Police Blotter...huh???

Date: Thursday, May 25, 2006
Violation: Terms of Service: Account Security
Region: —
Description: Sharing another resident's password and soliciting abuse of that resident.
Action taken: Suspended 14 days.


Date: Thursday, May 25, 2006
Violation: Terms of Service: Account Security
Region: —
Description: Logging into another resident's account and stealing inventory and $L.
Action taken: Suspended 14 days.


These people stole someone's password, broke into their account and stole their money.

And all they got was a two week suspension?


Uhm....does this seem wrong to anyone else besides me? Doesn't this seem like the kind of thing that should get someone banished to the cornfield forever?

I realize that the Lindens can't comment on specific cases. However, I would really like to hear from one how it's possible that "Sharing another resident's password and soliciting abuse of that resident" or breaking into someone's account and stealing their money can ever be anything other than a perma-ban offense. I'm not trying to be offensive or disrespectful towards the Lindens, but this just does not compute.

(And no, I wasn't involved and have no idea who these people are.)

I doubt the stole someone elses password, sounds like someones been too generous with their password and someone has taken advantage of that and done them wrong.

2 weeks does seem a bit lenient, but hey, if you're willing to dole out your password then you gotta expect that some people aren't as honest as you'd like to think.

The first one, perhaps, the second one of the two definitely sounds like theft of an account to me, and 2 weeks sounds disgustingly short in that situation.

But then, this wouldn't be the first time I've had a 'WTF?' moment looking at the police blotter... it seems to instill that kind of reaction quite frequently for me.

Well there's no doubt its theft, but my take on it is that someone gave out their password, then someone else gave it out and somewhere along the line lindens and goods were stolen.

Unfortunately there are a lot of trusting people out there, but equally as many people that shouldn't be trusted

I hope they got their stuff and lindens back!

Yet another reason I wrote this.

Oh God no! SL would be crawling with AV lawyers looking for people to sue!

Possibly it was a couple that lived together and both played SL.

One finds another love in SL and moves on. Person who lived with the person that moves on contacts SL and says the account he used was on her credit card. SL gives her the password and she cleans out the account.

SL investigates and possibly finds even though it was her card, the gentleman that made the account is really the person who evolved the character and also had inventory and Lindens he made on his own.

I wondered in a situation like this what Linden Labs policy would be?

Does the person who pays for the account have absolete ownership?

I don't know if it's the same person, but I personally know someone whose account was hacked and at least some of the details here seem to match. I'm obviously not going to go into any details of how the hack was done (I don't know how exactly, but I'm not even going to discuss the speculation on the topic we had), but rest assured it is possible for someone with hostile intent to steal a SL password. This doesn't necessarily mean someone was giving out their password.

*steals James password*

I've heard LL passes out suspensions initially just to get the perp off The Grid, with stronger measures sometimes coming after further investigation.

We don't have the facts, but in my brain, here's what happened:

Dick and Jane had a whirlwind romance in SL and completely fell in love. Dick got Jane's password, which they shared to do something together, or for Dick to help Jane do something she didn't understand how to do with her account. All was well in the world!

Then, after their 4 days of being unable to live without each other, Jane figured out Dick was, well, a dick. Jane told Dick she had to move on, so Dick logged into her account and took her L$ and gave her inventory items to his new girl, Jenn. Jane was furious and the abuse reports ensued, with lots of drama. Oh, by the way, all three people have somewhere in their SL profile: "I don't do drama, keep it for yourself!"

While two of the three men in the story above have been suspended for 14 days, I really think all three probably are getting exactly what they deserve, suspension or not.

Regards,

-Flip

PS - maybe we should have a fan fiction writing contest, that has to be fiction based on reports you find on the police blotter. Sound like fun?

from what i have heard, though this may now be somewhat dated, the strongest 'automated' disciplinary action that can be taken is a 14 day suspension.

When this suspension is issued, someone actually gets tossed into a pile of problem users, that is going to go over individual review at some meeting, where their ultimate fate will be decided. Aka will they be given another chance to come back after their 14 days runs out, or will their account/registration be locked out forever.

That sounds like an amazing idea... seriously

It does appear strange...............But i had this really strange girl ( but is really a guy) tell me he wanted my avie......AND password..... I was shocked and upset these so called had asked me for my account. He told me until i return he would keep my account until i came back YEA RIGHT! ( then i also believe in santa ).....SO I can understand flipper remark. It happens all the time.

Which makes the 'Police Blotter' a singularly useless institution because it fosters the impression of an absurdly lenient internal justice system, without revealing the eventual fate of these individuals.

LL seem unaware of the principle that justice has to be seen to be done.

That means a transparent justice system where full details of transgressors and the offences they are accused of are made public, transgressors have the chance to defend themselves in public, and the eventual outcome is made public.

Anything less is a mockery of justice.

The current 'anonymous tribunal meeting in secret and concealing all' system is not justice.

Better LL just abandoned the pretence, it only leads to confusion and loss of respect for what little enforcement there actually is.

...this was from December last year. We were crashing grids at the tme.

Had me LOL literally

I'm glad you enjoyed it - your turn! Grab a random headline from the police blotter and go to town!

If LL is taking any action at all against someone with whom a password has been shared or an account has been made available to, it would be a break with the norm imo. I was under the impression that a main reason for having rules in TOS against sharing an account/password is that it allows LL to stay out the ensuing drama when things turn sour.

Agree'd Doc, at least with this bit, but I would argue that it is fixable given 2 extra words in such cases.

If i had seen:

14 Day Suspension, pending review.

I would have believed more was being done. Instead, I, as you suggest, thought 'wtf? that's not justice!' (not, btw, that I believe whoever did it should have received a blanket ban, of course not, their case has to be reviewed by hand). But justice MUST be maintain the appearance that it is fair, and honest.

Of course, if the person does get perma-banned, we'll probably see a 'Banned' entry for the same crime in a couple of weeks, if we haven't all long since forgotten about it.

Actually I would bet that Jane caught Dick being a dick, (pun intended,) gave him the boot, and while he was sleeping proved yet again that golden rule that "hell hath no fury," etcetera.

But Katy, is doesn't apply here.
The 2 females arent women, but G.I.R.Ls



(G.I.R.L. = Guy In Real Life ...... thanks for that acronym, Siggy)

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Best post evar. Just sayin'.

Something like this happened to a friend of mine in another universe, it was pretty exciting. It was a smalltime RPG and her boyfriend got jealous that she became more presitigious than him in the game and started harassing her and threatening to log into her account and delete her. Needless to say, she changed her password and they're not together anymore.