Who owns our resident-owned assets? by Sansarya Caligari
June 24, 2008
Weedy Herbst's radio and DJ equipment have graced hundreds of clubs in Second Life for the past four years.
YOHO – In the 2006-07 Bragg vs. Linden Lab case, a resident's land was seized following the discovery that he obtained the land through an exploit in Linden Lab's auction system. Bragg filed a lawsuit which culminated in a precedent setting decision that part of Linden Lab's terms of service was illegal as to the manner disputes were to be settled between SL account holders and Linden Lab. Linden Lab then made changes to the TOS in May 07.
Because the case was settled out of court, however, the heart of the matter of the case was never decided: Do residents “own” their inventory or land they purchase with linden dollars (which must be purchased with real currency) or as the TOS states implies does LL really own resident assets since LL can seize those assets at any time and for any reason, including no reason.
Bragg contended that since Linden Lab markets Second Life, in part, as a way for people to own land, businesses and other assets that can, among other things, lead to making a real life living, that the LL TOS that states that the assets one acquires within SL can be seized at any time is in conflict with the manner in which the platform is marketed and is thus illegal at worst and deceiving at the least.
This is one of the many reasons I will never put money into SL this type of thing happens far to often and on much larger scales to ;-(
Posted By:
anomouse | Tuesday, June 24, 2008 11:34 AM
A prime example of why remote scanning scripts should not work past the boundary lines of the owner's plot. Blue button is just as bad as the ad farmers.
Posted By:
Chris Norse | Tuesday, June 24, 2008 06:05 PM
Chris. Seems to me, your ignorance is only exceeded by your arrogance.
Truth be known, SL would be much without people like you.
Posted By:
Ricky Newcomb | Thursday, June 26, 2008 11:50 AM
Which Jurisdictional Legal System Applies?
More cases need to go to court on this to establish precedent, and common law rules to to govern SL. However, an issue here is jurisdiction.
There are several issues to focus on: Has a crime been committed? If it is deemed that a crime has been committed, where has it been committed? Which legal system will apply? There may well be terms of service and community standards, but these are still subject to a legal system. A starting point can then be the location of the main Linden servers... which can infer that US Federal and State law can apply. However, where a resident is using their own server in an agreement with Linden, then the locale of those servers need to be taken into account too. This then presents a legal conundrum, of which jurisdiction applies and therefore, which legal system applies.
A few years ago, the "love bug" from the Philippines did the rounds, causing much damage worldwide. The reason this is interesting, is due to the fact of legalities. Under Philippine Law, no crime had been committed, as they did not have any laws in place under which to prosecute the crime, thus there was no crime. If this then is applied to SL, and in world transactions, and a crime is then committed, but that crime is deemed to have taken place in a jurisdiction where that act is not seen as a crime, then no crime occurs and thus no action can be taken. This is why the establishment of jurisdiction is important.
It has been suggested that the Internet is a new jurisdiction, and thus requires its own legal system, while other support the self-regulation theory. However, neither will suffice in governing the Internet. There needs to be a hybrid of both.
If a crime is committed in SL, how can it be determined where it has been committed so as to know which legal system will apply? And once this has been determined, it needs then to be evaluated to see if that legal system does then in fact apply. SL, by its nature, is global, but localised to some servers located in set places.
Take for example a phone call, where a person is either end but the conversation takes place at some point in between. So too with SL... where do these transactions take place? This is particularly interesting, as 'owned' land can still be claimed back by the covenanted owner (sim owner), even if tier (tax) is being paid, and this can then be claimed by Linden Labs.
This is indeed a legal quandary for the courts to settle. Clearly, there is much at stake within SL with many residents making a living from the transactions within SL. There is a reliance upon the services rendered within SL, and thus creating a situation where breach of promise can incur a person a loss of livelihood and as such, this needs some form of legal protection. There is certainly a requirement for the courts to take an active role in resolving these issues.
;)
