Is it against LL's TOS if someone aired an ad advertising an outside virtual world like Avination?

[Nilla Darkwatch]

I co-own and manage an SL radio station and myself and the  station owner was presented with a business prospect of airing an ad(which we will be creating) that advertises an outside virtual world thats similiar to Avination and InWorldz(but they say its better) and that the ad is to include important features such as how cheap it is to own sims or homesteads and no costs for uploads, pictures, or groups amongst other things.

 

Now my question is would this be against anything in LL's TOS? I actually feel that it would be and have been trying to talk the owner out of doing it because I personally do not want to be in any sort of trouble and have my account banned. Is there anyway to check to find out? I mean obviously us doing this wouldnt really be in the best interest of LLs or the SL community which I know is the main interest of LLs(as it should be). Does anyone have an answer for this and also provide viable proof(A paste from TOS maybe) that I can use to deter this from taking place?

 

I found this:

11.4 We may suspend or terminate your Account(s) to protect the best interests of Second Life and the Second Life community or if we believe you pose an unacceptable risk to the Second Life community.
 
We may suspend or terminate your Account if we determine in our discretion that such action is necessary or advisable to comply with legal requirements or protect the rights or interests of Linden Lab, the Second Life community or any third party.

but when I confronted even this to the owner, she did not clearly see how this particular part had anything to do with us running an ad. Her argument is that she is running an ad for a business on an internet based stream that she owns and pays for and should be allowed to play whatever since we obviously dont have to follow the same FCC laws and regulations as stations in RL have to and she does not want to "discriminate" simply because it's for a virtual world outside of SL. My argument has been that while its her stream she is using it in SL, broadcasting mainly from SL(though there are RL people who have never heard of SL listening) and that by airing this ad it could potentually take away the customers from SL by sending them elsewhere.

 

As you can see, I really need some help with this. If anyone has an answer, either reply here(if you can) or contact me in-world.

Thank you

Nilla Darkwatch

[valerie Inshan]

Advertising for non approved third party viewers would certainly be against the TOS:

http://secondlife.com/corporate/tpv.php

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Third_Party_Viewer_Directory

[Freecilla Kuhn]

You have already answered this with the text you submitted after the number 11.4. By using an ad that direct people out of SL and into another online platform you would be placing Second Life community at risk by depopulating SL.

Tell her you can not place that ad since it is against the T.O.S.

Done.

[Cabbage Acanthus]

Short answer:

Eeee!  Don't do it!  

 

Long answer:

 

This is an interesting one.  Your "radio station" isn't based in SL.  It's a RL internet stream.  I don't think LL has any say as to what you do outside of this platform. 

Of course... LL can pretty much do what it wants and once you wade through all of the pretty language of the TOS it can be boiled down to "we can do whatever we want to whoever we want and you just have to take it if you want to 'play' here."

That bit of the TOS, 11.4, is a prime example of how delightfully open-ended their wording is.  If they "believe" you are an "unacceptable risk" then poof... you are gone... but it is so ill defined that it could be used on just about anything or anyone.  I might have been impolite to a newbie once... was that an unacceptable risk?   Or perhaps I walked around a welcome area wearing an outlandish avatar which might have made a bad first impression on some new membership... Is that an unacceptable risk?  Or perhaps I decide to air an advertisement for another virtual world on internet media stream that could be accessible from within SL... Is that unacceptably risky? 

Well, the answer is of course that we don't know for sure.  It will all depend on the particular Linden that handles the issue that particular time on that particular day and how they are feeling that moment and what they had for breakfast and whether or not they had a cup of coffee recently and how the sun is striking their monitor that particular second. 

We could debate the issue all day.  I can see very valid points on both sides of the arguement.  But all of that is meaningless since the TOS is so open ended and enforcement is so haphazard. 

I guess the question you have to ask yourself is this. 

"How will LL feel about this?"  Because, as we all know, that is what will determine the result.  If they don't like it, then it quite simply will not be allowed to happen.  Personally I would love to see someone press this issue, take the risk, and set the precedent.  I think it would be fascinating to see how it all played out.

I certainly hope that whoever does try something like this isn't too attached to their SL or their business here though... I think everyone knows how it would most likely end.