, like SL Business Bank, have disappeared from Search.  JT Financial is transforming to an Avatar to RL Merchant exchange service called SL Wallet.  All cash balances will be transferred from JT Financial to SL Wallet, presumably under the Arbitrage Associates LLC name. 

BnT is looking to the Middle Ages for a solution called “Contractus Trinium”  where the depositor agrees to deposit a sum of money in BNT Financial for zero interest on a daily, monthly, quarterly, or annual period, the depositor agrees to purchase, from BnT, insurance against default in an amount of 2.5 L$ per 1000L$ deposited, per day and then the depositor, agrees to sell to BnT, all rights to profit from use of this capital, for the amount of 10L$ per 1000L$ deposited, per day.  At the same time, BnT is registering as an LLC. (source: www.ancapex.com)

Two banks with trustworthy reputations are going two different routes. SL Bank, a small quiet contender on the financial scene, as featured on Virtually Blind, is closing its doors after offering instant withdrawals for all of its customers.  L&L Trust, known for its reasonable interest rates, is chartering the entity as a credit union and will be able to offer similar financial services as before. 

Ginko Financial was supposedly the cause of the ban, while other frauds unmentioned include Jasper Tizzy’s The Bank, where Tizzy just disappeared, and Dylan7679 DeCosta’s Banca d’Italia, which was rumored to have illegal off-grid currency auctions. 

In Ginko bailout news, Shaun Altman recently announced the sale of Ginko owned land netting L$300,000 for the Ginko depositors, now on record with the on-hiatus WSE.  Altman is currently waiting to unload Ginko’s holdings of BnT stock, which is being restricted so that the market is not flooded with shares.

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A note from the Editrix:
Here at the Herald we maintain the highest possible standards of journalism and literary arts. This means that we are careful about handing out awards. For instance, the “commie” or comment-of-the-week award, has only been awarded once previously - but Kalel Venkman has risen to the occasion with a terse, yet world-class comment, reproduced below:

I’m going to humor this silliness for a while, because there are a few things that I think really need to be said.

Tizzers Foxchase is no martyr. He was not banned for pasting a single chat log. To my knowledge, he was banned for a number of serious ongoing violations of Terms of Service and community standards, including but not limited to unnumerable counts of disclosure, harassment, disturbing the peace, intolerance, a possible misrepresentation of the educational status of the Woodbury University sim (the potential fallout of which would have been the defrauding of Linden Labs out of approximately two thousand dollars in United States currency), creating a monument to intolerance in the form of Woodbury University (as has been well documented in other Herald articles) and knowingly contributing to organized griefing. Despite his claims to the contrary, he was in full knowledge that the PN were at Woodbury the entire time they were there - I have been told by Lindens that the chat logs bore this out.

I am not privy to everything Foxchase ever said about anyone else, or everything he ever did, but the only true friend he had in Second Life was himself. The others were his playthings to manipulate or torment.

At the very moment he was trying to apologize to me for the multiple ToS violations it took to orchestrate a trip to my home in real life, and swearing off griefing, he was photographed trolling Prokofy Neva using his Azzu Manga alt ( http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2007/11/lindens-deny-gr.html ).

The Justice League gives out emergency signals so that residents can call for assistance if they’re being griefed. At the same time as Tizzers was attempting to negotiate peace with me a second time on January 1, the day of his final permaban, he was also working with a member of the Patriotic Nigras to reverse engineer one of the emergency signals so that the Patriotic Nigras could either break into our database or destroy our ability to communicate with one another.

There has been a quixotic campaign in the Herald of late, to perform a character assassination of myself and the Justice League. Two articles were penned by Nikola Shirakawa, decrying me as the root of all evil in Second Life. Nikola himself was a member of the Justice League, and when it became clear to him that he could not commandeer the group to his own purposes, decided he would attempt to destroy it instead. He used his inside access to feed a near-continuous stream of information to the Patriotic Nigras. When caught, he at first tried to shift the blame to innocent League members to avoid having to face the music. Once ejected, he committed dozens of acts of disclosure within Second Life and received a suspension for that. He also published my personal information in such specific and great detail in the Herald that he would have gotten an instant permaban had he done these things in Second Life. He uses the Herald as a shield to commit acts of aggression against myself and others without fear of consequences.

He formed the Free Fandom Project. This was to make science fiction and media fandom more accessible to the average fan - these things should be free, he said. This appeared very noble. Four months later, he wrote a letter of resignation complaining that the members all wanted things for free and weren’t contributing, and complained that he was perfectly justified in taking the free things that others had donated to his group and selling them on SLExchange for a personal profit.

He called this a “service fee”, but what had actually happened was that he, once again, had gotten caught with his hand in the cookie-jar, having said one thing and then doing the opposite.

We once had a picture of the Teen Titans Unlimited in the Justice League Watchtower - however, this had been taken down in August of 2007. The only “recently ejected JLU” that could have seen it to report its existence to Ms. Mason would have been Nikola Shirakawa, so this very directly identifies this article as yet another attempt by Nikola to take his revenge on the people he once counted as his friends, and then betrayed.

Nikola was ejected from the League - let’s see now - it would have been over half a year ago, and he still hasn’t gotten over it, and he’s still deeply engaged in his complex (though transparent) vendetta against both myself and the Justice League.

His vendetta, these articles and the vitriolic posts, arent’ about the saving civilization as we know it from the “evil” Justice League - a group of teachers, doctors, lawyers and creative professionals from all walks of life who have come together in the common goal of trying to make Second Life a better place for its residents. It’s about Nikola Shirakawa, Tizzers Foxchase and others being angry
about getting caught doing something they know in their hearts they’re not supposed to have been doing, and being forced to take responsibility for their own actions.

And because the League reports what we see to the people who can evaluate their actions and do something about them, we’re “evil”. Almost without exception, the posts here in the Herald against me and the Justice League have been made by people who have had to face the music as an indirect result of our actions. Since they cannot do anything to the Lindens, they take aim at us instead.

Shoot the messenger.

We’re not the bad guys here. Let me illuminate.

The “bad guys” are those people who make us afraid to stand up for what’s right, because we might be the victims of character assassination in public if we try it.

The bad guys are those who make us distrust joy and dread victory, because of the retribution it might bring, who make us hide in our holes and sit on our hands, doing nothing instead of rising up.

The bad guys are those who try to stamp out every scrap of generosity, and decency, openness and courage, who’ve made reaching upward to something more, to try to lift those around them nothing more than an an exercise in futility. They have taken hope and made it a horrible thing, to be feared and shunned, and bound and gagged it and thrown it into the abyss.

The bad guys belittle caring about your fellows, standing squarely in the sun and speaking the truth, and tell you that the only possible path is despair. They make us forget what we are capable of as God’s creations, and we turn our backs on what we could become and what we could truly accomplish. We lie hidden in the half light and when somebody comes along to tell us it doesn’t have to be that way, we cover our ears because we’re just as sure that it does.

They want us to stop caring and surrender to all this, because hope is dead - we should surrender instead of fighting, because there’s nothing we can do, and never will be.

Why did we pick comic books as our theme? Why not more police, another SWAT team, another fake FBI group? Or just plain clothes?

The flashy costumes and comic book personnae are a lot of fun - if it wasn’t fun, we wouldn’t do it. But they do more than that. These costumes are a part of our culture. They stand for something people want to believe in. They represent truth, and justice. We’re more than people in brightly colored costumes. By wearing these costumes, we become symbols of hope - not only to other residents of Second Life, but to each other as well. They remind us of what being on the side of good is really all about.

When I first came to Second Life, I didn’t realize how much like real life this place can be. This virtual world is populated by the complete spectrum of humanity. The vast majority are generous, thoughtful, intelligent and caring. A few, however, take delight in tormenting others. It’s these few that can destroy the very fabric of this virtual society.

So when you read the posts that will surely follow this one, think about all this. We don’t have to be afraid to stand up for what’s right and just and true in the world. We don’t have to let other people push us back into the darkness for trying to make the world a better place. And we don’t have to be afraid to join together in that common goal.

Let us not allow those who carry hate in their hearts to dissuade us. Our allies are still truth, and justice, and hope. And above all, our faith and belief in each other.
The Justice League still exists and is thriving despite all that’s happened - and despite everything that’s happened to me at the hands of Nikola Shirakawa, Tizzers Foxchase and people like them, I still believe.

—————-

Okay - go ahead and start posting lies and vitriol, and get it out of your systems. But you should really consider just letting go of it and moving on. Hate is a luxury no one can afford - it taxes you, and takes your energies away from the important things in your lives that really need your attention - like your families, your relationships, your jobs and your schoolwork. Think about the futures you have and what you’re sacrificing.

All the griefers I have known have far greater potential than they realize - even the really heinous ones. Everyone has something in them that makes them worthwhile. Take a moment, and breath for a while, and find that something, and spend some of that boundless energy on something that will do you some good.

- Kalel

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WWW.PRIMTIME.INFO NEWS SERVICE — Latest Headlines
DATELINE: Tue Jan 15 12:34:02 2008

Gorean slaves are being forced to borrow burlap burkahs from the Al-Andalus sim following an invasion of moths devastating silk stocks. The future of Gorean culture is uncertain.

“I’m not worried,” says Master Overlord Magnitude, who asked to remain anonymous: “The hoes can wear Darth Vader outfits as far as I’m concerned. I’m not in it for the fashion, I’m in it for being a dick.” Overlord Magnitude couldn’t comment further because dinner was ready.

[Prim Time wireservice news appears courtesy of the SubRealism Manifesto]

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