*update-2April08* Due to the problems with teleports and logins, this discussion has not taken place. It is postponed to next week, Tuesday 8th of April, 12 pm SLT. Our excuses to those that planned to attend yesterday and did manage to arrive at our HQs.*update*

We invite you all to come over to the SLDM HQs for another tuesday discussion in this series of regular events about issues in SL(tm)(R)(etc).

Today we will discuss the new policy of LL(R)(tm)(etc)regarding their trademarks and brand. You will find the official post on their corporate blog, here.

The guidelines for the use of the different trademarks can be found here.

So, come over to the SLDM HQs to discuss this matter with other concerned residents.
These discussions also help us and you to get the arguments more clear, which is a neccesary basis for mass action. Its time to rise up to save our freedom, our creations, our imagination and our world in this part of the metaverse.

PS: how this new policy effects our own organisation will be discussed further at our regular saturday SLDM meetings, starting at 4 AM SLT. What is especially important in this regard is the clause about impermissible use. I qoute from their guidelines for use of SL(R)(tm)(etc) and inSL(R)(tm)(etc):

Impermissible Use. Your SL Associated Name must not be, and must not be used for any business, organization, product, service, website, or activity that is, in Linden Lab’s sole opinion:

1. • Violent, racially intolerant, or advocating against any individual, group, or organization;
   • Pornographic, profane, or not suitable for a PG rating;
   • Related to gambling or casinos;
   • In violation of or promoting violation of Linden Lab’s Terms of Service or Community Standards;
   • Illegal, promoting illegal activity, or infringing legal rights; or
     
   • Misleading, defamatory, disparaging, tarnishing, obscene, or otherwise objectionable.

More on that tonight at 12 pm SLT at the discussion or during the SLDM meeting saturday, at 4 am SLT.

results:

YES: 23 votes on YES

NO: 9 votes on NO

BLANK: 3 votes on BLANK

This poll question was out for more then a month at SLDM HQs. At the next meeting, saturday 4am SLT, we will decide on a new poll.

Last Tuesday we have had another discussion in our weekly SL Issues Discussion series.  This time we discussed the topic:

“Strategies and tactics for social change within a corporate owned virtual world”

We discussed some of the previous projects and actions undertaken by residents to get LL to change focus and implement wishes; in particular the project Open Letter and the petition plus jira-entry about the group limit issue.

We will continue this discussion next Tuesday, March 11th, at 12 pm SLT, SLDM HQs.

Chatlog of last tuesdays discussion below the fold…

Read the rest of this entry »

Just a post as to remind of the need to get a clarification of LL about this (supposed) statement of Robin (Linden) Harper about the possibility of a “jury” of 25 residents, not related to the case, in permaban situations.

She gave this answer (although we need to wait for the archive audio stream of the USC and Global Kids panel discussion monday) to our question, which was:

“The governing of Second Life, with respect to violations of the Terms of Service (ToS) and Community Standards, is solely in hands of Linden Lab (LL). In the ToS (article 2.6) it is even stated that LL can ban any account “for any or no reason”. Is it unreasonable to demand that LL start acknowledging rights that would constitute the inalienable right to not be exiled for no reason without recourse and the right to “Fair Trial” through a neutral third party?”

If anyone knows more about this procedure, please comment on this post. In the meantime, we will try to get more info ourselves too. We will keep you updated. To Be Continued!

Tuesday we had a follow up discussion at the HQs about “Avatar Rights; Human Rights in the Metaverse part II”.

At the discussion of the previous week (tuesday 22Jan, SL Issues Discussion #3, see post below) we came down to some basic rights, namely;

1. You own yourself and your inventory property; 2. The right to transfer and remove inventory and avatar outside of the VR where created; 3. The right to not be banned for no cause without recourse; 4. The right to private one on one IM chat if desired

After that discussion by SLDM and  the panel discussion by the USC and Global Kids held monday, which also featured Robin (Linden) Harper, we continued to brain storm about the increasing popular topic of Avatar Rights. We hoped that the audio stream of that event would be avaiable before our discussion, but this was not the case. Some of us attended it however and shortly summarised what has been said. Of which the most puzzling part would be the part of the answer by Robin Linden on our question, namely that she stated something about a panel of 25 non-related residents are asked their opinions in permaban cases. The question of us that was asked was;

“The governing of Second Life, with respect to violations of the Terms of Service (ToS) and Community Standards, is solely in hands of Linden Lab (LL). In the ToS (article 2.6) it is even stated that LL can ban any account “for any or no reason”. Is it unreasonable to demand that LL start acknowledging rights that would constitute the inalienable right to not be exiled for no reason without recourse and the right to “Fair Trial” through a neutral third party?”

More about this soon, when the archived audio stream of that event gets online, so we can exactly check what she said. She did not have an officehour this week, so we could not ask her there about this either. In the mean time, did anyone ever hear something about this practice??

In our last discussion, together with stating goals to get to a more philosophical basis of Avatar Rights in dialogue with other groups and to reach out to these other groups as to be able to grow a horizontal network, we also formulated some suggestions of what could be the start of demands towards LL, which come down to property rights and due process/fair trial. (The transcript below the fold)

Linden Lab should make it possible to create a downloadable ‘packet’ of savable information that represents the inventory in complete reproducible terms (so also the shape of the avatar).

Clarify the ToS and the procedure described by Robin Harper, so as to know exactly what protection avatars have against being expulsed (permanently banned) and losing their assets in Second Life.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is a reminder of the coming panel discussion on monday, 28 Januari 2008, organised by The USC Institute for Network Culture and Global Kids

http://www.holymeatballs.org/2008/01/conf_virtual_liberties_do_avat.html

From their announcement:

“This second event in the MacArthur Series on Philanthropy and Virtual Worlds will be held Monday, January 28, 2008, 12:00 p.m. PST.

Jonathan F. Fanton, President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, will chair a discussion about the rights of users in virtual worlds. Joining him will be Robin Harper, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development from Linden Lab, and Jack Balkin, professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale Law School.”

“This event will be streamed live into the virtual world of Second Life on the main grid at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg sim and within the teen grid on the Global Kids estate.”

Live audio stream will also be avaiable during the event at the site of Global Kids

“Avatar rights; Human rights in the Metaverse”

Below the fold you will find the transcript of last nights public discussion on avatar rights hosted by SLDM. It was an interesting conversation, in which the attendants all seemed to feel a need for rights. The topic is one without much precedents, which makes the wording of why, what and how rights should be established for metaversal existence a complex task.

Some links with previous discussions or concerning avatar-rights:

Announcement of Panel-discussion on 28 Jan with Robin Harper (Linden) from LL
(The USC Institute for Network Culture and Global Kids panel discussion on Philanthropy and Virtual Worlds: Considering Civil Liberties)

Raph Koster’s Bill of Avatar Rights from 2000

Barlow’s Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

We will continue to discuss this; with the purpose to go beyond mere discussing, such that we can draft a statement of rights and through popular demand push LL towards implementing.

Announcements about followup events regarding the issue of avatar rights will be stated here on the blog and inworld. If you want to stay up to date and/or participate, you can joinup with SLDM, by finding the group “SLDM” in search and join. It is open membership.

For now, here is the transcript if SL Issues Discussion #3: “Avatar rights; Human rights in the Metaverse” –>

Read the rest of this entry »

SLDM has started off this new year with several new public events.

The newly adopted schedule is:

SL Issues Discussion - every Tuesday, 12 PM PST @ SLDM HQs/Dome

Morning Coffee Chat - every Saturday, 1 AM PST @ SLDM HQs/Cafe

SLDM Meeting - every Saturday, 4 AM PST @ SLDM HQs

From now on we will keep you up to date and informed about these events through this blog.

In the Discussion-series, we have had three discussions now, the first about the grouplimit of 25, the second about the newly implemented banking policy. Updates and summaries on those topics will be posted here shortly.

Out third discussion, yesterday, was about the topic of “Avatar rights; human rights in the metaverse”

We have had our first public discussion on democracy in SL last Thursday. Our hosts that evening, Ernest and Rin, did a great job of making this discussion informative and stimulating.

There has been talked about how to implement a democratic structure in SL, what that would look like, what it would encompass etc. For example, should we want representational or a direct democracy. Most people seem to think a direct democracy is what is feasable within this environment, with something like a referenda-style structure.

Anyways, many topics have passed, some which can (and should) be focussed on in following discussions within this Democratic Forum series, or elaborated on at the forum. For those who could not be there, you will find the chatlog on our forum too.

We hope to see even more (new) people next time to intensify the thinking and awareness of the need for a more democratic SL. For those who attended, thanks for your interest and thoughts on the matter.

Power to the people!

SL DemocraticMovement will begin with hosting a series of discussions under the name Democratic Forum.We will host a public discussion at the SLDM HQs every first and third thursday of the month to talk about a specific topic concerning democracy in SL, ranging from abstract topics as avatarrights and democratic selfrule to more practical and pragmatic questions concerning (new) features.

The first one in this series will be on Thursday the 2nd of August at 11 am PDT at SLDM HQs. The topic will be: “Self rule in SL. What is meant by it and how to do it?”

The discussions are public, so don’t hesitate to advertise them inworld. They will also be listed in the events. If you got any ideas for a specific topic, please post them on our forum, here.

Regards