Linden Lab Official:Residents' privacy rights

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All Residents in Second Life have a right to privacy. Three forms of disclosure violate the Second Life Terms of Service and will result in a warning, ban, or suspension from Second Life:

Disclosing personal information

This form of disclosure is defined as sharing personal information about a fellow Resident — including gender, religion, age, marital status, race, sexual preference, and real-world location — beyond what is provided by in their First Life page of their Resident profile. Disclosure of something that no reasonable person would believe ("Daniel Linden is from Mars") isn't a violation.

Nobody in Second Life may distribute any information about another Resident's "real world" life. You cannot reveal someone's real-world location ("Bob Avatar lives in Canada"), gender ("Bob Avatar is really a woman"), religion, appearance, age, marital status, race, sexual preference, etc. You may not use notecards, textures, chat, IM, forums, or any other means of violating privacy. Linden Lab will attempt to delete such privacy-violating content, if possible, and will apply appropriate discipline.

There are exceptions:

  • Information about a Resident contained in the Resident's own profile may be discussed and passed around
  • Information that is patently false may be "revealed" ("Bob Avatar lives on Mars")
  • Information provided outside of systems controlled by Linden Lab isn't covered by the Terms of Service ("Someone's posting Bob Avatar's address and photograph on their web page")

Remote Monitoring

Remotely monitoring inworld conversations without the knowledge or consent of all parties involved is a violation of the Terms of Service. If you feel recording a conversation is necessary, we recommend that you post a clearly visible sign in the recording location so that all Residents who enter can see it.

NOTE: the abuse team will need to determine if sufficient information was provided to the Residents who are being recorded. We recommend that you proceed with caution, provide documentation on your efforts to inform all parties they are being monitored, and find a secure area before recording begins.

Disclosing private Second Life conversations

Sharing or posting a conversation inworld or in the Second Life forums without consent of all involved Residents is a violation of the Terms of Service.

NOTE: This does not include posting of chat to social media sites or other websites. Posting such logs on web pages, emailing them, or printing them out and posting them on utility poles in the "real world" -- are all actions beyond the scope of the Second Life Terms of Service. ; while that might be illegal, but those laws must be enforced by the proper law enforcement agencies.

"Conversation" means text that originally came from Second Life chat or Second Life instant messages. If it's totally unattributed, then it isn't considered disclosure. Additionally, Residents are not punished for sharing or posting a comment such as "Bob Resident said, 'You're the greatest!'"]