frankyjake2333

Good Evening. While I’m not a lawyer I do have a good deal of knowledge working with the law. I’m also not a second life player but I do have a close friend that is heavily involved in the platform. She uses it as a form of therapy for a abusive childhood trauma through roleplaying. I have just spent the last two nights watching her have an emotional break down on about this issue. I wanted to post some comments but was begged not too on her account. So, I’ve created my own account to post a comment as an outside observer. I’m sure what I’m about to post will ruffle more than a few feathers and the post itself will be taken down immediately. If you are reading this, take a screenshot of it and post it everywhere; circulate it on reddit and in discord channels. My first comment is to Linden Lab itself. The motives behind the new Terms of Service are complete rubbish, keep that in mind as you read on. You had a scare and found nothing wrong but decided to deprive thousands of users of the joy they have had over years and anger them. How does this make good business sense? When your own internal investigation found nothing wrong the correct thing to do would have been to proceed with business as usual. You found nothing wrong, but you go out of your way to break something that helps so many people. That speaks very poorly of your management skills. But let’s get to the meat of the post. To the people that are suffering have you thought of legal action? Just read the entire post before you rule it out. I’ve looked over the Linden Labs terms of service (tos). They are not as bullet proof as they would have you believe. To an outsider this seems to be a poorly run company trying to recover from a internal scandal and is doing it very poorly. From my point of view there are two grounds for legal action not covered by the TOS. The first case for legal action is on the grounds of emotional distress. I’m sure many of you are already shaking your heads, but there are real grounds here. I watched my friend break down over two days. Her therapist is greatly concerned. The family role playing was assisting in her recovery from trauma. Now that has been removed as an option for no good reason. From reading the forums there are others here that feel the same way. To Linden Lab, I would remind you of what state you are in. One of the most liberal states in the country and place where civil law tends to lead to the plaintive in these cases. If this was to go to trial and it could, one therapist addressing a jury about emotional injuries and what do you think the outcome would be? Second, I would also remind you of one of the cases in California, the OJ Simpson case. In a criminal proceeding he was found not guilty but in a civil case he was. That is because in California the requirements for finding faults are a lot lower. Since this would be a civil case on emotional trauma you wouldn’t have your term of service to hide behind. Let’s look at the other grounds for legal action, and that would be Second Life as a source of income. Second Life is unique in the way that you can generate a source of income off of the platform. This is a good thing as it allows people that don’t have a place in the general workforce to have a productive and creative life. When you deprive those of that opportunity through no fault of their own, but due to an internal scandal, that raises certain questions that could be legally challenging. Linden Lab is within their rights to remove someone from the platform that does violate the rules, and this could and does lead to a loss of income for that person. The question arises when they change the rules and deprive someone of a source of income, which is what they are doing. When you change the rules and deprive someone of a source of income that they have become dependent on, well that could look very different in the eyes of the law. Your terms of service give you some shield, but those terms of service become null and void if they violate the law. The laws on income and the right to work in some states, California for one, are very clear. Now for the standard disclaimer, I am not a lawyer so what I’m expressing is my own options. But with that being said, if you are a victim of these new rules I would come together on platforms outside of Linden Labs control, reddit and Discord. Talk it over. If you live in California and have the means reach out to a legal consultant and show them this document. Let them tell you if there is a case here. I feel there are grounds on both reasons I have provided. To Linden Lab, if you are reading this, I would advise you to reconsider the new policies you have put in place. There is no legitimate reason for you to do so. You are causing a lot of stress and trauma for no reason and if it was to go to court there is a very good probability that you would lose the case. I’ve looked over some of the legal cases proceeding that have affected your company over the years and you do not have a good track record of winning in court. You have created a unique environment that allows people with physical and emotional disabilities to thrive and gain some semblance of a normal life. By removing this from them for no fault of their own that does indeed make you liable. According to your own site, and the law, a income source above a certain level require you to report the income proceeding to government sources for tax reasons. This makes income from Second Life a legitimate source. There are several civil organizations out there that might take issue with depriving people with disabilities of that source of income through no fault of their own. My not so legal advice to Linden Lab would be to walk back the new rules, for reevaluation, then quietly forget about them. At least consult the parts of the community you are doing most harm too and try to work with them instead of just using a hammer to beat them in to submission. As an outside observer, I don’t see this as a battle you can win without causing undue harm.