User:Robin Linden/OH Summary 7 August 2007

7 August Office Hours Minutes
11:00A - 12:00P PDT
Ambleside (110, 6, 26)

Attendees:

Adamo Cortes
Chaley May
Ciarin Laval
Ernest Newman
Dimitrio Lewis
Gale Barzane
Harleen Gretzky
Jessica Holyoke
JW Singer
Kamael Xevious
McCabe Maxsted
Prokofy Neva
Revolution Perenti
Rex Cronon
Robin Linden
Saijanai Kuhn
Satyr Amat
Tree Kyomoon
Wyn Galbraith



1.	Anti Gambling Policy Discussion
•	LL made the decision to ban gambling because of the online gambling laws in the US, which outlaw gambling.  LL felt the risk to the company was too high.  It was a legal compliance with US law.
•	Simulating prostitution or stripping is not illegal
•	LL couldn’t give an advance warning regarding the gambling ban, since we’d virtually be condoning an illegal activity for xx time
•	LL was honoring a specific subpoena regarding anti-gambling.  This doesn’t mean that anyone who wants to subpoena records for frivolous reasons can do so.  
•	Regarding residents concern about the filing of subpoenas just to get another residents id, LL will look at each request for information and evaluate very carefully 
2.	Democracy in SL (“Democracy requires government”, LL’s a business; topic closed)
3.	There will be no list of games that violate the anti-gambling policy.  An inclusive list can’t be compiled.  Ultimately game owners will have to decide if their game is against the law.   However, if a game involves putting down $ for a bet, a card, or anything else that depends on a ransom outcome and pays back, it’s probably illegal.  
4.	Age Verification
•	It’s coming
•	Residents will be warned before being banned; only repeat offenders will be banned

      5.  General discussion regarding resident behavior, individual responsibility vs. LL
           policing, etc.  
•	Actual crimes in SL should reported to the regular (local First Life) police.  
•	Would hate to have an equivalent of an SL homeowners association
•	Metaverse republic looking at doing an SL democracy; their rules may not be what residents expect when joining second life (and may be against SL paradigms)
•	SL is a business and could be completely gone tomorrow and every would have to find something else to do.  Everyone should just be individually responsible.
•	Why does a resident decide to trust another resident?
- by their action and manner
- because the demonstrate “trust worthy” behavior
- freedom and trust that comes with freedom
- same as anyone does…taking small risks, being satisfied, evolving to bigger risks
- trust  builds based on concrete actions inworld, statements at forums, consistency in behavior over time…
- Pretty much equal amount of residents (at this Ofc Hrs) trust implicitly vs earned trust
- LL still gets a lot of requests to re-implement a rating or reputation system
- What about getting credit histories, background checks, web profiles,
eBay-style feedback, specific profile for sellers/buyers, trust only sites that use Paypal, 

6.	LL will make decisions based on what’s legal and what’s best for our business


Action Items:
1.	Question for the lawyers: If LL doesn’t control $ flow, only provides servers, would there still be the same liability?
2.	Get more support for building the tools that residents need to take care of themselves.