Whats your thoughts on this suggestion ?

"Contact your local and federal government, or similar authorities. File complaints, ask questions, point out that Linden Lab is invading your privacy and attempting to force you to age verify for a GAME with your delicate data, such as SSN, etc., Also, tell them that Linden Lab is using a questionable third party verifier, Aristotle. From what I've gleaned through research, Aristotle is on thin ice legally anyway." this is a quote from Kilala Yazimoto that was sent out to members of an group in SL re the new rules being imposed in SL.

My take on this part of his suggestion is if you contact the government and complain like they have said to you will end up getting SL closed, is that what you want?
LL is not forcing you , you have a choice verify or not. If it is a game then take your ball and go home. If you have put money into SL like many of us have then you need to decide is it worth it? If you dont feel it is then either sell up or cut your losses.
I am all in favour of age verification you had to give CC details when you joined way back when i signed up and i wished they never stopped it.
I was verified way back with CC and when LL said it would not be enough i verified with Aristotle and have had no spam or odd letters come to me in the mail.
Before I came to SL i was in another chat program that was based in Germany, in that program you had 10 days free membership and could go to any place that the owner had not banned new members from. After 10 days you were locked to your home ( home was not lavish like in SL) you could not have visitors. To have access to the program you had to pay membership so a CC was needed and most joined up.

I am aware age verification is not 100% but then same in RL some children get into pubs under age with false IDs if this is the case the club is not responsible. I know there are kids in SL had one message me after something i wrote in the forum seems to hit a nerve with him but, If ppl have to verify and they are kids who steal/borrow someones card then they are breaking the law.
To me LL own SL its their property they allow us in there, they can choose to change the rules I choose if I want to follow those rules or leave.

Unless a government representative happens to be an SL resident or they have a particular bee in their bonnet about that the 'sinfulness' of virtual worlds, they are likely to be totally disinterested in adults wanting them to intervene over what, to them, is a computer game.

All I have to say is Get off the cross, someone else needs the wood...

Facts

I am one of the businesses whos plans are altered completely by this decision.

I am also verified Aristotle and CC wise

I CHOOSE to change my business plan to a completely PG arrangement.

To many of us who have been around the grid a number of years there is one truth in SL. You adapt or you quit.

This is just one more "crises" most of the most vocal will adapt. A very few will quit and actually stay gone.

One thing that is an undeniable fact proven over and over to me through my years in SL is that once LL has made up its mind to do something. The only good their "talks" with us the residents does is help them find small details they overlooked. There will be no real changes to their plans except possibly to tighten them up. As long as there is legal noise to keep them on thier path and a fresh supply of new residents coming in they really dont give a crap how many of us pack it in.

Unfortunately the reason Linden Labs is doing this all is because the Government has laws coming up for vote this fall that will REQUIRE them to do all this stuff they are doing should that law pass. Thus, writing the government to complain about LL invading privacy is rather like complaining to the Government about your local grocery store for towing you from a Handicapped Parking spot when you don't have a handicap... they are required by the government to do just that, so they don't care if you don't like it - it's the law. (Or in this case - it very well could be the law - so they are just getting ready for it so they can take their time and try to get it right rather than having to rush and do it all in a week and make things even worse).

Your speaking the truth here.

It has been said time and time again that LL is an US based company it must follow what the law say's and I know some will point out that they could get around some of the mess by basing there operations out of another country, but honestly LL is just not going to packup and move just to accommodate those who think they should, Now I know they plan on putting up some more server farms around the world? BUT that still will not help them get around the US based laws, because they are a registered US Company so everything done no matter where the servers are located will always be based on US law.

Do you have the HR or SR numbers for these bills? Links to the texts as they've been introduced into Congress?

Yes this. And it's no different in RL either.

Linden Lab are required to follow whatever laws are imposed upon them, and are free to impose whatever additional terms and conditions they choose. We voluntarily agree to these terms and conditions every time we install their software, every time we log in. If the T&Cs change they ask you again on login "Do you accept? Y/N?"

Everyone has the right to hit "N", and cease to do business with them.

It's amazing what people will whine about when they get their virtual spankings reduced or have to *gasp* pay for 'em.

When we started, we had to pay a one time fee of 9.99 USD to create an account. We also had to give LL some information such as address, RL name and such. Standard fair for other MMO's to be completely honest.

Then came 06/06/06, where someone got the wild idea of "Hey, lets get our account numbers past 1 million," and decided the best and fastest way was to just remove any fees or need to verify. This was over the protests of the current residents and there were NO tools to handle the new revolving door of griefers and RL kids who just kept creating accounts. This also gave rise to the miss use of bots, because hey, now you can create an unlimited number of them!

Didn't help that around this time, LL also decided to court the corporate bigwigs to be the "First to open X in a virtual world!" Which drew a lot of attention, sure, but it also drew reporters look for a juicy story to smack this "not remotely for kids," world down with.

*sighs* So, they created part of the mess they are in and now Congress is going to stick it's nose in too. We should just be grateful that LL hasn't decided to do away with the XXX, given the past track record.

Oh, BTW, this is wrong. LL is not requiring any of this information to register, or use SL. Aristotle age verification is one of the options if you want to access the adult areas in SL.

No one is being forced to use it.

Kilala Yazimoto sounds like an idjit.

Tell him/her to leave our SL alone!

This was not my quote Milla it is from the group "I am adult content "

You can verify or not simple choice

I should point out that this practice, of requiring users to accept a changed set of T&Cs at any moment on penalty of losing their entire investment in the world, has been considered of dubious legality at least once - and actually resulted in the TOS being ruled unenforceable in the Bragg vs. LL case.

But you don't have to lose your entire investment. If you are unhappy with LL and wish to leave, you can sell your land , business, and as much of your stuff as possible. You may not get it all back, but no "investment" is guaranteed to make a profit anyway. Bragg was different because when he got caught scamming, LL confiscated his assets. I am guessing that puts a different spin on the legal issues.

This. And deespite their questionable reputation, Aristotle has been widely used by the political establishment in this country for quite some time, so I'd guess that may actually be a mark in LL's favor as far as the G is concerned.

I'll change the attribution on the quote, sorry about that.

I wonder if I could start a business that pays me each time we predict doom and gloom in SL? OMG it happens several times a year, LL makes a business decision and many here drag out posters, signs and groups screaming the sky is falling, the sky is falling.

Ive seen it for years here and never has the sky fallen. You either adapt or get out of the way.

If you refuse to accept the new TOS, you can't log in, which means you can't sell anything.

Although you're right that Bragg's win was probably due to other circumstances, the ruling that the SL TOS is a contract of adhesion (as with many, many, TOSs and EULAs) does stand.

He he, OK, I'll give you that point.

Nobody is FORCING anyone to do anything.

If you ever feel you are being "forced" to do something in SL, there is a red X at the upper right of the screen that will stop the "force" being used against you.