Linden Lab's Terms of Service: We're all going to jail!

WARNING: When I started this, I thought this would be simple: a quick read-through, a summary, then on with the rest of my day. As I went along, more and more issues cropped which required further analysis to comprehensively cover the topic. Out of everything, I think there are two important subjects of interest: children and sexual content.

How many of us ever bother to read the Terms of Service of any platform we use, never mind Second Life? In profiles, I've seen people stating in their limits, they will not do anything which violates the TOS, referring to the Terms of Service of Linden Labs. Okay, so just what are those terms? I thought to wade through the reams of boring text and try to find out just what is permitted and what is verboten.

Linden Lab's TOS (Terms of Service)

I suppose any one of us gets lost in all this verbiage. It seems lawyers love to fill documents with legalese which, I guess, has to do with arguing before a judge in a court of law as opposed to the simplicity of everyday life. Rule number one: don't do such and such. Let's skip party of the first part or whatever seven-syllable words one can find as synonyms for don't do such and such. Plain English, please!

First and foremost, we all have to remember that any company wants to protect itself. It doesn't want clients suing. It doesn't want the government to step in and penalize it or even shut it down. It wants to stay in business and make a profit. That seems like a reasonable goal so we must remember the TOS is about achieving that goal. It's not (necessarily) about being a pain in the ass.

But in saying that, just what is Linden labs providing?

1. ONLINE SERVICE

1.2 The Service exists only as long as and in the form that we may provide the Service, and all aspects of the Service, including your User Content, are subject to change or elimination.
Linden Lab has the right to change, limit access to, and/or eliminate any aspect(s), feature(s) or functionality of the Service (including your User Content) as it sees fit at any time without notice, and Linden Lab makes no commitment, express or implied, to maintain or continue, or to permit open access to, any aspect of the Service. You acknowledge that your use of the Service is subject to this risk and that you knowingly assume it and make your decisions to participate in the Service, contribute Content and spend your money accordingly.

It's curious to reflect on this opening statement. Linden Labs makes no commitment. I'm reminded of an old business saying: underpromise, overdeliver. Making no commitment certainly seems like underpromising, like really underpromising. While I'm trying to give a humorous take on this, let me add that this isn't the first time I've seen such wording. Software companies, car manufacturers, appliance companies have said similar things in their own fine print. We provide such and such and the onus is on you, the client, to determine if the product meets your needs. I'm smiling as I think of SL's notorious crashes and its infamous lag representing no commitment but still managing to meet our needs as if we had a choice. The Windows operating system has so may security holes, it's like Swiss cheese but we've all come to accept this as the norm. But I would put forward that these systems are so complex, even the manufacturer hasn't got a complete handle on them and doesn't fully understand their own systems. We are, in effect, beta testers in real time.

As I go through the rest of section 1, I see the following headings:

1.3 Your User Content is not confidential; You represent that your Content is original to you (and/or your minor child).

1.4 Linden Lab is a service provider and is not responsible or liable for the Content, conduct, or services of users or third parties.

1.5 The Service is subject to scheduled and unscheduled service interruptions and loss of server data, which you do not own and for which you will not hold us liable.

These sections sort of repeat but in more detail for specific cases for which Linden Labs is not liable.

2. CONTENT LICENSES AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

In a nutshell, Linden Labs owns Second Life. Linden grants us access to such a service. We grant Linden access to our stuff if submitted to public areas of Second Life. We agree to respect the Intellectual Property Rights of others. And let me add that while we may have a warm fuzzy that our stuff is private, it is sitting on Linden's servers, and no matter what they may say, they do have access to it all.

Click here for an article by the law firm Greenberg & Lieberman, an interesting analysis of Intellectual Property Rights and Second Life, involving several cases between Linden Labs and people suing to protect and retain control of their own creations. If you produce something in-world, is it really a thing, or is it merely an idea?

3. ELIGIBILITY TO USE THE SERVICE

If you are under 18, a parent or legal guardian must sign. Elsewhere, I see you must be at least 13 years old to join at all.

4. ACCOUNT REGISTRATION AND BILLING

You must set up an account with your real name, no faking it, no pseudonyms.

5. TERMINATION OF YOUR ACCOUNT

5.1 Linden Lab may suspend or terminate your Account at any time for any reason. In such event, Linden Lab shall have no further obligation or liability to you under this Agreement or otherwise, and you shall be entitled to no compensation or other payment, remedy, recourse or refund.

The rest of the section has other verbiage but the essential is above: Linden Lab may suspend or terminate your Account at any time for any reason. So there!

Sections 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12

Before getting to the big-ticket item, let me cover these other sections: Blah, blah, blah. You can't sue us; we're not responsible.

Okay, I'm being flippant. The following topics are important but let's say they are outside the scope of this analysis.

7. INFRINGEMENT NOTIFICATIONS
8. PRIVACY AND YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
9. RELEASES, DISCLAIMERS, LIABILITY LIMITS AND INDEMNIFICATION
10. DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND ARBITRATION
11. GENERAL PROVISIONS
12. RELATED POLICIES

6. CONDUCT BY USERS OF THE SERVICE

This is the part I think is of the most interest to all of us. I've bolded some text I think is important.

6.1 You will not post or transmit prohibited Content, including any Content that is illegal, harassing or violates any person's rights.

You agree that you will not:

(i) Post, display, or transmit Content that violates any law or the rights of any third party, including without limitation Intellectual Property Rights. We reserve the right to request at any time proof of permissions in a form acceptable to us. Failure to provide such proof may lead to, among other things, removal of such Content from the Service;

(ii) Impersonate any person or entity without their consent, or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation, or if you are an adult, impersonate a minor for the purpose of interacting with a minor using the Service;

(iii) Stalk, harass, or engage in any sexual, suggestive, lewd, lascivious, or otherwise inappropriate conduct with minors on the Service;

(iv) Post, display, or transmit Content (including any communication(s) with employees of Linden Lab) that is harmful, threatening or harassing, defamatory, libelous, false, inaccurate, misleading, or invades another person's privacy;

(v) Post, display, or transmit Content that is obscene, hateful, involves terrorism, or is racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable; or

(vi) Post, display or transmit any Content or conduct or host any activity that is sexually explicit, or intensely violent.

Any violation by you of the terms of this Section may result in immediate termination of your Accounts without any refund or other compensation.

Children
I'm sure I don't have to explain anything. This topic is so visceral, it solicits a strong reaction in anybody. I've heard it said that in prison, pedophiles must be kept segregated from the rest of the inmates because they may kill them. As a consequence, Linden Labs or any social media platform must be extra cautious because there is the very real threat of the authorities stepping in if anything is amiss. Nobody takes this lightly.

Nevertheless, questions always crop up, so I sat down with a dictionary to understand some terminology.

child (noun) : a young human being below the age of puberty or below the legal age of majority.

age of majority (noun) : also known as legal age, is the threshold of legal adulthood as recognized or declared in law. In many jurisdictions, this is 18 years old. (Wikipedia)

minor (noun) : In law, a minor is someone under a certain age, usually the age of majority, which demarcates an underage individual from legal adulthood. The age of majority depends upon jurisdiction and application, but it is commonly 18. (Wikipedia)

age of consent (noun) : The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. This varies widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but seems on average to be 16 years old. (Wikipedia)

pedophilia (noun) : sexual feelings directed toward children.
sexual perversion in which children are the preferred sexual object. specifically : a psychiatric disorder in which an adult has sexual fantasies about or engages in sexual acts with a prepubescent child.

prepubescent : relating to or in the period preceding puberty.

ageplay (noun) : Ageplay or age play is a form of roleplaying in which an individual acts or treats another as if they are a different age. Ageplay is roleplaying between adults, and involves consent from all parties. Ageplay is not necessarily sexual, but can be. Portraying any age can be the goal of ageplay, from babies to a child to the elderly. Usually this involves someone pretending to be younger than they actually are, but more rarely can involve assuming an older role. (Wikipedia)

Why am I bringing this up? If somebody is seven years old, I think any one of us can easily see you don't go there. Under any circumstances. Ever. I think, I hope we all instinctively know this.

But what about 17-years-old?

I could write some lengthy piece on puberty, sexual activity during the teenage years, the reality of early sex versus the social view of early sex, and just what Alice and Bobby are doing in the backseat of Dad's car on a Saturday night, but the simplicity of the situation in regards to Second Life is clearly spelled out in the TOS: If you are under 18, a parent or legal guardian must sign.

Linden Lab Official:Teens in Second Life
Second Life is generally for adults 18 years and older; however, if you are 13 years of age or older you can use Second Life with some restrictions. If you're:

• 16-17 years old you can access regions and search results that have a General maturity rating.
• 13-15 years old, you can access Second Life through an affiliated organization and will be restricted to the private estate of that organization. Only avatars approved by that organization will be able to enter these estates. You can't use Second Life search or purchase items from the Marketplace.

Linden Lab Official:Clarification of policy disallowing ageplay
No. (my summation)

Age-restricted content
18 years or older

I have seen numerous pictures, on The Feed, on Flickr, and now on Primfeed of "families", adults, Mom and Dad with their kids, avatars which I'm guessing are NPC (Non Player Characters). Fine. It's not my thing, but to each his own. I am aware that pregnancy and birthing is a role play popular with some.

In researching this article, I've discovered "child avatars", people actually role-playing children. I admit I know nothing about this. I don't think I've ever seen this in the fourteen plus years I've been on Second Life. Not my thing; I have no comment. (Wikipedia: Ageplay)

But I've also run into the question of avatars which are small in stature, young looking, and, in the case of females, having small breasts and being sort of "boy-ish" looking. Are these supposed to be "teenage girls"? Are these actually girls or are they being driven my men? I have a friend who owns a nightclub who's told me about ejecting such people and reporting them. Is there something nefarious going on? Is there a valid reason to be pushing the limits?

In summary, 18 years old is the magic number. Be 18; look 18; and act 18.*

* I will add this footnote: "18" could be up for interpretation. While the rule appears to be cut and dry, I can see different people could have different opinions as to whether somebody's 18 is, in fact, 18. I've added more links in the References section below, detailing the controversy surrounding accusations of child sex and ageplay on SL, exposed in an article published on Medium dated Feb 25/2024.

Sexual Content
I think we all understand sexually explicit. But to double check, I looked up the word obscene:

• (of the portrayal or description of sexual matters) offensive or disgusting by accepted standards of morality and decency.
• offensive to moral principles; repugnant.

I've read clause (vi) several times now and feel this could be applied to just about anything.

(vi) Post, display or transmit any Content or conduct or host any activity that is sexually explicit, or intensely violent.

Any sex SIM is sexually explicit. Sex poses photographed and posted to The Feed are sexually explicit. Sitting on a piece of furniture and activating a sex animation is sexually explicit. We could get into a debate about the meaning of post, display or transmit, but I would contend that just being on SL, we are transmitting our avatar and its actions.

Why are our accounts not terminated? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you read clause (vi) and tell me what you think. I see Linden Labs has clearly given themselves the means to kick any one of us off the platform.

But they don't.

In 1964, during a case about pornography, United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said, "I know it when I see it." (Wikipedia)

Does Linden Labs know something?

Tumblr was started in 2007. (Wikipedia) In 2013, Yahoo bought it for $1.1 billion. In 2016 when advertising sales goals were not met, Yahoo wrote down $712 million of Tumblr's value. In December 2018, Tumblr banned pornographic content. By March 2019, it was estimated the site had lost 30% of its traffic. Tumblr was sold in August 2019 reportedly for less than $3 million.

At the bottom of Linden Lab's TOS (Terms of Service) under the section "12. Related Policies", I find a link to the supplemental document Content Guidelines (my bold):

General Content is content that is suitable for all ages. It may contain mild violence, mild language, and informational or educational content.

Moderate Content is non-explicit content that is generally suitable for users over the age of eighteen (18). It may contain some violence, strong language, and mildly sexual content.

Except such Adult Content as may be permitted in Second Life, Prohibited Content (as further described below) may not be shared, posted or otherwise transmitted through our service under any circumstances.

Examples of Prohibited Content include:
... illegal, cruel or hateful, violent...
* Sexually explicit content.

While the above document mentions "Adult Content", I keep seeing the wording in numerous places that sexually explicit content is prohibited. Is this a contradiction? Has Linden Labs merely ignored this over time? Is there some other "rule" which comprehensively covers the current situation?

As I'm sitting here, re-reading various documents as I write this article, I can't help feeling that all this developed organically over time. Linden Labs started their project without fully understanding the implications of Rule 34, the Internet meme which states that if something exists, there's a pornographic version of it. (Wikipedia)

As I've said elsewhere on this blog, one thing that has struck me on Second Life is how sexual some people can be. - My joke is that SL really stands for Sex Life. - But I don't necessarily mean explicit sex. People dress up, women look pretty, men look handsome, on public display (maybe the word exhibitionism is applicable), friendly but also possibly flirtatious. One could argue that this is no different from real life. But the difference is that on SL with a new identity and anonymity, this may be exaggerated as people feel freer, more liberated from the constraints of RL - no fear of criticisms or condemnation. We can be a little naughtier and not worry about the moral police serving us with a public decency violation.

Final Word
Have I managed to comprehensively cover the TOS? I'm sure I've left out things. Research has shown me the controversy of child avatars and ageplay dates back decades. As I said in the beginning, my curiosity came from people saying in their profiles they wouldn't violate the TOS. But now, I have another curiosity in that the TOS clearly states sexually explicit content is prohibited and yet, it's fairly common.

Years ago, I talked with the owner of a bestiality SIM. He explained to me he could show 3D artwork of bestiality but not real-life pictures of bestiality. I don't remember if he said he had ever run into trouble with Linden Labs or if this was merely his interpretation of the line not to cross. It's curious how most porn sites don't show bestiality (It is illegal!) and yet, will show 3D depictions of the same.

There are a number of SIMs dealing with the theme of older men and younger women - "Grandpa" is in the name. Some places have 3D artwork on display, clearly showing young women who could be interpreted as being teenagers. But I would add, these are not in any way prepubescent children (before puberty); they are women. One may call them "girls", but they are sexually mature individuals.

The notorious American pornographer Al Goldstein once said, "Eroticism is what turns me on. Pornography is what turns you on." Trying to come up with rules to cover everything is impossible because somewhere, somebody's being offended. I don't envy Linden Labs. I have no doubt they've had to deal with some extraordinary problems as there are people out there who seem to live to push the limits, or should I say, violate the limits. If the speed limit is 60 mph, they'll drive 80 or 90.

So, what does all this mean? When we sign up, we agree to Linden Labs' Terms of Serivce. We agree to abide by their rules and if we violate those rules, they have the right to terminate our account. If it is true that sexually explicit content is prohibited, I myself have violated that rule fourteen zillion times over. If my account has not yet been terminated (14 years and counting), I have to assume it's only because somebody at Linden Labs hasn't yet gotten around to examining it. Could my next "money shot" prove to be more expensive than I've anticipated?


References

Linden Labs is a privately owned company and as such, is not required to disclose its operations the same way a publicly traded company must do. (Investopedia)

Linden Labs: Second Life Terms and Conditions
This agreement (the "Second Life Policy") describes the terms on which Linden Research, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries ("Linden Lab") offer you access to its 3D virtual world environment entitled Second Life. This offer is conditioned on your agreement to all of the terms and conditions contained in this Second Life Policy, Linden Lab's Terms of Service (the "Terms of Service"), and Linden Lab's Privacy Policy (the "Privacy Policy"), including the policies, terms, and dispute resolution procedures linked to or otherwise referenced therein (collectively, the "Agreements"), all of which are hereby incorporated into this Second Life Policy. If you do not so agree, you should decline this Second Life Policy, in which case you are prohibited from accessing or using Second Life.

Greenberg & Lieberman: Second Life TOS: A Partial Analysis and How to Protect your Digital Content
This is an interesting analysis of Intellectual Property Rights and Second Life, involving several cases between Linden Labs and people suing to protect and retain control of their own creations. If you produce something in-world, is it really a thing, or is it merely an idea?


The following links are about the scandal of spring 2024. Just now, I re-read the Medium article. Oh! My! God! Scandal? This is a nuclear bomb blast!

The Internet Archive: The Reality Of Second Life’s Ageplay Problem By Robert Bartos Feb, 2024 Medium
Download option PDF
This article is a presentation of evidence that was originally meant to be sent to Linden Lab’s legal department to be dealt with internally. However with a long term investigation of this nature and depth of networking involved it was perhaps inevitable that word would get out eventually, and that finally happened at the end of of 2023. Due to the seriousness of what was uncovered even rumor of it being known was enough for Linden Lab or those acting on behalf of the company to send out legal threats to individuals they incorrectly assumed were responsible for this investigation. These legal threats were based on the exaggerated claims of a Second Life user trying to take Linden Lab’s sights off of himself; more on this later. As a result however, those at Linden Lab who are allegedly responsible for many of the acts uncovered here have been taking efforts to cover up evidence of a Linden Lab executive’s alleged involvement in sexual ageplay within Second Life, as well as an alleged problematic workplace environment within Linden Lab’s Product Operations department.

The Metaculture: What on earth is going on with Second Life? - Mar 1/2024
Five days ago, a Medium account named "Robert Bartos" posted an essay which makes serious allegations of inappropriate behavior by Linden staff, both within Second Life and in the workplace. Bartos alleged that several company employees were involved in these acts, including some pretty notable names in leadership. The essay also complains of rampant sexual content for child avatars on Second Life's marketplace.

Daniel Voyager: Linden Lab Gives Statement On Serious Allegations - Mar 21/2024
On Wednesday 20th March 2024 Brad Oberwager, Linden Lab’s Executive Chairman made a public statement to the Second Life community via the Second Life official blog saying that Linden Lab has been investigating allegations posted to social media recently and that the investigation is still ongoing.

Inara Pey: Linden Lab: statement on recent allegations - Mar 21/2024
[There] was no official response for the purposes of quoting. As such, I decided not to comment on the claims or the Lab’s response until such time there was any formal statement on the matter, rather than writing on the basis of pure speculation. Such a statement was made on Wednesday, March 20th, 2024.

Ryan Schultz: Linden Lab Updates Its Terms of Service, with Changes to Child Avatar Rules in Second Life - May 2024
This blogpost is an update of sorts to the one I made exactly two months ago, on March 4th, 2024, about the allegations made by an anonymous writer who posted a detailed article on Medium, outlining serious allegations against a number of people, including employees of Linden Lab, the company that makes Second Life.

Asadora Summers (in-world name): Linden Lab announces Policy Changes for a Safer Second Life 2024 - Apr 20/2024, YouTube 18:24
In this video, I'll be going over some important policy updates and changes from today's Lab Gab (April 19th, 2024). The first half of the video I read the transcript word for word from Keira and Grumpity Linden. Second half I give my opinion on what was announced and to expect.

Note: In this video, Asadora Summers, after reading the transcript, makes the statement that Linden Labs has addressed the issues raised in the Medium article. I have no opinion on this matter; I am merely repeating what she says.

2024-08-06