Policing in Second Life

[Serunus]

Hi,

I'm a undergraduate student and I'm interested in the policing of SL for my dissertation project. As a researcher, I am interested in user experience regarding the different ways in which SL is currently being policed, either by an unofficial (not sanctioned by Linden Labs) Or official “police” force.

I'm not completely sure if there is really an unofficial non-role playing police force on SL? Can someone clarify that for me please? If there is does anyone know how effective they are? Or How effective Linden is when it comes to regulating SL?

Please keep in mind that by participating in this thread, you are also giving consent to use your statements/opinions as part of my research. In the finished dissertation paper, all users will be anonymous.

If anyone needs to contact me on SL, search for Serunus.

Advance thanks!

[Persephone Emerald]

There are a few unofficial, volunteer police groups in SL. I don't mean Role-Play, but groups that help deal with griefers. Go in-world & Search on Police with Groups selected to find them. They're sort of like a combination of neighborhood watch & hired security firm. The one that I dealt with seemed reputable & consciencious.

[Serunus]

Thanks! I'm still a noob with SL. Do you have any opinons about the way SL is being regulated? Does it really need to be? So far that I've been on I haven't ran into any trouble. 

[Dante Tucker]

You will find most areas have their own moderation staff. Generally appointed by the land owner. Each area has it's own rules and regulations, they can vary widely. This is pretty much the only policing SL has.

[Dante Tucker]

Also the Policing "groups" tend to be looked down on by most people. Residents are not moderators, unless the land owner gives you rights.

Too many times have I had to deal with "SL Police" that come into my sims and try to tell people what to do. I'm quick to ban them.

[Serunus]

Really? But aren't they mostly there in case of griefers? What if it's something like stealing or anything to do with money?

[Dante Tucker]

 

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Serunus wrote:

Really? But aren't they mostly there in case of griefers? What if it's something like stealing or anything to do with money?

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The problem is they often know little to nothing of our local rules, and break many of them in the process of trying to "Help". Often they are rude and unprofessional in their methods as well.

They scare off residents, and make others think badly of our real staff under the assumption they are part of it.

[Tateru Nino]

As private security forces, some police groups (I have no hard data on what percentage) simply operate as a form of double-headed protection racket. That is, they do some griefing as alts, then come in and offer to help police things for a fee.

[Serunus]

wow. I hadn't thought that people would be creating alts for those purposes. But do you think Lindens should do anything about it to step in? I mean in worst horrible crime case scenarios? As part of my research I've been reading a lot on actual law enforcers wanting to step in and monitor virtual worlds.

Obviously there are many flaws with having a for hire security team, especially with the examples given. But I know people have argued that having real policemen involved in monitoring virtual worlds ruins the whole purpose of SL.

[Marianne Little]

I think the OP talks about inworld Police.

Serunus, I will suggest that you google "Law Enforcement in Second Life: Policing or Pastime?". This should bring up an article in AH. I don't provide you with the link, because the rules for what I am allowed to link to, is confusing and I don't take the risk.

The comments in the article is interesting reading, make sure you read what some has experienced from SL Police.

[Aabz Adamski]

 

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Marianne Little wrote:

I think the OP talks about inworld Police.

Serunus, I will suggest that you google "Law Enforcement in Second Life: Policing or Pastime?". This should bring up an article in AH. I don't provide you with the link, because the rules for what I am allowed to link to, is confusing and I don't take the risk.

The comments in the article is interesting reading, make sure you read what some has experienced from SL Police.

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Is G**gle safe to say here? I am not to positive. I am thinking it must to be! But things are not to be always logical.

 

[Irene Muni]

Serunus, it's difficul answer you if you don't know SL (BTW I cannot imagine a academic project about anything I disown, something I know, but that's another matter).

• Do you know that we (all the Residents) hace a tool "Abuse Report"? http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Filing-an-abuse-report/ta-p/700065
• Do you know the "powers" of a land owner about another residents in her/his land?
• Do you know the LL policies about disputes between Residents? http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Category:Disputes_Between_Residents

Probably this is the first step for understand our thoughts about "unofficial police" in SL. Just my opinion.

[Marianne Little]

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Pep wrote:

Marianne, is that an official beret you are wearing in your badge image? If so, does your position make you personally responsible for "discipline" in some way, and what would I have to do to find out? Pep (likes a woman in uniform)

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Haha. You should know that it's all about my appearance. Would I look good while taking action against the low life criminals? Probably. Then why not?

But, handing out discipline would demand that I had both a spine and a strong arm, and lifting the Fashion magazines from the table don't build enough muscle mass. And, I would probably forget what I should do because I saw something new and shiny.... Ooh was that new Truth hair? BRB.

[Lyra Blackthorne]

RE: Money/lindens:  If it is a private transaction it is a matter between residents...just as it would be in RL.  If money is missing from your account possibly though a hack it is something LL assists with

RE: Content theft.  There is an report merchants file with LL to have content theft issues resolved. 

RE: Griefing attacks: Those are typically managed by sim owners.  But, there are inworld controls for land to prevent this, so if a resident sets up their land properly there should be little to no problems related to griefing

 

 

[Serunus]

 

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Pep wrote:

Are you talking about policing of the forums? There were several threads discussing this issue in these forums, at least there were before the "maintenance" but I haven't checked since. You should really contact Amanda Linden regarding the way in which her Moderators have been asked to police the forums, as she is the only one who can give a definitive answer, even if her answer changes later. Pep (By the way, you are NOT allowed to use any of my posts for your work; consent by default is not acceptable, either academically or by the Linden Lab Terms of Service.)

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Hi Pep,

Thank you and yes you are correct that I shouldn't make consent acceptable by default. But I only meant policing the inworld.

[Serunus]

 

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Marianne Little wrote:

I think the OP talks about inworld Police.

Serunus, I will suggest that you google "Law Enforcement in Second Life: Policing or Pastime?". This should bring up an article in AH. I don't provide you with the link, because the rules for what I am allowed to link to, is confusing and I don't take the risk.

The comments in the article is interesting reading, make sure you read what some has experienced from SL Police.

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I've come across that article before Marianne. The problem is there's not really that much research regarding policing of virtual worlds in general. Although quite a handful for WOW I think. Thank you though, I'll go through that one again.

[Serunus]

 

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Irene Muni wrote:

Serunus, it's difficul answer you if you don't know SL (BTW I cannot imagine a academic project about anything I disown,

something

I

know

, but that's

another

matter).

• Do you know that we (all the Residents) hace a tool "Abuse Report"?
  http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Filing-an-abuse-report/ta-p/700065
• Do you know the "powers" of a land owner about another residents in her/his land?
• Do you know the LL policies about disputes between Residents?
  http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Category:Disputes_Between_Residents

Probably this is the first step for understand our thoughts about "unofficial police" in SL. Just my opinion.

---

 

Thank you Irene. I'm still a newbie in SL and the point of the research is to get more information on how policing is done and attitudes towards it. Thanks for those bullet points and the links! They're very helpful.

[Serunus]

Thanks Imnotgoing! Do you remember where inworld did you run into them? As part of my project I have to interview some "police" or "security" groups.

[Fenn MacMoragh]

Well there are no "Official" Police Groups and there are self-appointed vigilante groups. I play in mostly Medieval and Medieval/Fantasy Sims, these Sims all have one common rule and that is you be dressed appropiatly for the SIM. If a sim I was a moderator on was under a griefing attack and one of these self-rightous over-zealous comic book characters popped into my sim they would be hit with the ban hammer just as fast as the griefers they do not belong there. 

 

 

[Imnotgoing Sideways]

 

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Serunus wrote:

Thanks Imnotgoing! Do you remember where inworld did you run into them? As part of my project I have to interview some "police" or "security" groups.

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Generally wait for a griefing in an infohub, Korea is where I've most commonly seen them.  Look for the shiny superhero outfits.  Otherwise, they find you.  Own land in a popular area, blog about grid politics, or get involved in nearly any inworld educational venture and they're bound to be on your butt. ()

Also, consider getting involved in a community group.  LL used to have "office hour" events where Labbies would be present for Q&A, chit chat, or gathering information about issues... The office hours have been replaced by community groups.  I'm still not quite sure how this new system works, but, there's almost always bound to be one in the crowd. ()

Finally... Police uniforms on non-RP mainland sims.  Usually of low quality because they need them to be free and full perms to give to recruits.  They used to spend a lot of time in the Bay City area, but, the eventually got chased out by the land owners there who considered them little more than a headache. ()y

 

AH!!! Almost forgot! EDIT: Look for "Second Life Police" videos on Youtube.  Half the videos are griefers and the other half are the "honest" police-ish getting griefed. =^-^=

 

 

[Ossian1488303077]

There is something I'm not sure whether you realize: most of the land in SL is owned by someone, and that person has the rights on that land. They can eject or ban people for any or no reason.If anyone else comes and asserts they have any sort of authority there, they are simply playing the fool.

[PeterCanessa Oh]

SL is a product of Linden Lab, a company incorporated in California, USA.  This is the Real-Life legal jurisdiction and all else is subject to it.  This is why gambling is illegal in SL, rather than just banned.  What Linden Lab does with to the federal and state authorities we have no idea.  Anyone showing-up in-world representing as a member of those powers is going to be ignored or laughed at, unless they have a Linden [staff member] with them.

1. SL residents are therefore subject to US/Californian law, or the whole world can be switched off.  We are also subject to our own national/regional laws and have to assume that 'they' are watching us and will do whatever it is they do when a crime is detected.  These other Real-Life powers would get the same treatment, although presumably if they claim to be from your country's secret police and invite you for a complimentary stay in their HQ's cellars you'd shut up pretty quickly. NB: there have been RL police PR events from various jurisdictions but they didn't attempt to 'police' SL or its residents.
2. Aside from the RL authorities we are all subject to the TOS.  This is a legal contract with LL.  Amongst other things they can ban us 'for any reason or none, without explanation'.  The only people with such authority or power are the RL Lindens and they are the only people with, or allowed to display a resident surname of 'Linden'.  They aren't seen in-world that much, tending to respond to legal requests (eg; DMCA) and in-world ARs (abuse reports).
3. Presumably, here in the forums, LL have delegated some authority and matching powers to the moderators, but I have had no encounters with them yet and don't even know who they are.
4. The 'regulations' in SL that might need 'policing' come from landowners.  Within the area they own [rent/pay LL for evey month] they have absolute authority and power within the TOS.  A landowner who wishes everyone to appear as upside-down half-men, half-biscuits may so decree.  They have powers of access/ban/eject (preventing people from entering the area or removing those already there).  They can also prevent any building, scripts, etc. from being created or return those that have been created.  They are free to charge or not charge any amount they wish for any or no services.  No-one is either required to go to those areas or to stay in them if they do not wish to comply.  Such landowners typically form a group [sL definition] for officers that they recruit and instruct themselves.  They then delegate the authority and power to them - Such as Immy at NCI areas.  I am not aware of any landowner or organisation that has hired one of the self-styled 'police forces' to fulfill this role for them and would avoid almost any place that did.  On the other hand it is quite common for someone committed enough to SL - and with the time available - to be a 'responsible person' in several groups/areas.
5. LL recognises the paying account-holder ONLY as the landowner for a given area.  Any disputes between residents are wholely subject to the applicable landowner's decison (if any), unless they want to take it to RL court.  Abuse Reports can be filed but that's about it.

Erm, there's probably a bunch I've left out but that'll do for now.

Edit: Duh! Yeah, what I meant to finish with:

6.  Our avatars don't catch diseases, lose 'points' or get hurt so at the very worst a landowner/officer can only send us to a 'public' area and our things back to inventory.  Anyone without the power of Linden or the landowner can't ban us, eject us or remove our objects from the world (which would only give them back to us anyway).  Why would anyone take someone seriously if they were claiming to be 'police' but couldn't even do that?

[Serunus]

Alright, but what about other cases? Such as phishing and copying virtual merchandise? Would these usually just get reported straight to Linden Labs?

[PeterCanessa Oh]

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Serunus wrote:

Alright, but what about other cases? Such as phishing and copying virtual merchandise? Would these usually just get reported straight to Linden Labs?

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Both would probably be AR'd, copying would require a (RL) DMCA takedown notice and can only come from the original creator.  Neither would be reported to any vigilante group - what could they do about it?  Probably a DDOS attack or a mass griefing, which is what gets them such a bad name in the first place.

[Serunus]

Thanks PeterCanessa! Your points have been very helpful.