Question About Multiple People Sharing One Account

[marccasteel]

I have been looking around and I can't exactly find an answer to this question, but what is Linden Labs policy about multiple people sharing a single account? Such as multiple IP addresses using one account at different times of the day or week. I can understand if one where to move locations in real life; moving to a new residence, or even if spouses share or alternate between accounts. This question is mainly about policy pertaining to more than one person, none of whom are related or share the same residence, sharing just one account. 

[Rowan Amore]

8 minutes ago, marccasteel said:

I have been looking around and I can't exactly find an answer to this question, but what is Linden Labs policy about multiple people sharing a single account? Such as multiple IP addresses using one account at different times of the day or week. I can understand if one where to move locations in real life; moving to a new residence, or even if spouses share or alternate between accounts. This question is mainly about policy pertaining to more than one person, none of whom are related or share the same residence, sharing just one account. 

Well, it does state this in the ToS...

You may not sell, transfer or assign your Account or its contractual rights, licenses and obligations, to any third party (including, for the avoidance of doubt, permitting another individual to access your Account) without the prior written consent of Linden Lab. Linden Lab reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to manage and control the number of Accounts that you may establish and maintain.

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

9 minutes ago, marccasteel said:

I have been looking around and I can't exactly find an answer to this question, but what is Linden Labs policy about multiple people sharing a single account? Such as multiple IP addresses using one account at different times of the day or week. I can understand if one where to move locations in real life; moving to a new residence, or even if spouses share or alternate between accounts. This question is mainly about policy pertaining to more than one person, none of whom are related or share the same residence, sharing just one account. 

 

Per this comment from Dakota Linden, giving others access to your account is against the TOS:

 

[Rolig Loon]

In addition to asking whether it's allowed in the TOS, you should be asking whether it is smart.  The answer is "probably not" unless you are really sure that the other person can be trusted. An account can only have one owner, and that person is 100% responsible for how that account is used. If you let someone else have access to your account and that person violates the TOS, you're the one who gets in trouble.  If that person deletes half your inventory, or changes your password, or spends every L$ you have, you're out of luck.  You might claim you were "hacked", but the result is the same .... you go through a whole lot of pain and lose stuff.  And then is when you get in trouble for the TOS violation too.  😟

[marccasteel]

3 hours ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

 

Per this comment from Dakota Linden, giving others access to your account is against the TOS:

 

 

3 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

Well, it does state this in the ToS...

You may not sell, transfer or assign your Account or its contractual rights, licenses and obligations, to any third party (including, for the avoidance of doubt, permitting another individual to access your Account) without the prior written consent of Linden Lab. Linden Lab reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to manage and control the number of Accounts that you may establish and maintain.

 

 

1 hour ago, Rolig Loon said:

In addition to asking whether it's allowed in the TOS, you should be asking whether it is smart.  The answer is "probably not" unless you are really sure that the other person can be trusted. An account can only have one owner, and that person is 100% responsible for how that account is used. If you let someone else have access to your account and that person violates the TOS, you're the one who gets in trouble.  If that person deletes half your inventory, or changes your password, or spends every L$ you have, you're out of luck.  You might claim you were "hacked", but the result is the same .... you go through a whole lot of pain and lose stuff.  And then is when you get in trouble for the TOS violation too.  😟

Thank you for answering. I have a follow up question now that I have the answer to the first. How would I go about reporting someone(s) that I know is breaking this rule? When I use the report tab on the persons profile in world, the options are mostly pertaining towards abuse or harassment. Multiple people sharing an account isn't 'abuse' per se but how can I go about reporting someone that is in violation of the TOS?

[Rolig Loon]

Let LL figure it out.  Just submit the AR.

[Rowan Amore]

Keep in mind, even though you may AR this, I'm not sure there is any way for LL to substantiate your claim.  The rule is more to protect people from others doing wrong when using their account.  You being responsible for anything anyone else might do while logged into your account.  I imagine that is why they say it's not allowed.  

Unless this group of people you're talking about is committing some other violation of the ToS, reporting them sounds like a lot of drama for no reason.  

 

[Nick0678]

1 hour ago, marccasteel said:

Thank you for answering. I have a follow up question now that I have the answer to the first. How would I go about reporting someone(s) that I know is breaking this rule? When I use the report tab on the persons profile in world, the options are mostly pertaining towards abuse or harassment. Multiple people sharing an account isn't 'abuse' per se but how can I go about reporting someone that is in violation of the TOS?

Submit the AR and LL will investigate it.

[Lindal Kidd]

As everyone has cautioned you, letting other people use your account is both against the Terms of Service, and horribly risky.

That said, I know of at least one group (Body Swappers) that switches avatars for fun. I guess it's a thrill to "be somebody else" and to try to fool all their friends. I personally do not condone this and think it's not only risky, but morally wrong as well.

I also know of some cases where a group created an alt account to be the group's "accountant", or more precisely the group's wallet. This account collects all the rents and land tier payments, and pays the monthly land fee to LL. Of course, one person (usually the group owner) actually is the owner of record, but they also give access to one or two other group officers, in case of emergencies. While this is still technically a ToS violation, I don't know of anyone getting in trouble over it.

[Rolig Loon]

Lindal makes a good point. There are certainly times when you can make a good case for sharing a "banker" account to handle group funds and handle those emergency situations when the real account owner is out of town or ill. Just use your head. Today's best friend may be tomorrow's sworn enemy. Today's partner can be tomorrow's ex. I'm not even sure I can always trust my sister not to play some nasty trick on me. The only person I know I can trust is my alt, and I worry about her occasionally. 

Edited October 13, 2021 by Rolig Loon

[Kathlen Onyx]

I know of a club venue that does this as well. It's called the same name as the club. Basically it is used to send out notices about events and both the hosts and DJ's use it for that reason only.  I even think the avatar is just a starter one and doesn't actually "go" anywhere or even has payment info.

I don't know why people are so into reporting people that aren't doing anything harmful just for the sake of reporting them. You don't know for a fact that this account is used by multiple people. Maybe they are RPing different people. You don't know.  You did mention different IP addresses and obviously have been watching them closely enough to know that they log in all different times of the day.  This is the exact reason why people don't share RL details with people.  Why are you looking up their IP addresses?  As Rowan said, this seems more like drama since you said they weren't abusing or harassing anyone. I would tend to be more leery of you rather than this person (s).

My advice would be to stay out of it and enjoy your SL.  If you think they are doing something that would harm you then block them and don't hang around them.

[Indy Melody]

I understand the OP's question was "mainly about policy pertaining to more than one person, none of whom are related or share the same residence, sharing just one account."  My question is how does the OP know a single account uses "multiple IP addresses using one account at different times of the day or week." 

If someone is using a VPN, wouldn't that "mask" the IP address?

[bigmoe Whitfield]

On 10/13/2021 at 6:42 AM, Indy Melody said:

I understand the OP's question was " mainly about policy pertaining to more than one person, none of whom are related or share the same residence, sharing just one account."  My question is how does the OP know a single account uses "multiple IP addresses using one account at different times of the day or week." 

If someone is using a VPN, wouldn't that "mask" the IP address?

yes,  but the hardware id's LL still knows. 

[Lindal Kidd]

On 10/13/2021 at 8:42 AM, Indy Melody said:

My question is how does the OP know a single account uses "multiple IP addresses using one account at different times of the day or week." 

If someone is using a VPN, wouldn't that "mask" the IP address?

Yes. This is why "alt detector" devices are unreliable. They are subject to both false negatives and false positives. There is no way that an ordinary resident can know for sure if one account is being used by multiple people, or which avatars are "alts" of a given person. Only LL knows.