Ylandrin Itano

Can you explain why those of us with no intention of ever withdrawing a single USD from SL even need to have this Tilia account at all? Seriously: payment information is one thing, and is certainly linked to a real world bank account which can hurt us financially if the information is stolen or misused, but requiring our SSN? Having lost my SS card twice in my lifetime, I can tell you that the amount of hassle one must endure to acquire a new one is extreme. There's a reason for that. A person's SSN is their IDENTITY! Of all the information you could request, personal information of this nature is the worst. This is information capable of being used not only to wipe out a bank account, but to create new debt and more. Identity theft is a huge problem, and while I can understand requiring this information if it is necessary to comply with federal laws in regard to USD being paid out, it still does not explain the necessity of requiring the information for any other purpose. Having read through the "privacy policy" for Tilia (which apparently only applies to US citizens), I am more concerned than ever. I will ignore the fact that this seems to be a hastily constructed document at best ( I quote " The types of personal information we collect and share depend on the product or service you utilize from us. This information may can include: " "may can"? Or is that "may/can"?), and get right to the heart of the matter. While this policy states that certain information sharing may not be limited by the account holder, it gives as a reason only that federal law does not provide that as an enforced option. It says nothing about federal law requiring it to be shared... only that essentially, "you can't stop us from sharing this". ( I am sorry to say that this feels like a cash grab, achieved via the sale of information. ) Seriously... I have payment information on file so that I can pay my premium, and upload content of my own design, rather than being limited to what someone else is selling me. I have never taken a single dollar OUT of SL, nor do I foresee ever doing so. (Still, at one point I had a mysterious $2 in USD in my balance somehow. I have no idea how, but was certainly not going to argue with the notion. I assumed it had a legitimate reason to exist, and finally just used it in a random Marketplace purchase.) The point of course, is that my only reasons to have any information on file are for the payment of my yearly premium, to purchase L$ (because apparently a pre-paid card isn't good enough), and because Linden Lab for whatever concocted reason requires it for me to upload mesh. I just paid for an extra year of premium in advance, and for the first time ever, I am considering leaving SL forever. This is the biggest and most confusing mess I've ever seen, and all announced a mere month in advance, and a conspicuously short time after putting all of us premium account holders in the position of investing early in another year of payment. (I'm sure this post will ruffle feathers. So be it. For me; Second Life has never been about anything but having a bit of fun. If it becomes a concern of financial ruin instead, I fail to see why I would continue my interest in it.) Thanks for your attention.