What do you do if you have a problem with someone in Secondlife?The official answer is to fill out an 'Abuse Report' which is usually answered with an automated response that thanks you for your report and informs you that you will NOT know the outcome of any investigation to protect the person you are reporting.
But if that is the case how then do we know that Linden Lab actually do anything at all when an AR is filed? Simple answer we don't we can only judge by the resulting behaviour of those we report.
Trapped Underwood recently bought a sim AS IS, meaning as a complete business including buildings, landscaping etc. for this he paid real USD and was allowed modify rights of the previous owner - now from experience this sort of thing rarely works but I will gloss over that for now as it is not the issue here.Not long after the transfer was completed Trapped discovered some major discrepancies in his initial information of a healthy business (SIM) when confronted the previous owner (Rex):
i.Revoking his Mod rights.
ii.Returned all of his stuff.. meaning Trapped showed up and everything that was in Rex's name including landscaping was gone.
iii.Sent their Private IM conversations to other people. (A ToS violation in itself)
Trapped submitted Abuse Reports and requested a rollback - this was denied as it was a resident to resident issue, eventually through negotiation with Rex, Trapped was able to get the rollback and as far as the Lindens were concerned the matter was closed but the harassment did not stop in fact it escalated:
"Rex kept coming back to me to try to come back.. when I refused the new threats started even personal ones to the effect that he even posted in an IM my RL name city and state saying “he knew where I was and if he wanted to he could be talking to me in person right now”
I submitted another report to the Lindens
The Lindens told me not their problem call Law enforcement.
REX (previous owner) WAS NOW BANNED FROM THE SIM"
It became apparent to me that the Lindens were doing nothing. I found it hard to believe that Rex would continue to harass me if the Lindens had at least talked to him. I supplied the Lindens with all of the IM window conversations between Rex and I.
I questioned the Lindens as to what they were doing because Rex’s harassments were continuing. They told me that as per their NON DISCLOSURE POLICY they could not give me any private information.
I stated to them that I did not want private information I wanted to know what was being done to protect me.
Their response was always the same NON DISCLOSURE POLICY.
I told them that they were using their NON DISCLOSURE POLICY to hide behind the fact that they were really doing nothing
I now wanted to speak to supervisors and was again thrown back into the “place a ticket loop” which I did.
I got the run around but I refused to go away.. I specifically asked to speak to Harmony Linden and Jack Linden, Harmony was always in a meeting and Jack was never available."
When reading through this and talking to Trapped I felt acutely sorry for him as I along with many others have seen this sort of thing before BUT why do the ToS not protect him? Why has nothing been done? This Rex has continued in his harassment and when threats are taken out of Secondlife (Trappeds real identity was known to Rex through the business transfer) then surely Linden Labs should respond to it?
The Terms of Service state:
CONDUCT BY USERS OF SECOND LIFE
4.1 You agree to abide by certain rules of conduct, including the Community Standards and other rules prohibiting illegal and other practices that Linden Lab deems harmful.
specifically:
(x) "stalk", abuse or attempt to abuse, or otherwise harass another user. Any violation by you of the terms of the foregoing sentence may result in immediate and permanent suspension or cancellation of your Account. You agree that Linden Lab may take whatever steps it deems necessary to abridge, or prevent behavior of any sort on the Service in its sole discretion, without notice to you.
Yet this abuse continues to this day and Trapped is now considering legal action against Linden Labs for the perceived protection of the Tos.
Linden Labs response to his many support tickets and abuse reports:
Hello Trapped, Patch has escalated your ticket to me following your request for "someone of importance." As he has explained, Linden Lab does not provide any details regarding the results of an Abuse Report. That is to say, none. This is a matter of long-standing policy and is also mentioned in the auto-reply email that is sent when an Abuse Report is filed. This policy is in place to protect the confidentiality of all Second Life Residents, and would serve to protect you if the position were ever reversed. I am sorry that we disagree regarding which pieces of information should remain confidential, but we will not violate our policy in this regard. I understand that you may have other issues regarding this situation you wish to discuss, and I am happy to do so. However, I request that you consider the matter of the Abuse Reports closed as this is our final word on the issue. Thank you, Maurice Linden Support Operations Manager
At no point has Trapped asked for any information pertaining to Rex's identity or asked for any confidential information all he has asked for is to know why nothing has been done to stop the harassment he is suffering but Linden Lab hides behind their NON-DISCLOSURE POLICY and Trapped is left to deal with any and all harassment with no recourse.
Do the Terms of Service protect a user - yes if you are the one harassing someone!
Add your comments of how effective the AR system has been for you? Has it worked when you have had a problem? or have you been Trapped in a loop with no recourse?
Dana Vanmoer
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