Linden Lab claims to encourage total freedom of expression. To have something that is blatantly contrary to such concept, namely, attempted restriction of research and publication, would be, well, very interesting to say the least.

Freedom of Speech is one of the greatest principles on which the Constitution of the United States is built. Any attempt whatsoever at restriction of valid research is a direct attack upon that principle. It strikes me as somewhat akin to saying, “We’re open and tolerant and encourage you to express yourself– its YOUR world!” but then applying the handcuffs to someone who might uncover and expose an unsavory side to the system.

I don’t comment at all as to whether SL is a good/bad board, moral or otherwise. The subject of the research isn’t even the question here. What’s at question is any attempt by the Linden Lab corporation to stifle such research in any form whatsoever. The ethical considerations in just the concept are considerable.

Mind you, their desire to protect their board and their customers is understandable (what exactly would they be protecting their customers from?). But since they have a tendency to protect their customers from very little otherwise (and in fact the SL TOS officially absolves them of being responsible for such protection), the question of dual standard comes immediately to mind.

So I’d have to say the jury isn’t in on this one. But if there is even a bit of truth to these charges, policy changes would seem recommendable. One cannot have double standards regarding freedom of speech. Either LL approaches SL as a totally free and unfettered environment, or they apply their rules of ethics and morality board-wide (as is their right should they so choose)– and apply it to everyone, equally.

I can see why they’d want to know and approve people making a study of SL a part of their career. They can’t stop you from disclosing what you find good or bad if you do it in a system they don’t own.

Is it a surprise that sex is the big business on SL I was surprised that there isn’t any teledildonics integration yet. The sex industry in SL is not too different from RL maybe the bitches choose to be bitches in SL, but all the bad things are here. There are clubs that make dancers spend money to host contests that the club should pay for, surely there are underage people in the grid wether forced or because they’re horny kids, there’s all the bad things from RL because people don’t drop all that baggage when they come to SL.

The BIG difference in SL is there’s no pimp to beat you up for not going to work your corner. The ineffectiveness of physical violence should make things like robbery and rape practically impossible in SL, violence and abuse are why the sex trade is bad IRL, not because someone finds it to be immoral or whatever.

JC Soprano
http://www.thesimmafia.com
Insert Witty Comment Here, Not Worth My Time

(and yeah, virtual courts would be pretty smart! Lawyers earn tons of cash in RL so it seems a good legitimate way to earn a decent L$ or two….)