Privacy and Protection, Second Life

Australia’s ‘Second Life Ban’: Linden Comments

I recently posted about the so-called “Australian ban” of Second Life, which is actually a much broader issue, and has garnered significant attention from both the virtual world and gaming communities. (My post also generated significant comments, all of it worth reading, thanks everyone for contributing).

Linden Lab has provided the following “official comment”:

“Linden Lab has received no indications from the Australian government that it plans to block Second Life and will keep our community apprised of any developments on that front. In the meantime, we want to assure Australian Residents that Second Life remains accessible and functioning in your region.

Australia has and will continue to be an important market for Linden Lab, and we’re committed to providing the best possible Second Life experience for the users in that market. Some of the most exciting uses of Second Life have come out of Australia, a diverse community of Residents that includes major universities, large enterprises and many thousands of consumers, who spend hundreds of thousands of hours inworld each month.”

I have to say, it’s really unfortunate that this issue has been misinterpreted - I’ve received messages asking whether Australia is ALREADY banned, and others who thought their friends were having trouble logging in to SL because of it.

The “ban” is a proposed piece of legislation. It is far broader than Second Life, and SL was not explicitly targeted (although others may argue differently). The fact that the ‘ban’ is even being proposed is cause for concern, and should rightly be the focus of lobbying from both users and platform owners, but misconceptions have arisen from the whole thing, to the embarrassment of some in the Australian government.

Hopefully Linden Lab’s statement brings some peace of mind that there is support for Second Life in the Australian government and that life on the Grid is currently unaffected.

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