Linden Lab have published two very important blog posts in the last couple of days, one regarding changes to LindeX processing fees and one regarding account security issues.
I’ll post about the unpopular issue first, Linden Lab have announced that there will soon be Updates to LindeX and Credit Processing Fees. This will result in increases to fees in some areas, which, the blog post tells us, will result in the following changes :
- The fee for purchasing L$ on the LindeX will increase from $0.40 (USD) to $0.60 (USD) per transaction.
- The fee structure for process credit transactions (i.e. paying real money into PayPal or Skrill accounts) will remain as a 1.5% fee with a $3 (USD) minimum, but the maximum fee per transaction will increase from $15 (USD) to $25 (USD).
This means that there will be fee increases for those purchasing Linden Dollars and for some who sell higher volumes of Linden Dollars.
The blog post points out that last year, Second Life users processed credit of USD$60m, which is a pretty impressive amount for a platform that is about to celebrate its 14th birthday, but the ability to buy and sell Linden Dollars for real money has to comply with laws and regulations to prevent fraud and money laundering, amongst other challenges.
The blog post explains :
Underlying SL’s successful user-to-user L$ economy and the ability to buy and sell L$’s for real currency is a significant amount of ongoing work to ensure that everything remains compliant with applicable laws and regulations, while also preventing fraud and money laundering.
Investing in improvements to these processes and the ongoing compliance work required comes at a cost to Linden Lab, and we will be making some LindeX fee adjustments in order to share a portion of those costs with Residents active in the SL economy.
Whereas increases in fees are never welcome, the regulations associated with such transactions are likely to become more stringent as virtual transactions gain popularity amongst various platforms and that means increased costs for companies such as Linden Lab who are processing these transactions.
The LindeX transaction fee changes will be effective as of June 19th, which isn’t a lot of notice in all reality but hopefully Second Life residents are paying attention.
The second blog post from Linden Lab is an advisory about account security and is definitely a post that people should pay attention to. The post; Account Security Tips: Password Edition explains that there are some concerns regarding the use (or potential misuse) of third party tools :
It’s recently come to our attention that there has been an increase in the use of third party tools that gives account credentials and control over a Resident’s account to another Resident. This and similar products can change an account password and/or details, such as email address, which could prevent an owner from accessing an account, or even from being able to recover the account.
We want to remind everyone that giving another Resident access to your account or account information, by any means and for any reason, is both dangerous and not permitted by the Terms of Service. An account is intended to be used solely by its creator, and keeping your account details secret and secure helps you keep it that way.
The blog post is also worth reading because it contains tips on account security, including advice such as :
- Choose a secure password.
- Choose a secret security question answer.
- Keep your password and the answer to your security question secret from everyone.
- Keep your password unique and special to Second Life.
- No Linden will ever ask for your password.
- Use only the official Second Life Viewer, or a Third Party Viewer from the Third Party Viewer Directory.
On top of that, there’s also a link to a Linden Lab wiki article : Linden Lab Official: Password Protection. There are a lot of good password tips in that wiki article, so it’s well worth a read.
Now, after reading both blog posts, hopefully you’re feeling refreshed and ready to delve back into the virtual world equipped with important knowledge. There’s plenty of fun to be had but if you’re stuck regarding where to go, then take a peek at the latest Second Life blog post regarding Highlights from the Second Life Destination Guide.