Category: Social Networking

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ID Still A Big Challenge In The Digital Age

Another confusing issue with providing information to Linden Lab has reared its head this week, this time in the shape and form of a forum post from a resident who was confused as to why she had received an email from Linden Lab asking for account information and ID.

The reason was soon explained by Linden Lab in the form of a blog post : Required Account Documentation in which Linden Lab announced:

“In addition to required tax documentation (which we blogged about in November 2013), US law separately requires that institutions such as Linden Lab obtain, verify, and record information confirming the identification of account holders who submit a certain volume and/or amount of Process Credit Requests.

We have recently begun emailing users who need to submit this information. If you receive such a notice from us, you will need to follow the instructions and provide the required documentation within thirty (30) days.”

Now ignoring the usual issues such as people finding out and being confused about matters before people have been informed about said issue by Linden Lab, this raises another issue, that of ID in the digital age. The email the user was sent asks for the same forms to be filled in as in the case of those being asked for tax documentation, but the required account information also asks for the following in this particular case:

“In addition to the form itself, we are required to obtain a copy of your government-issued photo identification (ID). The information on the ID must be current (i.e. not expired) and must match the information you submitted on the form.

Please attach a copy of your identification to this Case. The copy must be clearly legible (full color, no smudges or blurs) and must be fully intact (no cut-off portions, no redacted information).

The following are acceptable forms of photo ID:

• Driver’s license
• Military ID card
• Passport
• Any other form of government-issued photo ID

If your photo ID does not display your address, you must also provide us with a copy of a current utility or telephone bill. The name and address to which the bill is addressed must match the photo ID.

In the meantime, it is necessary for us to place a hold on any and all Process Credit Requests for your account until we receive your form and supporting documentation.”

This therefore goes further than the required tax documentation. Why some people are being asked for this is a little cloudy, but it appears to be due to the amount of money or number of times they process credit. This is required by US law so Linden Lab must comply, so Linden Lab are doing their job here. However why do so many different companies need the same information to be submitted over and over and over again in this day and age? This should be less complicated but there are large hurdles in the way.

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Keeping Old Content Alive

I was reading Prok’s blog earlier today and noticed a post where he announced he was moving his content to a different address. The part of the post that struck a chord with me was:

“I think my blog is an important resource not only on the history of Second Life but the history of the larger issues of the Internet, of which Second Life is a microcosm. And I may make a “Best of” e-book of some of it if I can find time.”

Now it’s the history side of matters that really strikes the chord because I’ve been patchy about moving my Your2ndPlace content here. The only access to said content that I have is via The Wayback Machine and it’s painful moving the content across and then of course links are dead etc.

However, the Your2ndPlace archives tell a story and I’m a fan of stories. Some of the content now strikes me as overly dramatic, unfairly critical of Linden Lab and in a style that I try to avoid these days. However, warts and all, it is what it is and it is probably better that I move my content across. I also told Konner McDonnell that I’d move his content across, I have moved a handful of Konner’s posts across but I need to get back to it.

Your2ndPlace was a multi blogger platform, kindly provided by Nobody Fugazi who paid the bills. Although not all of the bloggers blogged regular, some of those involved were: Alan Bamboo, Arthur Fermi, Ash Wade, Cadence Juran, Jezebel Bailey, Konner McDonnell, Marx Dudek, Nobody Fugazi, Sando Haller and Sarah Nerd.

Whereas I’d love to move everyone’s content somewhere, I don’t have permission to do so. They haven’t refused me permission, I haven’t asked them, but as I said earlier, it’s quite painful moving content across from The Wayback Machine. Jezebel Bailey of course, has been known to blog here.

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2013 – The Meme Version

When I was a lad and I used to play on Livejournal we’d do an end of year post where you’d take the first few lines or paragraph of the first post of each month and that would be your review of the year. I’ll do proper reviews of the year over the next few days or so but for now I’ll turn back to that old Livejournal meme. This won’t make that much sense but it is a bit of fun.

January

I’m about to embark on a series of posts about accounts, Linden Lab and their forthcoming interactive story of Versu. Inara Pey, with her eye firmly on the ball has noticed that websites have appeared for Dio and Versu. I’m not so much interested in Dio, although I might be once it gets going. However Versu is something I like the look of and I’ve been digging around the website for Versu. At first glance it seems bereft of information, but a closer look reveals that Versu has a cut down version of the Second Life terms and conditions, a  DMCA link and a very handy FAQ.

February

Ok so I’m enjoying playing around with dio and The Search For Hod Rumble (see previous post for details) is well under way, whether it ever goes from private to public is another matter. My intention with this project is largely to play around with the features and get a good understanding of the platform whilst having fun at the expense of Rod Humble. However, even though I’m only at the start of my project, I have picked up some tips.

*NOTE* – The search for Hod Rumble remains unpublished.

March

Draxtor Despres, of Metareality Podcast, Superflufee machinima and other stuff I don’t know about but probably should fame, has today launched a new monthly show titled: “The Drax Files“.

April

Back on March 12th Linden Lab blogged about advertising on Second Life properties. There has been no further update but the people behind Fennux breedables have managed to take advantage of Google advertising by getting an advert for their product and website onto the Second Life website, well the forums in my case, that’s where I saw the advert.

An image should be here
Fennux Advert

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The Tech Companies, Not The Security Services, Should Take The Heat For The Spying Game

The recent fuss about The NSA and GCHQ allegedly spying on Second Life users largely made me go “meh”. I mean this is what I expect those agencies to do and I really can’t see any way of stopping them doing it. However there is a level whereby I feel protestations about intrusive behaviour could work, that’s at levels way below the security agencies, it’s with tech companies.

AT&T are, according to Gigaom, rolling out a new gigabit service in Austin in two flavours. Premier, for USD$70 a month and Standard, for USD$99 a month. The terminology sounds odd, with premier being the cheaper option. However here’s the catch, the cheaper option means you need to agree to being part of AT&T preferences, which is targeted advertising, or as AT&T themselves explain:

“U-verse with GigaPower Premier offer is available with your agreement to participate in AT&T Internet Preferences. AT&T may use your Web browsing information, like the search terms you enter and the Web pages you visit, to provide you relevant offers and ads tailored to your interests. ”

So basically for the cheaper option, you sell your browsing habits it seems. This idea isn’t new, websites with advertising will often have the option to turn off the adverts for a fee. However it’s still very creepy.

When the recent hoo-ha broke about the spies it wasn’t the NSA or GCHQ involvement I found creepy, nor was it Linden Lab talking to the NSA about virtual worlds. The NY Times article claims that Cory Ondrejka was the senior Linden exec involved and reports:

“In 2007, as the N.S.A. and other intelligence agencies were beginning to explore virtual games, N.S.A. officials met with the chief technology officer for the manufacturer of Second Life, the San Francisco-based Linden Lab. The executive, Cory Ondrejka, was a former Navy officer who had worked at the N.S.A. with a top-secret security clearance.

He visited the agency’s headquarters at Fort Meade, Md., in May 2007 to speak to staff members over a brown bag lunch, according to an internal agency announcement. “Second Life has proven that virtual worlds of social networking are a reality: come hear Cory tell you why!” said the announcement.”

That all sounds very reasonable to me, Cory seems to be using his knowledge of his old industry and showing them the power of virtual worlds, it’s the next part of the article where it all goes a bit tits up:

“It added that virtual worlds gave the government the opportunity “to understand the motivation, context and consequent behaviors of non-Americans through observation, without leaving U.S. soil.””

That’s where it all gets a bit creepy.

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How Video Games Created The Virtual World Star

Due to the wonders of modern technology I was able to watch Charlie Brooker’s How Videogames changed the world last night. Well using TV On Demand Catch Up anyway, nothing dodgy. The show charted the rise of video games and in particular 25 titles that were considered hugely influential in the direction the gaming world took.

The show featured contributions from people inside and outside the game industry, the contributors included Peter Molyneux, Jeff Minter, Will Wright, Tim Schaefer, Neil Druckman, Ron Gilbert, John Romero, Nolan Bushnell and Rhianna Pratchett. Quite an impressive line up.

Now obviously being a list show people will disagree with the list, but here it is:

  • Pong
  • Space Invaders
  • Pac-Man
  • Manic Miner
  • Elite
  • Super Mario Bros
  • Tetris
  • The Secret Of Monkey Island
  • Street Fighter II
  • Doom
  • Night Trap
  • Tomb Raider
  • Parappa The Rapper
  • Starcraft
  • The Sims
  • Grand Theft Auto III
  • Shadow Of The Colossus
  • World Of Warcraft
  • Wii Sports
  • Call Of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare
  • Braid
  • Angry Birds
  • Minecraft
  • The Last Of Us
  • Twitter

Hold that thought. The show didn’t really touch upon virtual worlds such as Second Life, but it clearly showed how the foundations were laid to create the virtual world experience.

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