Please Help Find a Missing Person: Jenifer Martinek

This person is so immersed in SL that she left home to meet SLers. Someone that immersed would not stay offline too long if it could be helped. The last SLers to make contact with her is the best lead right now. And sadly, those people are not assisting.

Proper authorities? LOL, this is Brazil. A country where major cities still get flooded and people lose services for days to weeks - can we say Katrina yearly??

Authorities in Brazil do not work like authorities in the U.S. It is extremely flawed logic to "think the authorities would have contracted LL". Why would they? SL is seen as a game. They may not recognize the social aspect of SL or they may see SL as no different than Yahoo or MSN as far as communicating with strangers go, therefore no use in calling LL. Also, they have no legal route to get LL to reveal any information to them at all without going through American courts.

Brazil is in South America. South America is full of under developed countries. There are no "Amber Alerts" or any such thing.

Brazil also has THE LARGEST SLAVE POPULATION IN THE WORLD - THE WORLD. Brazil is mostly a coastal population country, the inner lands are plantations, farms, jungle etc. People get taken there and it is impossible for them to escape when you are 250 miles away from anything that even resembles a town with a wired phone system. You ever tried to travel 2 miles in a rain forest? (Man vs Wild, for the win and some education on how easy that is).

You are way off base in your logical assumptions of what you think the "authorities" would do in a 3rd world country.

This is the most important to remember.

ALWAYS use caution and always have a healthy skepticism about anything your are not completely sure of.

Can't argue with your logic. However, there is a sliver of a possibility that this missing person thing is not a "crock" but very real. And, for that very reason, I think the OP had her heart in the right place............but, what this posting has done is put serious and possibly irreversible doubt in most people's minds who might be in some position to actually help (though I cannot think of a way that would be possible). Had actual facts with links to known reliable sources been presented in the initial post I would say the thread would possibly help is some small way. But, sadly, it was presented with the same breathless, hysterical, OMG we got to do something fashion that so many scams follow that it's more a hinderence than anything. I don't think the OP meant it that way...........but that's the way it looks.

A good thing though..................a good discussion on internet safety seems to be going on.

I have been told by many people to always date someone a full year before committing to them in marriage/partnership - and in many ways this is really just a variation of that that makes sense for the online world.

This is one aspect that so many just do not think about.

The posting of the RL name in that notice, if real, gave me the total creeps.

You actually believe what you just wrote?

What she wrote is actually true in many areas of that country....... hell on that continent. There is plenty of documentation to support it.

I agree with the way you've stated this definitely. I'm not trying to play devils advocate her either but really think people need to "think" before they believe this sort of thing online. I'm not talking about discussions on internet safety, I'm not talking about the other branches of conversations and discussions that come from it. What I'm merely talking about it the fact that it lacks a lot of logic in finding someone.

If the person is actually missing and they're in brazil what the hell is anyone gonna do to help find her on SL. LOL.. I heard that brianna make the comments about brazil and just plain had to laugh about her comments.

So if Brazil doesn't have the law enforcement to help with this, then why bring it to SL lol. Back to my original opinion. Its a crock. Someone is preying on the kindness of others, they are looking to see how much drama they can stir up, or they're an ex looking for attention. Otherwise I feel that any other adult in any country would have approached a missing person much differently.

Even if I were in brazil I would have notified the authorities, news agencies, or other personal friends in RL. I would have looked in her emails, phone records etc. The last place I would have honestly looked was inside a game for her.

Do you ever add anything positive to a discussion besides your negative opinion?

I've been to 14 countries, how many have you? Do you know anyone in Brazil? I do.

Why don't you enlighten yourself: http://www.antislavery.org/english/press_and_news/news_and_press_releases_2009/060109_brazil_rescues_4500_slaves.aspx

Oh, and in the future Peggy. If it not about the technical underpinnings of SL or some computer related issue, and you do not know what you are talking about, just STFU instead of embarrassing yourself.

And so bringing it into SL will help so much more. ROFL. I would think if the person reporting this had access to the internet and were so fluent in SL, that they would be fluent in other forms of communication online. Hence twitter reports, plurk reports, blogs, international news forums, etc etc etc. The point of my comments were it lacks total logic and intelligence to bring it into a game. Especially since the person reporting has access to the internet and all the other avenues to go public with this.

FYI - a small excerpt from a quick search:

"In 1995, 288 farmworkers were freed from what was officially described as slavery, a total which rose to 583 in 2000. In 2001, however, the Brazilian government freed more than 1,400 slave laborers. Most cases probably go undetected. A national survey conducted in 2000 by the Pastoral Land Commission, a Roman Catholic Church group, estimated that there were more than 25,000 forced workers and slaves in Brazil.

In 2004 the Brazilian government acknowledged to the United Nations that at least 25,000 Brazilians work under work conditions "analogous to slavery." The top anti-slavery official in Brasilia, nation's capital, estimates the number of modern slaves at 50,000. More than 1,000 slave laborers were freed from a sugar cane plantation in 2007 by the Brazilian government, in the largest anti-slavery raid in modern times in Brazil.

In 2008, the Brazilian government freed 4,634 slaves in 133 separate criminal cases at 255 different locations. Freed slaves received a total compensation of £2.4 million."

I also gotta add since you seem to have a habit of quoting people and misinterpreting what they say that..... My logical assumptions of what I think the authorities would do in a 3rd world country were never mentioned. I said they should have contacted them. I didn't say what they could or couldn't do. Perhaps rather than trying to just attack what some peoples opinions are, you could read and understand their side of it.

I think the logic of posting this in SL was very simple: the woman in question is putatively meeting someone she met here.

For myself (and I suppose a much longer and more involved initial posting might have made this clearer), this was never about more than asking for people who may know her in-world whether she had spoken to them about her plans, where she was going, or whom she was meeting. It certainly never occurred to me that a sort of in-world search campaign would be launched, or even that people would be thinking about whether they might run across her in RL.

As for facts . . . we, we are sort of stymied there, in part because of the limitations imposed by the ToS (which is, in part, why I withheld her RL name) and a general lack of more details. Arguably, providing more facts might put her in more danger, or be playing into the hands of the hoaxer, if this IS a hoax. And again, more facts aren't really necessary given my initial aim here: Did you know Jenifer in-world? If so, did she talk to you about what she was planning to do?

With regard to the credibility of my initial information, this came directly from millay Freschi, who runs the Second Life Amnesty International-E (itself an accredited and recognized AI chapter):

http://amnestyinternational-e.org/default.aspx

She is also, in RL, the "Virtual Worlds Coordinator" for AI. If I could remember her RL name, I'd direct you to the part of the AI website that talks about her, but in the meantime:

http://www.rikomatic.com/blog/2009/07/amnesty-internationals-josh-rubenstein-speaking-in-second-life-on-thursday.html

I had a second source for this, a personal friend who is deeply engaged in AI and other associated organizations here and in RL. Both she and millay are pretty unimpeachable in terms of their integrity; but, as I suggested in earlier posting, AI is only as good as the info that they receive. I assume that this was vetted to some degree first before being sent out, but I can't guarantee it.

And I agree: if this has evolved into a discussion about online safety, that is certainly a VERY good thing.

I only post what you call negative comments to posts that are plain idiotic. I don't care how many countries you've visited.............I don't care how many people you know in Brazil. I know you are stating idiotic statements you cannot backup.........links to how impoverished or "third world" a country might be does not prove a stinking thing to anyone.

What makes you think third world countries don't have valid investigation procedures? If you are so confident of that why don't you go to one and commit a crime? See if they can find you. See if they have ways similar (or even better) to the ways crimes are investigated in your country.............United States, I presume?

Oh..........number of countries I've visited? France, Spain, Italy, England, Egypt, Isreal, Malta, Puerto Rico, Guatamala, Mexico (if I can count that), Canada (again if I can count that).....let me see, short visit to Viet Nam (4 hours ). Not as many as you........but are you impressed? I didn't think so..........well, neither am I.

So now I know you acutally believe what you posted.........that's sad too.

I think thats something that could have been done without a story like this as well. Its something people should consider at all times on the internet.

Problem is with a story like this. When its perceived as a hoax from many people then it kind of takes away from the fact that people should be more aware of their actions online. When people see something as a hoax, regardless of any legitimacy, it makes them relax their guard more. It ends up seeming less important because of the nature of the claims.

I don't disagree; that's certainly a danger. But we don't know that this IS a hoax. Frankly, I hope to hell that it is, or (better still), that it is susceptible to a much simpler and more innocent explanation.

The only thing sad is your reply and your lack of acknowledging that for sure one of the points i made was right.

It was a direct link showing slavery - duh.

I am pretty confident of the investigation procedures for a couple 3rd world countries from my time in the navy and having to follow up on sailors going unauthorized absence during drug interdiction missions in the region. What about you?

And we are not talking about "third world countrieS", i never doubted the investigation techniques of 3rd world countriesS, but specifically Brazil, a country I am more familiar with than you, as I showed by immediately proving at least one point in the previous post i made.

Commit a crime in 3rd world country and see if they can find me? Why don't you once again get off your lazy ass and investigate those crime statistics yourself instead of spouting off something.

I get what your game is Peggy. You are a bitter person that can do very little but 'reflexively disagree'.

You cannot disprove a single thing i said except by saying "you actually believe that and that is sad". If you have half the brain you show in the technical forum, then you will refute me statement for statement in my previous post.

So far, i am 1 for 1 - and what about you?

What is sad is disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing out of blind bitterness and anger - or is that you just living up to your self labeled title of "Brat"?

Oh, and if i count Canada and Mexico, that would make 16.

Ya Peggy, i have dealt with authorities in other countries during my time in the Navy, have you? No?? Thought so.

this whole thing is giving me a nervous shiver.

The net goes down often in many areas of Brazil giving people little more than 56k like connection on what should be normal broadband. The net in Brazil, and the investigation of internet crimes and such is nothing like the U.S..

- What does being fluent in SL have to do with being fluent in other forms of communication online?

I cannot respond to the rest of the points because those are assumptions you are making based on nothing but a rational of "i think that it should be that way"

Don't take it as an attack. If you do, that is your issue not mine as i did not mean it that way. Nor did i refer to anything you said in a way that personally denigrated you so i would hardly call it "an attack".

The forums are an awful medium for inferring what a persons intentions are based upon a single post. It was simply informative with a bit of laughter on my end.

LittleMe, you actually believe what you just wrote?? How sad. There ain't slavery in no stinkin Brazil!

And all this because I don't agree that the thread is helpful in any useful way? I've stated a few (many?) reasons why I believe what I believe. And you are arguing over has more experience in foriegn countries...........third world countries..............Brazil and it's lack of sophistication in what you consider proper human rights (or whatever it is you think Brazil lacs.........a little unclear on that point).

I have not ruled out the possibility of this missing person report being true. What I have attempted to point out is that this thread is doing exactly nothing to help on that front..........and until some hard facts can be produced with some concrete way anyone in SL can help it will continue to do exactly that NOTHING at all. If you cannot understand that and can only attack me for pointing out the obvious then, girl, you have a huge problem.

Oh, the Navy? Not going to impress a brat raised in a three generation Marine family. Sorry, squids are for kids.

I googled it as well and got nothing but links to a forum. I have checked missing persons as well as amber alerts and I find nothing in those officially.

Also, there is no mention of "where" she was to meet this someone from SL either. There is some fairly important bits of information missing from this. Including her inworld profile..
Strange isnt it?

I did find this:
http://alvisl.com/2009/09/08/sldramastorys/

anyone can be duped, they prey on your goodheart and willingness to help in anyway you can.

Well, the "where" I think is one of the key questions that her family would like answered.

There are discussions on some blogs as well (most of which seem to think that this is a hoax), but you are right to suggest that there is nothing out there that I have been able to find that is what one might call "official." She is from Brazil; I don't know how they do these things there. I don't know, for instance, if they have an amber alert system. I suppose it's conceivable that the family may also be trying more "casual" routes of info, before getting the police in Brazil or wherever involved.

But yes, I agree with what you are implying: it could well be a hoax. I just don't think there is enough evidence either way, and I'd rather (as I've said above) err on the side of trying to help, even at the cost of eventually perhaps being made to look foolish.