U.S. House of Representatives and Virtual Worlds

Philip Rosedale will be testifying with others in front of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce today on "Online Virtual Worlds: Applications and Avatars in a User-Generated Medium". Safety and the use of currency are two of the topics on the agenda.

http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2008/03/31/rosedale-other-virtual-world-execs-to-testify-before-congress/

Does anyone know anything about the House of Representatives usual process? Is a hearing like this just a seminar, to educate members, or are such meetings only done as a lead-up to some form of legislation?
.

I think it could be either or both.

I find it interesting ..

And also another example of Legislators wasting time while on our dime.

Usually, it is a way to get themselves in front of cameras in order to pretend they are doing something useful.

It's rarely simply educational in nature. Most often, there is an agenda already in place when arranging for such hearings -- some people on the committee may be thinking about legislation, or they may be reacting to constitutent (or lobbyist) concerns raised, and hoping to satisfy those concerns by holding hearings. But there is always an agenda.

I don't see this as a positive thing, really. Congress has many better things to do than worry about what is happening in Second Life.

Depends on what axe they want to grind. If some constiutent (sp) has lost money playing SL and then complains to his congressman. This is how they appease the constiutient (sp) Typically it leads to more government control of our freedoms in the form of legislation.

Then again it is an election year and the Congressmen and Senators that aren't running for office have to justify thier existence by going on thread pulling expeditions in the hopes that some crisis will unravel.

For example: Why the big stink about the Baseball players and steroids? Football and B-Ball players don't use steroids? I would use steroids if it helped my typing, spelling and computing skills. (Who needs fat fingers?)

"CX"

Another example of Congress getting paid to do things they shouldn't be bothering with.

I don't even think they care if they are seen to be doing things useful anymore .. LOL

Its more surreal than that after years of CSPAN

I guess they didn't waste enough time going after ballplayers on steroids. I think the primary agenda is getting TV time for re election purposes. Work toward getting First Life to where I don't want a Second Life. /me waves disdainfully.

You're all missing the point: They're wondering if they can tax it! O.O

(And plus, they can go on the record against pedophiles in the same hearing. What politician could resist?)

yeah, i noticed the safety bit also.

Tax it?.. they can already tax income and services. What they are probably after is a regulatory presence.. They might say that exchanging currency (L$ for U$D) is a banking function and LL has no license to operate a bank.

Maybe they can appoint Elliott Spitzer the Second Life GMan

I fear so. If you follow the link in the Reuters story to the story from Oct. 2006, that was exactly the topic back then.

[Incidently, another fun quote from that 2006 story: "“I can almost guarantee that there are some members of Congress spending time in Second Life or World of Warcraft,” Miller said."

Arlen Specter comes to a dance pole near you!
.

They might just want places like LL to report on how much they Pay Out to Residents via Paypal and Checks

That's probably who Cee's Granny Alt really is.

If a couple of congressmen are residents and are getting tired of lag, transactions not working, and losing stuff from their inventories, this could be a very good thing. Wouldn't you love to hear this: "Mr. Rosedale, I've been trying to communicate with the good, hard-working taxpayers of my state, and all I see are hippos!"

jk, I think

Paypal is already required to do this over a certain amout. $10k I believe.

/me grins... at least Escorts are legal and a whole lot cheaper. Banks are already regulated... so he would have something else to take his time.

.d

LOL!

"I cant get my new clothes to rez, and a girefer keeps stalking me! What are you going to do about it Mr. Rosedale??!! IF you don't get my Second Life back up and running, I'll have to go back to spending the taxpayer's money full time!!"

All that would do is make it so THEY would get the special treatment, They'd get Ultra High End Machines, Warp Speed Connections, probably their own personal Linden. All we would get is the Bill.

Maybe they just want LL to donate 59 free servers and their tiers to the government so they can have one for each state/district/possession to operate their in for constituant contacts. (did I get the count correct?.. been a long time since Government class in High School)

My guess is that they are definatly looking at taxes. Income tax, sales tax, hell maybe even property tax if they can figure a way to do it.

You know you gotta pay the man. Even if you didn't make any real money.

Hopefully just Income tax lol

Still who knows.

Exactly my thoughts as well. It's about taxes, and (at least for the cameras) it's about "the children."

"I hold in my hand a list of the names of known child avatars in Second Life..."

Mari

They're too cheap for him though. I don't know any escort in SL who charges ~1m Lindens for a date!