Throughout history, human being and its technology have always been in an intricate two-way relationship, changing our concepts of being and reality along the way. With the creation of Cyberspace we even made ourselves a new plane of existence, a new being. With usercreated, immersive 3D virtual worlds like Second Life being the pinnacle in that field at the moment.Despite the fact the Second Life world is entirely created by its users, by its residents, the grid operator Linden Lab uses a totalitarian control and governance model which is all too common with providers across cyberspace.
The fact this world is being created by its residents and the intricate interdependency relation stemming from this between Linden Lab and the residents, should be cause and basis for establishing a novel relationship between provider and user, that truly acknowledges the residents' investments and existence, essential for the creation and sustaining of the Second Life world.
What is needed is a revolutionary change! A change that is needed to create together the possibility of a democratic Second Life, and in extension Metaverse and Cyberspace, that will respect the civil rights of its users.
Therefor, the SL Democratic Movement calls for Linden Lab to balance the Terms of Service and governance of the Second Life world:
We demand that future contract changes will be negotiated.
Accordingly, we demand change of the pretext of the Terms of Service regarding change of contract to enable this.
We demand a meaningful socio-political dialog between Linden Lab and the SL community and a public, transparent, non hierarchical structure with meaningful voting procedures and a possibility of referenda to enable this.
We demand the abolishment of articles 2.6 and 3.2.b and similar statements in the Terms of Service.
A profound change in these articles will make room for the full acknowledgment of you and your investments and for protection against arbitrary banning and deletion and in effect towards rights of due process and fair “trial”. Accordingly, the abuse report system should be changed towards these goals.
We want Linden Lab to actively further and intensify its open source plans and efforts, towards open sourcing the server code and a truly open grid.
Therefor, the SL Democratic Movement calls for Linden Lab to balance the Terms of Service and governance of the Second Life world:
We demand that future contract changes will be negotiated.
Accordingly, we demand change of the pretext of the Terms of Service regarding change of contract to enable this.
We demand a meaningful socio-political dialog between Linden Lab and the SL community and a public, transparent, non hierarchical structure with meaningful voting procedures and a possibility of referenda to enable this.
We demand the abolishment of articles 2.6 and 3.2.b and similar statements in the Terms of Service.
A profound change in these articles will make room for the full acknowledgment of you and your investments and for protection against arbitrary banning and deletion and in effect towards rights of due process and fair “trial”. Accordingly, the abuse report system should be changed towards these goals.
We want Linden Lab to actively further and intensify its open source plans and efforts, towards open sourcing the server code and a truly open grid.
These changes need the support of the SL community to become reality! We, SL Residents, need to start acknowledge our rights first! Join the revolution today and start agitating for a better world!
SL Democratic Movement's campaign for democratic reform of the rule of Second Life has been underway for several months, and is motivated both by tensions between Linden Lab and their customers in Second Life and instances of mismanagement of the service as well as by a deep-seated philosophical conviction that users of Second Life ought to be acknowledged with their participation in the world both by right and necessity.
SL Democratic Movement is a non-profit organization advocating self-rule, transparent and fair governance, resident rights and democracy within the virtual world of Second Life.
SL Democratic Movement's campaign for democratic reform of the rule of Second Life has been underway for several months, and is motivated both by tensions between Linden Lab and their customers in Second Life and instances of mismanagement of the service as well as by a deep-seated philosophical conviction that users of Second Life ought to be acknowledged with their participation in the world both by right and necessity.
SL Democratic Movement is a non-profit organization advocating self-rule, transparent and fair governance, resident rights and democracy within the virtual world of Second Life.
SLDM is not affiliated with Linden Lab or Linden Research, Inc. Second Life® and Linden Lab® are registered trademarks of Linden Research, Inc
