If you hear/read about another SL user possibly committing a RL offense...

[Gopi Passiflora]

...is it your responsibility to report that person to the authorities? Should Linden Lab be notified? Apologies if this is a stupid question or if this causes controversy.

For context, here is the situation:

I heard an SL user scream on voice (in such a way that he was in the background), possibly towards his neighbor. He mentioned something about getting out his gun amid shouting obscenities. Now, I felt compelled to do something about it since I know he lives in the same big city I live in - but I do not know any further specifics about his location such as his neighborhood or exact address. I was contemplating calling 911, but again I have no idea where to direct the responders to. I was also thinking about contacting LL and reporting him.

Now, I do not know this person very well, but me and others who witnessed this have speculated he may just be trolling, but still you never know. We have tried to calm him down, but he wouldn't listen and would just ignore us.

I just want to be on the safe side and not be responsible for something that could have been prevented.

 

[Persephone Emerald]

If you don't know his real name or location, I don't see how the police could do anything with the little information you have. You're also not seeing what is going on in RL, so you don't really know what is happening. Someone yelling that they have a gun is not the same as someone waving a gun. It might be considered assault if it's perceived as a threat, but you don't know if they could carry through on such a threat. You don't even know if there was actually another person he was yelling at.

[Gopi Passiflora]

9 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

If you don't know his real name or location, I don't see how the police could do anything with the little information you have. You're also not seeing what is going on in RL, so you don't really know what is happening. Someone yelling that they have a gun is not the same as someone waving a gun. It might be considered assault if it's perceived as a threat, but you don't know if they could carry through on such a threat. You don't even know if there was actually another person he was yelling at.

Yeah, I guess there's probably nothing I can do given the lack of information on what's going on. Thanks for the input.

[animats]

Send a note to Linden Lab support. At least it will be on the record.

[Gopi Passiflora]

2 minutes ago, animats said:

Send a note to Linden Lab support. At least it will be on the record.

Okay, I'll do that.

[Alwin Alcott]

43 minutes ago, Gopi Passiflora said:

...is it your responsibility to report that person to the authorities? Should Linden Lab be notified?

 

none of what you write

you don't know if it's real
you dont know where it is
you don't know who it is

LL has hardly any details about most players to contact somebody, only thing they know from most is a birthdate, thats all.

[Gopi Passiflora]

13 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

none of what you write

you don't know if it's real
you dont know where it is
you don't know who it is

LL has hardly any details about most players to contact somebody, only thing they know from most is a birthdate, thats all.

Oh okay. Maybe I'm just being impulsive again....

[Maitimo]

There's one possibility in which Linden Lab might possibly be able to intervene and that's if the player has payment info on file. Provided that the payment details are not stolen, the police can use those in order to identify and locate the person.

However I doubt that even the card provider would release any such info to the police unless an actual serious crime has already been committed - i.e. an actual murder and a body has been found.  And they still wouldn't know for sure that the payment details on file belong to the person who pulled the trigger. But it could be used as a line of investigation.

[Paul Hexem]

Even then, yelling and owning a gun isn't illegal in the US.

If things didn't escalate beyond that, there's not a lot that can be done.

[Bree Giffen]

There was an actual CSI detective who had to come into Second Life to solve a crime committed in the real world. I forgot what the episode was called.

[cunomar]

A mainstream radio station used to do that for kicks 30 odd years ago , phone people who's name and address they picked randomly from a phonebook talking about some daft delivery like 3 ton of fish for mr x at 21 you been had street . Dog barking crazy in the background "hang on a minute" shotgun blast - dog silent "right about this fish"

[Jennifer Boyle]

On 4/10/2022 at 10:33 PM, Gopi Passiflora said:

...is it your responsibility to report that person to the authorities? Should Linden Lab be notified? Apologies if this is a stupid question or if this causes controversy.

 

With the exception of some specific circumstances, e.g., mandated reporters of suspected abuse, no one has a legal obligation to report a crime. That doesn't, of couse, mena that one shouldn't.

On 4/11/2022 at 2:06 AM, Maitimo said:

There's one possibility in which Linden Lab might possibly be able to intervene and that's if the player has payment info on file. Provided that the payment details are not stolen, the police can use those in order to identify and locate the person.

However I doubt that even the card provider would release any such info to the police unless an actual serious crime has already been committed - i.e. an actual murder and a body has been found.  And they still wouldn't know for sure that the payment details on file belong to the person who pulled the trigger. But it could be used as a line of investigation.

They would have the IP address unless the user is connecting via a VPN, and these days a lot of IP addresses are static.