Monday Meme: Questions about Linden Lab TOS

One of Strawberry Singh's Monday Memes I missed while out of town was on the Linden Labs TOS - which I have to admit I have mixed feelings about.I have, to be frank, mixed feelings about TOSes in general. Companies seem to be adding an ever expanding laundry list of conditions and trying to enforce them through continuous internet access, and while a lot of them haven't hit the courts yet, I am troubled by a long history of individual rights being negated in the face of governmental and corporate rights. Yes, ultimately, governments and corporations are made up of individuals, but they are also a means of generalizing risk and responsibility, which can have troubling implications for individual action. The US is a place right now where the President can both commend Whistleblowers as Patriots and condemn Julian Assange and Edward Snowden as a traitor with most people seemingly unaware of the irony and hypocrisy inherent in doing so; this leaves me both feeling uncomfortable and feeling powerless at the same time. I usually focus on what I can do and what I have power over, so there is a certain extent too which I don't look too closely at some of these larger issues besides registering my discomfort.

1. Do you usually read the TOS thoroughly before you hit accept? No. I used to, years ago, but TOSes are written so obtusely and at such length that I eventually gave up. I'm fairly certain this was a feature of how they were written, not a bug, as non-professional TOSes tend to be comfortingly brief.


2. How do you feel about the new LL TOS changes, specially from August 15th and section 2.3. I don't like how the TOS seems to be setting creators up to fail again. Second Life is a pretty unique platform,and I'm not happy about threats to that. It's also a business, though, and businesses are pretty notorious for not caring overly much about their customers, or defining caring about their customers very differently than I would.


3. Do the changes affect you directly? Not really. I create very little inside of Second Life, so insofar as they are affected I will be part of the splatter damage, but I don't see a direct effect.


4. What do you think people should do about this new change? I really don't know. One of the issues is that any sort of actual broad social disobedience is unlikely to take hold in a virtual world - there aren't direct lines of communication, the ability to stop people engaging in the disobedience is easier and with fewer consequences (one of the parts of the Civil Rights Movement was to get arrested so that the jails would clog up; there is no virtual equivalent as a deleted account is simply gone), and the injuries are far less lasting and severe. Most of the remedies I see are through the Courts, and specifically through pro bono work as anyone injured by Second Life TOS matters are unlikely to be wealthy enough to single handedly engage in a lawsuit. I have no doubt that the lines between individuals and Corporate TOSes will end up in the Courts, but I doubt it will be through Second Life that it happens.


5. Are you or have you ever thought about leaving Second Life? What would you do with your time/blogs/career if you ever did? I tend to not think about leaving things until I do. There are definite eras in my life which are defined by the media I was engaging in, and I'd imagine if things offline became busier I would spend less time on Second Life; I might pick up some of my other blog challenges, or write a book, or... who knows. I always seem to land on my feet and make a few friends, though, so I figure no use worrying about it until it happens.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Fallen Gods, Scarab (Lucky Fortune Gift)
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Akiko
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: Fallen Gods, Glowing Eye
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Elymode, Dripping Blood
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe Wings
Hands and Feet: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands and Feet
Nails: Orc Inc, Rich Darks
Hand Fade: Orc Inc, Blend Hands
Dress: Violent Seduction, Criminal
Shoes: G Field, Pumps "Eve"

Pose: Exposeur

Location: Enchantment
Light Settings: Phototools, Horizon Building Light 02
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only