SL "Gambling Violation of TOS or Violation of BLOG?

I just did some googling around the internetgambling subject and came to the conclusion the BLOG (officialy known as TOS, or is it the other way around) is based on multinational laws, something that explains why Linden Lab employees go one step above the BLOG, BLOG clearly states that skill games are ok, but they're not...

Sudoku = banned

Because, The UK Gambling Act of 2005 (wich will come be taken to effect the coming september) concludes the following: "Even a game where there is an element of chance that could be overcome by superlative skill will be considered gambling." source: http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2007/07/follow-up-on-uk.html

Btw. if anyone that was running sl gambling biz, or is running sl escorting biz and is even close to the idea of moving to Hipihi, just forget about it... Hipihi will be sl just with even more restrictions: gambling = not ok, sex = not ok, virtual violence = not ok, political opinions = not ok, and so much more that is also not ok!

There ARE people in world who do not even know about the blog as the blog is not indicated in ANY information presented to a user at sign-up as a source of policy changes

The opening of the TOS includes the following

"This offer is conditioned on your agreement to all of the terms and conditions contained in the Terms of Service, including your compliance with the policies and terms linked to (by way of the provided URLs) from this Agreement...Linden Lab may amend this Agreement at any time in its sole discretion, effective upon posting the amended Agreement at the domain or subdomains of http://secondlife.com where the prior version of this Agreement was posted, or by communicating these changes through any written contact method we have established with you"

First this bit:

"including your compliance with the policies and terms linked to (by way of the provided URLs) from this Agreement"

So in order to be part of the policies and terms, they must be linked to from the TOS. Further down the TOS you will find the link http://secondlife.com/corporate/billing.php where you can find the billing polocies. So by agreeing to the TOS you are agreeing to comply with policies and terms on that page too.

However, neither the blog nor the knowledge base is not mentioned anywhere in the TOS, so by agreeing to the TOS you are NOT agreeing to comply with any policies or terms described in those locations!

Let's take this part:

"effective upon posting the amended Agreement at the domain or subdomains of http://secondlife.com where the prior version of this Agreement was posted, or by communicating these changes through any written contact method we have established with you"

Well LL has NOT posted an ammended Agreement where the prior Agreement was posted, so unless LL has explicitly established a written contact method with you and used that method to notify you of a change of TOS, then the TOS have not been changed!


Matthew

"Ignorance of the Blog is no excuse."

Had I wanted to attack you 'ad hom' I would have yielded to the temptation and said:

"You make me want to publish a list of web-repeaters on the SL forums so that China will deny us your delightful company here as well."

Thank you for sharing with us your plight, it was educational and depressing all at once in several ways. Perhaps at some point the blog will be available inside secondlife without having to depend upon blocked web services.