Changes

ToS L$ Change Update #2

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Maria Korolov over on Hypergrid Business is doing an excellent job of tracking events related to the changes in the Linden Dollar exchanges due to the Linden change in ToS. If you need the latest information, I suggest you follow her blog.

The point has come up that the Linden ToS provides for a 30 day window from the time of a change until the day it is enforced. The Lab is telling third party exchanges they must be shut down by Monday morning (5/13).  If they enforce the Monday Morning shut down, that would seem to leave the Lab liable to lawsuits for damages. So, this Monday morning’s shut downs may be a costly mistake.

However, the Lindens do have the capability to shut down non-compliant exchanges. On the Linden side it is just a matter of deciding to and doing it, some clicks on the Linden computer screens.

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ToS L$ Change Update

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There is still a huge amount of speculation going on in regard to the ToS change and the Lab’s issuing Cease and Desist emails to those operating L$ exchanges and building viewers that link to third party exchanges.

Linden Dollar Exchange PODEX
Linden Dollar Exchange PODEX

In one thread over on SLUniverse the participants are trying to figure out why third party exchanges are suddenly illegal. They aren’t illegal. But, they do violate the Lab’s ToS… may be. That is where the confusion is, the ToS. 

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SL Landing Point Orientation

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Is that an obscure enough title?  You may have noticed that the direction your avatar faces at Landing Point Hubs has changed behavior since Tueday. Until now an avatar always rezzed facing east. This was a bug. The server is supposed to pass along data to the viewer that specifies which way the avatar faces.

Server Beta Meeting 2013-19
Server Beta Meeting 2013-19

The point was that people could tp in and the land owner could set the Landing Point’s to face the avatar the right, or convenient, direction. See: About Land. I don’t see how direction can be set. But, I am not a land owner. I think it has to do with which way your avatar is facing when you set the landing point.

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End of Linden$ Exchanges

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The recent ToS change left some questions as to whether third parties could continue trading Lindens. A subsequent post on the SL Blog seems to equate “unauthorized” with Not Permitted.

The kicker is the emails being sent to the operators of Exchanges. One German operator (Milz Yue) posted on a forum:

As described on the Second Life blog, updated Second Life Terms of Service disallow trading of Linden dollars (L $) on exchanges other than the LindeX.

As operator of a third party to exchange, You Should cease Facilitating L$ trades on your exchange immediately to comply with the Terms of Service. Any virtual ‘ATMs’ or scripted objects in Second Life that are connected to your exchange should therefore be removed immediately. 

Please be sure to read the complete updated Second Life Terms of Service and take the steps Necessary to comply and keep your Second Life account (s) in good standing. 

Thank you in advance for your cooperation. 

That may not be a perfect translation. But, it seems to make it clear, Linden Lab will be the only currency exchange in Second Life. 

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Second Life New ToS

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Today I hit the new Terms of Server agreement. You can read the thing, if you can stay awake or get the highlights here: Updated Second Life Terms of Service. They tossed in a 2 minute video:

[youtube NtY3qU3IueM]

The primary change is the Lab is limiting the purchase of Linden$. You will only be allowed to purchase from the Lab.

I gather that third party exchanges will continue to exist. Since it is possible to transfer Linden$ from avatar to avatar, some other types of markets will continue. But, if you get ripped-off by a third party Linden$ vendor, you are most definitely on your own.