In the real world, the nationality on my passport says British. Why are you telling us this, I hear you ask, since this is a newspaper about Second Life, our brave new world, and only our residence in their is relevant. Well... it is because of the fact that the situation is not entirely like that, which is the reason for me typing this. You see, SecondLife is a place where we SHOULD be free to be the people we want to be, and yet our freedoms are being restricted, and the place of your birth is unfortunately going to affect how you see this.SL is a virtual international community, where people from across the world can create an avatar and come live the lives they have always wanted to. However, Linden Labs appear to be forgetting this situation. In a way very similar to the fact that the US Baseball championship is called the World Series, LL appear to have forgotten that just because they have to work under certain rules and laws in the place that they reside, the rest of the world does not necessarily have to. The biggest case in point is the situation announced yesterday with the effective announcement that online gambling has been effectively banned in SL. The reason behind this, taken from the Official Linden Blog, is that "Second Life Residents must comply with state and federal laws applicable to regulated online gambling, even when both operators and players of the games reside outside of the US". Exactly why an island owner from the UK, offering a gambling service to a resident from Holland, should be subject to US state and federal laws, rather than the laws in their own countries, both of which allow online gaming, is neither explained nor logical. Linden go on to state that "
", forgetting that the policy they are blanket enforcing, does not comply with the real world laws of many of the residents of SL, myself included. It has been well documented throughout the world that part of the appeal on online communities like SL is the fact that this is a new frontier, where the laws and interactions as they relate to the real world are still being worked out. So, this illogical, lazy, and infuriating policy is neither needed in this form, nor sensible. One has to wonder what is next? Will I need to pay US taxes on items bought from SL residents? Even if they live down the road from me?The biggest irony in this whole debacle can be seen further down the Linden blog itself: They have announced a policy directly conflicting British law the day before LL are staging a meet in Brighton, England, in order to recruit potential Lindens in the UK. You can become an employee of the company, and work on SL in the UK, but will not be allowed to take part in activities inworld which are perfectly allowed and endorsed by your country's government.Perhaps, since LL seem to modelling their policy for dealing with their international customers on another US centred company, AOL (America OnLine), they could at least have done us all the courtesy of similarly warning us all in their name. Might I suggest Second America?
", forgetting that the policy they are blanket enforcing, does not comply with the real world laws of many of the residents of SL, myself included. It has been well documented throughout the world that part of the appeal on online communities like SL is the fact that this is a new frontier, where the laws and interactions as they relate to the real world are still being worked out. So, this illogical, lazy, and infuriating policy is neither needed in this form, nor sensible. One has to wonder what is next? Will I need to pay US taxes on items bought from SL residents? Even if they live down the road from me?The biggest irony in this whole debacle can be seen further down the Linden blog itself: They have announced a policy directly conflicting British law the day before LL are staging a meet in Brighton, England, in order to recruit potential Lindens in the UK. You can become an employee of the company, and work on SL in the UK, but will not be allowed to take part in activities inworld which are perfectly allowed and endorsed by your country's government.Perhaps, since LL seem to modelling their policy for dealing with their international customers on another US centred company, AOL (America OnLine), they could at least have done us all the courtesy of similarly warning us all in their name. Might I suggest Second America?
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