Terms of Service for Phase 2

Here's the proposed terms of service for our cooperative. I modeled it after the Linden ToS, omitting unnecessary information, replacing keywords, and adding sections. In the event that a section was borderline, I chose to keep it, so we could discuss it here. The important part is, that we clearly need to state that there are financial ramifications for failing to make payments, not following the rules, or acting maliciously.

Given what people are, it's only a matter of time until we bump into someone that we need to take land from and they in return threaten us with legal action. (I only need to think about a past incident with a problem member, to know it could happen.) This document handles those situations.

~Ulrika~

1.1 The Agreement. The Neualtenburg Projekt, Inc. ("Neualtenburg"
offers to allow you to participate in its land cooperative
("Cooperative" and in-world government ("Government" contained in
its collection of simulators ("City" in the multiplayer online
service "Second Life," solely conditioned on your agreement to all
of the terms and conditions contained in this Terms of Service
document (the "Agreement", your compliance with the posted City
Standards on the Neualtenburg website, and adherence to all in-world
laws, covenants, and guidelines. Your participation in the cooperative
constitutes your agreement to all such terms and conditions and
your agreement to comply with the City Standards. To confirm your
agreement, you should accept this Agreement. If you do not so agree,
you should decline this agreement, in which case you are prohibited
from joining the cooperative. Purchasing land ("Land" from the
cooperative will be considered acceptance of this Agreement. If
you have any questions regarding these terms and conditions or the
City Standards, please contact a Neualtenburg customer service
representative at [email]Neualtenburg@gmail.com[/email].


1.2 Changes to these Terms. Neualtenburg reserves the right to
change the address of its Website at any time for any or no reason.
Neualtenburg may amend this Agreement (including without limitation
the pricing terms set forth herein) and/or modify the City Standards
at any time in its sole discretion by posting the amended Agreement
or modified City Standards at http://www.Neualtenburg.org or another
current website designated by Neualtenburg or by communicating these
changes through the primary contact methods you have established
with us. Amendments to the Agreement will be effective after the
amended Agreement is posted. Modifications to the Community Standards
will be effective immediately upon posting. Your use of the City
or its Services after the effective date of any amendments to this
Agreement constitutes your agreement to the amendments. You agree
to check this Agreement and the Community Standards periodically
so you will be familiar with their content as amended or modified
from time to time.


1.3. Compliance with Linden Policy. Linden Research, Inc. ("Linden"
provides the multi-player online service "Second Life," through
which Neualtenburg offers its service. Acceptance of this agreement
constitutes your agreement to all Linden terms and conditions as
outlined in the Linden Community Standards and Linden Terms of
Service, which you can find at these links:
www.secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php and
www.secondlife.com/corporate/community.php. Terms and conditions
outlined in the Linden Community Standards and Linden Terms of
Service supercede all terms and conditions outlined in this Agreement.


2. Land

2.1 Eligibility You must purchase Land with Neualtenburg (your
"Membership" to participate in the cooperative. Standard Membership
is permitted only for adult individuals who are 18 years of age or
older. Those who meet these standards, open an account and maintain
their account in good standing are sometimes referred to in this
Agreement as "Citizens." By accepting this agreement in connection
with purchasing land you represent that you are an adult 18 years
of age or older.


2.2 Registration Obligations. You agree to provide true, accurate,
current and complete information about yourself as prompted by
either the registration form or Neualtenburg contact ("Registration
Data" and maintain and promptly update the Registration Data to
keep it true, accurate, current and complete. Neualtenburg reserves
all rights to vigorously pursue legal action against all persons
who misrepresent personal information or are otherwise untruthful
about their identity.


2.3 Membership. By owning Land you agree that even though you may
retain certain copyright or other intellectual property rights with
respect to works you create (your "Content," as defined in Section
6.1 below) while owning Land (as specified in Section 5.3 below),
you do not own any content on community Land (including without
limitation any data representing or embodying any or all of your
Content).


3. BILLING POLICIES

3.1 Membership Types and Charges. Membership is granted through a
one-time payment for a share of a Simulator and maintained by paying
recurring Land Use Fees determined by the location amount of Land held.


3.2 Payment Terms. Land use fees will be charged once each month
and will reflect the pro-rated amount of land held during the
previous month. Neualtenburg is not responsible for any charges
or expenses you incur resulting from charges billed by Neualtenburg
in accordance with these Terms of Service. By providing a credit
card number, PayPal account address, or an in-world Neualtenburg
account number, you authorize Neualtenburg to continue charging the
account for all charges due Neualtenburg until your Neualtenburg
membership is terminated by either you or Neualtenburg.


3.3. Billing Periods for Recurring Charges. Monthly accounts will
be billed monthly on the same date of each month (e.g. the 10th of
each month), beginning on the day you pay for your share of the
sim.



3.4 Cancellation, Refunds, Reactivation. Membership may be canceled
simply by selling your share of the Sim either to Neualtenburg or
to a Neualtenburg-approved third party unless your Membership or
this Agreement is suspended or terminated based on our belief that
you have violated or acted inconsistently with Section 5.1 of this
Agreement. THERE WILL BE NO REFUNDS FOR REPOSSESSED LAND.


3.5 Membership Retention. If your account is past due, any land
held by your Character in that account will be repossessed by the
Cooperative after 30 days. Any objects on that parcel of land will
be returned to you or deleted. You understand and agree that none
of the actions specified in this Section 3.5 will constitute a
violation of any copyright or other intellectual property rights
you may have in any of your Content, and for the avoidance of doubt
you hereby grant Neualtenburg the irrevocable and perpetual right
to take any or all of the actions specified in this Section 3.5
under the circumstances described.


4. LICENSE

4.1 License. Subject to the terms of this Agreement, Neualtenburg
grants to you a non-exclusive, limited, fully revocable license
("Deed" to use the Land during the time you have paid for but only
as long as you are in full compliance with these terms and conditions.
You may not charge any third party for using your Land unless by
prior agreement with the Cooperative. You may not modify, adapt,
reverse engineer (except as otherwise permitted by applicable law),
decompile or attempt to discover the source code of the Neualtenburg
vendor, ATM, rental boxes, or any other coded city infrastructure
("Infrastructure", or create any derivative works of the Infrastructure,
or otherwise use the Infrastructure except as expressly provided
in this Agreement.


You may not copy or distribute any of the materials associated with
Neualtenburg or its Infrastructure. Nothing in this Agreement, or
on the Neualtenburg site, shall be construed as granting you any
other rights or privileges of any kind with respect to the Land
other than your own. You acknowledge that your participation in
Neualtenburg does not make you a Neualtenburg employee and that you
do not expect to be compensated for such participation.


4.2 Internet Service. You acknowledge that Neualtenburg is not a
traditional game provider; instead Neualtenburg acts as a cooperative
allowing users to purchase shares of a sim for their personal use.
In addition, Neualtenburg may allow some users to alter the city
environment on a real-time basis. Neualtenburg is not involved in
actual communications between citizens or even in citizens'
interactions with the virtual world. As a result, Neualtenburg has
limited control over the quality, safety, morality, legality,
truthfulness or accuracy of various aspects of the city. As a
condition of access to Neualtenburg, you release Neualtenburg (and
Neualtenburg 's shareholders, partners, affiliates, directors,
officers, subsidiaries, employees, agents, suppliers, licensees,
distributors) from claims, demands and damages (actual and
consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected
and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in
any way connected with any dispute you have or claim to have with
one or more Participants. You further understand and agree that:
(a) Neualtenburg will have the right but not the obligation to
resolve disputes between Participants relating to the City; (b) to
the extent Neualtenburg elects to resolve such disputes, it will
do so in good faith based solely on the general rules and standards
of the City and will not make judgments regarding legal issues or
claims; (c) Neualtenburg 's resolution of such disputes will be
final with respect to the virtual world of the City but will have
no bearing on any federal-level (Linden-moderated) or real-world
legal disputes in which Participants may become involved; and (d)
you hereby release Neualtenburg (and Neualtenburg 's shareholders,
partners, affiliates, directors, officers, subsidiaries, employees,
agents, suppliers, licensees, distributors) from claims, demands
and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature,
known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and
undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with Neualtenburg
's resolution of disputes relating to the City.


4.3 All Data Is Temporary. When entering the City, you may accumulate
treasure, experience points, equipment, or other value or status
indicators and contribute to the environment ("Accumulated Status".
THIS DATA, AND ANY OTHER DATA RESIDING ON NEUALTENBURG'S SERVERS,
MAY BE RESET AT ANY TIME FOR ANY OR NO REASON. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE
THAT, NOTWITHSTANDING ANY COPYRIGHT OR OTHER RIGHTS YOU MAY HAVE
WITH RESPECT TO ITEMS YOU CREATE USING THE SERVICE, ALL OF YOUR
CONTENT AND ACCUMULATED STATUS HAS NO INTRINSIC CASH VALUE AND THAT
NEUALTENBURG DOES NOT ENDORSE, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS (SUBJECT TO
ANY UNDERLYING RIGHTS IN THE CONTENT), ANY VALUE, CASH OR OTHERWISE,
ATTRIBUTED TO CONTENT OR ACCUMULATED STATUS.


5. USER CONDUCT

5.1 Participant Conduct. In addition to abiding at all times by
the Community Standards, you agree that you shall not: (i) take any
action or upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit Content that
infringes or violates any third party rights; (ii) impersonate any
person or entity, including, but not limited to, a Neualtenburg
member, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation
with a person or entity; (iii) take any action or upload, post,
e-mail or otherwise transmit Content that violates any law or
regulation; (iv) take any action or upload, post, e-mail or otherwise
transmit Content as determined by Neualtenburg at its sole discretion
that is harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, causes tort,
defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy,
hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable; (v) take
any actions or upload, post, e-mail or otherwise transmit Content
that contains any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs,
cancelbots or other computer programming routines that are intended
to damage, detrimentally interfere with, surreptitiously intercept
or expropriate any system, data or personal information; (vi) take
any action or upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any Content
that would violate any right or duty under any law or under contractual
or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary
and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of
employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements); (vii)
upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any unsolicited or
unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam,"
"chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or any other form of solicitation;
(viii) interfere with or disrupt the City or servers or networks
connected to the City, or disobey any requirements, procedures,
policies or regulations of networks connected to the City; (ix)
attempt to gain access to any other user's Account or password; or
(x) "stalk" or otherwise harass another user. You agree that
Neualtenburg may take whatever steps it deems necessary to abridge,
or prevent behavior of any sort in the City in its sole discretion,
without notice to you.


5.2 Use as Provided. Neualtenburg has designed the City to be
experienced only as offered by Neualtenburg at its web site or
partner websites. You agree to use the City only as offered by
Neualtenburg at its web site or partner websites and not through
any other means. You further agree not to create or provide any
other means through which the City may be accessed or used. You
acknowledge that you do not have the right to create, publish,
distribute, create derivative works from or use any software programs,
utilities, applications, emulators or tools derived from or created
for the City, except that you may use the Land and Infrastructure
to the extent expressly permitted by this Agreement. You are
prohibited from taking any action that imposes an unreasonable or
disproportionately large load on Neualtenburg 's infrastructure.


5.3 Participant Content. Participants can create Content in
Neualtenburg in various forms. Neualtenburg acknowledges and agrees
that, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, including
without limitation the limited licenses granted by you to Neualtenburg
herein, you will retain any and all applicable copyright and/or
other intellectual property rights with respect to any Content you
create in the City. NOTWITHSTANDING THE FOREGOING, YOU UNDERSTAND
AND AGREE THAT BY SUBMITTING YOUR CONTENT TO ANY AREA OF THE SERVICE,
YOU AUTOMATICALLY GRANT (AND YOU REPRESENT AND WARRANT THAT YOU
HAVE THE RIGHT TO GRANT) TO NEUALTENBURG: (A) THE ROYALTY-FREE,
FULLY PAID-UP, PERPETUAL, IRREVOCABLE, NON-EXCLUSIVE RIGHT AND
LICENSE TO USE AND REPRODUCE (AND TO AUTHORIZE THIRD PARTIES TO USE
AND REPRODUCE) ANY OF YOUR CONTENT IN ANY OR ALL MEDIA FOR MARKETING
AND/OR PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICE; (B) THE
PERPETUAL AND IRREVOCABLE RIGHT TO DELETE ANY OR ALL OF YOUR CONTENT
FROM NEUALTENBURG'S SIMULATORS AND FROM THE SERVICE, WHETHER
INTENTIONALLY OR UNINTENTIONALLY, AND FOR ANY REASON OR NO REASON,
WITHOUT ANY LIABILITY OF ANY KIND TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PARTY; AND
(C) THE ROYALTY-FREE, FULLY PAID-UP, PERPETUAL, IRREVOCABLE,
NON-EXCLUSIVE RIGHT AND LICENSE TO COPY, ANALYZE AND USE ANY OF
YOUR CONTENT AS NEUALTENBURG MAY DEEM NECESSARY OR DESIRABLE FOR
PURPOSES OF DEBUGGING, TESTING AND/OR PROVIDING SUPPORT SERVICES
IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICE. YOU ALSO UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT
BY SUBMITTING YOUR CONTENT TO ANY AREA OF THE SERVICE, YOU AUTOMATICALLY
GRANT (OR YOU WARRANT THAT THE OWNER OF SUCH CONTENT HAS EXPRESSLY
GRANTED) TO NEUALTENBURG AND TO ALL OTHER SECOND LIFE PARTICIPANTS
A NON-EXCLUSIVE, WORLDWIDE, FULLY PAID-UP, TRANSFERABLE, IRREVOCABLE,
ROYALTY-FREE AND PERPETUAL LICENSE, UNDER ANY AND ALL PATENT RIGHTS
YOU MAY HAVE OR OBTAIN WITH RESPECT TO YOUR CONTENT, TO USE YOUR
CONTENT FOR ALL PURPOSES WITHIN THE SERVICE. YOU FURTHER AGREE THAT
YOU WILL NOT MAKE ANY CLAIMS AGAINST NEUALTENBURG OR AGAINST OTHER
SECOND LIFE PARTICIPANTS BASED ON ANY ALLEGATIONS THAT ANY ACTIVITIES
BY EITHER OF THE FOREGOING WITHIN THE SERVICE INFRINGE YOUR (OR
ANYONE ELSE'S) PATENT RIGHTS. YOU FURTHER UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT:
(I) YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR UNDERSTANDING ALL COPYRIGHT,
PATENT, TRADEMARK, TRADE SECRET AND OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OR
OTHER LAWS THAT MAY APPLY TO YOUR CONTENT HEREUNDER; (II) YOU ARE
SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR, AND LINDEN WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY IN
CONNECTION WITH, THE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES OF ANY ACTIONS OR FAILURES
TO ACT ON YOUR PART WHILE USING THE SERVICE, INCLUDING WITHOUT
LIMITATION ANY LEGAL CONSEQUENCES RELATING TO YOUR INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY RIGHTS; AND (III) LINDEN'S ACKNOWLEDGMENT HEREUNDER OF
YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN YOUR CONTENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE
A LEGAL OPINION OR LEGAL ADVICE, BUT IS INTENDED SOLELY AS AN
EXPRESSION OF NEUALTENBURG'S INTENTION NOT TO REQUIRE PARTICIPANTS
TO FOREGO THEIR NORMAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS WITH RESPECT
TO CONTENT THEY CREATE USING THE SERVICE, SUBJECT TO THE TERMS
SPECIFIED HEREIN.


5.4 Age. Membership is prohibited to users under 18 years of age.
Neualtenburg cannot absolutely control whether minors gain access
to the City and makes no representation that users are not minors.
Neualtenburg cannot ensure that other users will not provide Content
or access to Content that parents or guardians may find inappropriate
or that any user may find objectionable. You are prohibited from
conducting any activity that is not in compliance with the Community
Standards, local laws, and covenants.


6. CONTENT

6.1 Content. You acknowledge that: (i) by entering the City you
may have access to graphics, sound effects, music, video, audio,
animation, text and other creative output (collectively, "Content",
and (ii) Content may be provided under license by independent content
providers, including contributions from other Participants (all
such independent content providers, "Content Providers". Neualtenburg
does not pre-screen Content. YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT NEUALTENBURG
HAS THE RIGHT, BUT NOT THE OBLIGATION, TO REMOVE ANY CONTENT
(INCLUDING YOURS) IN WHOLE OR IN PART AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON
OR NO REASON, WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE AND WITH NO LIABILITY OF ANY
KIND.


6.2 Rights in Content. You acknowledge that Neualtenburg and other
Content Providers have rights in their respective Content under
copyright and other applicable laws and treaty provisions, that
they retain all such rights and that you accept full responsibility
and liability for your use of any Content in violation of any such
rights. You agree that your creation of Content is not in any way
based upon any expectation of compensation from Neualtenburg. You
shall indemnify and hold Neualtenburg harmless from and against any
claims by third parties that your Content infringes upon, violates
or misappropriates any of their intellectual property or proprietary
rights.


6.3 Textures and Environmental Content. During any period in which
your membership is in good standing, Neualtenburg gives you permission
to create still and/or moving pictures in-world which use or include
the "textures" and/or "environmental content" included in Neualtenburg 's
Content in the City.


6.4 Neualtenburg Treasury. You acknowledge that Neualtenburg
includes a component of in-world fictional banking. You agree that
Neualtenburg has the absolute right to manage, regulate, control,
modify and/or eliminate currency held in city accounts as it sees
fit in its sole discretion, and that Neualtenburg will have no
liability to you based on its exercise of such right.


7. INTERRUPTION OF OR CHANGES TO SERVICE

7.1 Termination. Neualtenburg has the right at any time for any
reason or no reason to suspend or terminate your Membership, terminate
this Agreement, and/or refuse any and all current or future use of
the City without notice or liability to you. Upon request from
Neualtenburg, you agree to delete any electronic or printed copies
of information or software programs that you received from Neualtenburg.
In the event that Neualtenburg suspends or terminates your Membership
or this Agreement, you understand and agree that: (a) you shall
receive no refund or exchange for any Land owned, and Land investments,
any Land Use Fees, any Linden Dollars (L$) that you hold in the
Bank or in the Treasury, or for anything else (other than potentially
receiving a refund for a portion of the initial land purchase price,
as described in this Section 7.1 below); (b) Neualtenburg will
attempt to sell at auction any land that you hold, and that any
money received from such auctions will be applied to satisfy your
existing obligations to Neualtenburg and others, as determined by
Neualtenburg in its sole discretion; and (c) in addition to any
money that you owe, you will be charged the lesser of (i) the
aggregate amount received from such auctions and (ii) one hundred
dollars ($100) (the Resale Fee) as reimbursement for costs associated
with the resale of land. Any money remaining from the sale of land
after the repayment of your obligations and the Resale Fee may be
returned to you. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no money will be
returned to you in the event that your Membership is terminated due
to suspicions of fraud, violations of other laws or regulations,
or deliberate disruptions to or interference with the City.


7.2 Interruption. Neualtenburg reserves the right to interrupt
access to the City with or without prior notice for any reason or
no reason. You agree that Neualtenburg will not be liable for any
interruption of access to the City, delay or failure to perform,
and understand that you shall not be entitled to any refunds of
fees for interruption of service or failure to perform.


7.3 Changes. Neualtenburg has the right at any time for any reason
or no reason to change and/or eliminate any aspect(s) of the City
as it sees fit in its sole discretion.


8. PRIVACY

8.1 Privacy Policy. The personal information you provide us during
registration is used for Neualtenburg 's internal purposes only.
Neualtenburg uses the information it collects to learn what you
like and to improve the City. Except as otherwise expressly permitted
by this Agreement or as otherwise authorized by you, Neualtenburg
will not give any of your personal information to any third party
without your express approval except as reasonably required by law,
as authorized by this provision or as necessary to protect Neualtenburg,
its agents and other Participants. Neualtenburg does not guarantee
the security of any of your private transmissions against unauthorized
or unlawful interception or access by third parties. Neualtenburg
can (and you authorize Neualtenburg to) disclose any information
about you to private entities, law enforcement agencies or government
officials, as Neualtenburg, in its sole discretion, believe necessary
or appropriate to investigate or resolve possible problems or
inquiries, or as otherwise required by law. You agree that
Neualtenburg may communicate with you via email and any similar
technology for any purpose relating to the City, the Neualtenburg
Software and any services or software which may in the future be
provided by Neualtenburg or on Neualtenburg 's behalf.


8.2 Neualtenburg Observation. You acknowledge and agree that
Neualtenburg , in its sole discretion, may track, record, observe
or follow any and all of your interactions within the City.


9. NO WARRANTY AND DISCLAIMER

9.1 Disclaimer. NEUALTENBURG PROVIDES THE CITY AND ALL OTHER
SERVICES STRICTLY ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, PROVIDED AT YOUR OWN RISK,
AND HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
KIND, WRITTEN OR ORAL, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING
WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF TITLE, NONINFRINGEMENT,
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Without limiting
the foregoing, Neualtenburg does not ensure continuous, error-free,
secure or virus-free operation of the City, the Infrastructure or
your Membership, and you understand that you shall not be entitled
to refunds for fees based on Neualtenburg 's failure to provide any
of the foregoing. Some states do not allow the disclaimer of implied
warranties, and to that extent, the foregoing disclaimer may not
apply to you.


10. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. N NO EVENT SHALL NEUALTENBURG OR ANY
OF ITS SHAREHOLDERS, PARTNERS, AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS,
SUBSIDIARIES, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, SUPPLIERS, LICENSEES OR DISTRIBUTORS
BE LIABLE TO YOU OR TO ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL,
CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT
LIMITATION ANY DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, ARISING (WHETHER IN CONTRACT,
TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE) OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH
THE CITY OR ITS SERVICES (INCLUDING ITS MODIFICATION OR TERMINATION),
THE INFRASTRUCTURE, YOUR MEMBERSHIP (INCLUDING ITS TERMINATION OR
SUSPENSION) OR THIS AGREEMENT, WHETHER OR NOT NEUALTENBURG MAY HAVE
BEEN ADVISED THAT ANY SUCH DAMAGES MIGHT OR COULD OCCUR AND
NOTWITHSTANDING THE FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY REMEDY. IN
ADDITION, IN NO EVENT WILL NEUALTENBURG 'S CUMULATIVE LIABILITY TO
YOU FOR DIRECT DAMAGES OF ANY KIND OR NATURE EXCEED TEN DOLLARS
(U.S. $10.00). Some states do not allow the foregoing limitations
of liability, so to the extent that it is impermissible, this
limitation may not apply to you. You agree that Neualtenburg cannot
be held responsible or liable for anything that occurs or results
from accessing the City.


11. INDEMNIFICATION. At Neualtenburg 's request, you agree to
defend, indemnify and hold harmless Neualtenburg, its shareholders,
partners, affiliates, directors, officers, subsidiaries, employees,
agents, suppliers, licensees, distributors, Content Providers, and
other Participants of the City, from all damages, liabilities,
claims and expenses, including without limitation attorneys' fees
and costs, arising from any breach of this Agreement by you, or
from your use of the City or Services.


12. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION. Our policy is to not respond to notices
of alleged copyright infringement. Questions concerning copyright
should be addressed to Linden Labs the company which provides our
supporting infrastructure. Neualtenburg is not affiliated with
Linden in any way. Please see Section 12 of Linden Labs corporate
Terms of Service for further instructions. The information can be
found at: http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php


13. GENERAL PROVISIONS. The rights and obligations of the parties
under this Agreement shall not be governed by the U.N. Convention
on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods; rather such rights
and obligations shall be governed by and construed under the laws
of the State of California , including its Uniform Commercial Code,
without reference to conflict of laws principles. Any dispute or
claim arising out of or in connection with this Agreement or the
performance, breach or termination thereof, shall be finally settled
by binding arbitration in San Francisco, California under the Rules
of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce by three
arbitrators appointed in accordance with said rules. Judgment on
the award rendered by the arbitrators may be entered in any court
having jurisdiction thereof. Notwithstanding the foregoing, either
party may apply to any court of competent jurisdiction for injunctive
relief or enforcement of this arbitration provision without breach
of this arbitration provision. Neualtenburg 's failure to act with
respect to a breach by you or others does not waive Neualtenburg
's right to act with respect to that breach or subsequent or similar
breaches. You may not assign or transfer this Agreement or your
rights hereunder, and any attempt to do so is void. This Agreement
sets forth the entire understanding and agreement between you and
Neualtenburg with respect to the subject matter hereof. Notwithstanding
anything else in this Agreement, no default, delay or failure to
perform on the part of Neualtenburg shall be considered a breach
of this Agreement if such default, delay or failure to perform is
shown to be due to causes beyond the reasonable control of Neualtenburg.
All notices given by you or required under this Agreement shall
be emailed to [email]Neualtenburg@gmail.com[/email].

1.1 The Agreement. How, exactly, does one accept the Agreement?

A "Neualtenburg Customer Service Representative"! Who's that?

2.2 Registration Obligations. What do we mean by this? We most definitely are not collecting RL personal information. Perhaps we should list the fields of data we wish to record.

3.2 Payment Terms. We are not in a position to bill to credit cards. The only automatically recurring payment process we have at this time is via the Paypal "Recurring Payments and Subscriptions" system. Other than that, an email will go to each citizen with the amount due, and a link to pay via Paypal or a reminder to initiate a Linden$ transaction in world.

We must have an in-world fee collection vendor. When a citizen pays in-world, there must be a record preserved. Ideally, the monthly fee email would be generated by that vendor.

I suggest that the first sentence read "Land use fees will be due once each month ..." The fee is due whether or not a "bill" or an "email" has been received by the citizen.

I suggest that a date be specified, i.e. the 21st of each month, after which, if payment is not received, the "account is past due".

4.2 Internet Service. This is interesting. Actually, the Lindens may have some problem here. Neualtenburg does not "allow users to purchase shares of a sim for their personal use." Rather, it allows access to shares of a sim (in the technical sense of allowing access to a private sim) and allows access to the land controls (the "About Land" and "Edit Land" controls) attached to a plot of that private sim. These are priviledges which the City is in a position to revoke; therefore, these are the priviledges which the Agreement provides.

4.3 All Data Is Temporary. Same issue. Neualtenburg has no servers. It is in the business of providing access.

5.3 Participant Content. You left a few "Lindens".

7.1 Termination. We have promoted the concept of City "Bonds" as a way of raising cash for city needs. For this to work, I feel it would be very important to guarantee that no matter what egregious or criminal activity you may have engaged in, and no matter what your current status with the City might be; Neualtenburg will honor those bonds.

8.1 Privacy Policy. See notes on section 2.2. It seems to me that the only personal information which we will collect will be SL name and email address. I think its reasonable to protect the privacy of the email address. Other than this, I would think this section is not necessary.

8.2 Neualtenburg Observation. Not necessary. We have no reason, and no ability, to do this.


Just a few notes. The document is mind-boggling! Thank you Ulrika!

Sudane

I know it's a strange way of phrasing things but I used LL's ToS as a template and that's how they did it. Later in the paragraph it states "Purchasing land ("Land" from the cooperative will be considered acceptance of this Agreement."

For the customer service rep, I was thinking of creating a shared gmail account called "Neualtenburg@gmail.com". Also, I could change the name from cust. serv. rep. to something else, perhaps city liaison.

I took this from the LL website. Right now the only information I'm collecting from potential citizens is their name and email address, although in regards to payment there is a chance we could collect the PayPal email, an attached name, and a credit card number (?). We could elaborate on it but LL doesn't. (I used the LL ToS as a template.)

I believe that a PayPal business account can accept payments from a credit card. Granted that the probability of someone paying that way is remote, I thought I'd keep it in the terms anyway.

We might be able to get around fee-collection vendors by going with our simpler bank and account paradigm. I'll spawn this off into another thread when you think we're ready to discuss the system openly.

Agreed. Shall I officially make it the 21st? Also, shall we prorate partial months? I can include that too.

Yes. I'll look at this one again.

Yes. I'll fix this.

Yup. I'll fix it.

I'd like to have an ethics clause in our contract that allows us to terminate a relationship with a partner if they're engaged in illegal activity. I think demanding ethical business practices is much more important than creating an image that the bonds are rock-solid investments.

OK.

Sure! We can track all sales, all bank transactions, record meeting minutes, and so on. I just wanted to make that clear.

Oops. I have to run right now. I'll comment more later.

~Ulrika~

I feel that it's pretty clear that we will not pursue the same level of personal information that LL does. After all, they have our real names, credit card info, and all. Why don't we start with data collection that includes only the SL name and email address. If we find that we actually need more info, we can approve that as a group. I strongly suspect that we won't.


Let's discuss.


Great. The 21st will work fine. I honestly don't think we need to pro-rate. I'll be so happy to have fellow citizens, I'd be happy to offer the first part-month for free .



I feel there's no contradiction between the two. We should CERTAINLY have clauses in the arrangement that allow us to terminate. I'm sure there will be lots of reasons. My point is simply that if that individual has bought bonds in the City, that those bonds are not re-possessed; that the city still owes that individual that principal and that interest at the end of the term of that bond. IF the individual has actually defrauded the City, and caused the City financial loss, or any loss for which a dollar value can be assigned, then there can be some sort of separate proceeding where the issue of whether damages are assessed against that individual can be determined. If they are, then I feel is reasonable to hold that individuals money in escrow against that judgment. If they don't pay, then we collect as much as we can out of the bond principal and interest that we hold.

That's certainly fair. But we must respect whose money is whose. Money invested in the City as bonds (technically, money loaned to the City) belongs to that individual, no matter how nasty they might be. And the obligation to collect the agreed interest is also a right of that individual, regardless of their behavior (subject to the suggested proceedings).

Oops. Yes, you're right. I guess I just don't like the way the Lindens word that. I feel it would be good to convey actual rights of privacy, even while we note the various possible exceptions.

Sudane

I think you're right. I'll rephrase that section so it doesn't sound so invasive.

No problem. I'll put that in.

Why is the individual's right to collect the principal plus interest not subordinate to ethical behavior? Did the Swiss just not pay $1.25 billion in reparations for laundering Nazi money? It seems like we could set a precedent in our new virtual world by stating that ill-gotten goods are not allowed in our system and proven criminal activity could lead to the loss of ones assets, owned either in land, bonds, and savings.

With that said, I recognize that you are more experienced in fiscal matters than I am. Aside from creating confidence in an institution, what other reasons are there to honor bonds even in the face of criminal activity?

I'll touch that entry up a bit.


I'll have all these changes in place in a day or so. I'll color code the modified sections in the original post so we can track changes and comment again.

~Ulrika~

Very interesting question. Gets to the very heart of the business of money.

As with everything in life, there are subjects which seem clearly different, but, when it comes down to real life, get very merged and muddled together. Money and group values (politics) are surely two such subjects.

If two persons in a group have two different opinions about issues which affect the group, they will assert those opinions as "values" positions, and, normally, form two political parties. Or something like that. The system of the group (Neualtenburg, for example) has provision for the orderly expression of differing "values" positions.

Those differences could get extreme, causing the advocates of one position to consider extreme action. The two "parties" could even (heaven forbid!) accuse each other of un-ethical behavior.

Now, politically, this situation could be resolved. The party with the force of public opinion behind it could dominate, the minority opinion could leave; any number of resolutions. The probable final result of all the events would be that one side would prevail, but that both sides would maintain they were right.

The system of using money, on the other hand, can't be subject to differing opinions. If a person steals money, then a system in place must determine that, and see that the money is transfered back to its "owner". That's a "value" issue, for sure. But it's a "value" issue focussed around the "value" system of money. Violators of the money "value" system have got to be identified by a suitable, otherwise impartial, system, and subject to the appropriate money penalties. A murderer, on the other hand (to take a random example) has not violated a money issue. A "court of law" might determine that that person must pay money reparations, but that's fundamentally because you can't bring a dead person back to life.

Bottom line. A banker has got to be neutral on matters of "values". Legislators deal with values. Judges dispense value determinations. Bankers exchange money according to strict rules of ownership.

The Swiss banks were made to pay reparations for the very reason that they didn't do their "banking" jobs. The money was deposited into their accounts by Jewish people who felt it would be safe there, regardless of what might happen in the political disaster of Germany. The Swiss bankers caved. They violated the "rules of money". They used the funds from the Jewish families, most of whom were by that time dead, to buy their independence from the Nazis. And they were finally caught and made to pay "reparations", which were really just a partial payback of money to families who owned it in the first place.

I'm not against establishing a system of justice where, should it be proven that one individual has stolen money from another, or, should it be proven that one person has caused another harm that an impartial group determines requires that the offender pay to the offended a certain amount; that loans from that offender held by the City be used to satisfy that penalty.

But such actions by the dominant group must be performed to the very highest standard of justice, a standard which at this point I feel we're not quite ready to implement. Any determination of guilt by some lesser standard I feel should be considered a difference of opinion, and not be cause for a person to lose money which they have deposited, in good faith, with the City of Neualtenburg.

Sudane

While on a separate thread I posted the "Neualtenburg National Holiday Commemoration" event (yes, today is May, 22nd!) I thought I'd finally review a bit the "Neualtenburg ToS"

Overall, I'm very impressed with your work and suggestions - although I have also criticized some issues on the "original" LL ToS. I expect them to do a better work next time they do a revision of it Thus, it looks to me that since the source is the same, the problems are kept...

My first problem with the Linden ToS is that "land" is never properly defined. "Land" makes sense for RL - we all know what it is instinctively. In terms of SL, however, this is not so obvious. It "looks" like RL land, but it isn't.

So, I suggest the following "definition" of "land": "Land", in respect to the following ToS, defines the abstract resource of sharing computer resources of Linden Lab ("the grid", allowing you to design and build 3D content, which is held at LL's servers as persistent storage. Content is defined as the number of "3D drawing primitives" you're allowed to store in a certain amount of land. The amount of content you are currently allowed is tied to the virtual size of the land at a fixed rate, defined by Linden Labs (currently, 117 primitives per block of 512 m^2).

Perhaps a few more phrases are necessary - but the point is, people should pretty much know what exactly they're buying

The second issue has to do with "Citizenship". We've discussed this a bit, and Phase II, unlike Phase I, will demand citizens to own land in Neualtenburg, and vice-versa - if you own land, you're a citizen. Renting, if I remember correctly, will not be used by the City (although I expect some citizens will rent out land for others, and we should take that in account...), but "tourists" (visitors to the city) will have to abide by Neualtenburg's laws and rulings, and been granted every right (except for voting/being elected) while inside the Neualtenburg sim.

This should be stated more firmly than: "2.1 [...]Those who meet these standards, open an account and maintain their account in good standing are sometimes referred to in this Agreement as "Citizens."[...]". Basically, if you own land, and even if you don't have your account in "good standing", you're still a Citizen, and bound to abide by the laws of Neualtenburg I also propose to delete the word "sometimes" from the above statement.

Also, there is not a "definition" of "community land". This is important for the definition of "Membership" (ownership of IP?) in 2.3. I'm not sure why this section is called "Membership". I assume that the role of this section is that you may own land which is "community land", and while you have a deed stating that the land is "yours", the content on top of it is part of the community - this would apply to Kirche, Schloss, Spital, eventually Museum, etc. Is that the purpose of this section? If not, I have read it, but not understood it

Thus, "membership" is not clearly defined. I propose to replace it by the status of "Citizenship", defining it as ownership of a deed granting you the use of land in Neualtenburg according to this ToS. Also, this means that the Constitution should take the revised "status" of Citizenship into account.

"You may not charge any third party for using your Land unless by
prior agreement with the Cooperative." Hmm. Are you sure you want to enforce this? This is an open question, I'm not sure of it myself. I only think that it will be pretty hard to enforce. How do you know that someone sitting on a citizen's plot and doing building there is or isn't paying "rent"? By secret agreement between the Citizen and the "illegal rentee", he/she may by forced into secrecy or something about what he/she is doing there. The worse bit of this is that technically this person is not a "citizen", but an "illegal alien", and hard to be subjected to any laws and rulings in Neualtenburg.

The alternative, of course, is: "Third parties using your Land will be subject to this very same ToS, except for the billing part, and been given 'Immigrant Status' in Neualtenburg - all rights and duties of a Citizen, except for voting ability, being able to be elected or appointed to Government positions, or having land ownership in the Cooperative". So this means that you can do any kind of schemes with illegal rentees, but they'll be subjected to all rules that we set up.

The rest of the part - related to billing and finantials - has been thoroughly commented by you both, so I won't need to go over it

Perhaps a few clarifications. "Linden Lab" should be consistently named on the whole document (sometimes it's called "Linden"; sometimes, "Linden Labs". It should be stated that "Second Life" and "Linden Lab" are registered trademarks of the latter and no infrigement of copyright is intended when mentioning them (the Lindens always ask us to put that on websites).

Also, for several reasons, I don't think we should have the "Neualtenburg Projekt, Inc." designation anywhere. "Neualtenburger Projekt" is fine. The "inc." bit may lead people to believe we have RL incorporation, although we haven't - we have it in SL, to an extent (in some countries, cooperatives cannot be incorporated, and the content of the ToS would be weird).

Whew. I think that's all so far. Let me get ready for the "state address" and "Town Hall" meeting, before we start the RA's meeting afterwards

Ah, just forgot to comment a bit on "ethics". I just wanted to add that I must agree with Sudane. You're entitled to a return of your bonds in some sort, even if you use that for criminal uses - either under Neualtenburg's Constitution, Law System, rules and disposition; the ToS governing the land deed; the LL ToS and Community Rules; or Californian, US, or International Law

The only way you "lose" the claim on your money is if the Neualtenburg legal system demands an indemnification from a party judged and found guilty, either at our Court system (ie. the Philosophical Branch) or higher up. Citizens are also residents of SL and may appeal to LL as a higher court; and from there, go all the way up the RL courts, if they feel our judgment was inapropriate. However, I also think that things never will go that far - we may draw upon a Linden to sit in the Neualtenburger Court if we come to that point, and make sure that we have a common resolution if the case is really serious.

Example: Citizen engages in SL harassment or abuse, using its land as a "base" for something. This violates the Neualtenburg ToS, so the citizen is expelled, and we agree (or not) to pay back the bond immediatly. If we don't, the individual is still entitled to the repayment if he/she wishes. Neualtenburg will probably help out the victim to file an abuse report, and submit to LL the proceedings of the court decision. It's up to the Lindens to ignore, suspend, or ban the user. In the latter, we may return the money back to him/her, minus some compensation for the victims of harassment, fines and the judicial troubles (meaning: we Neualtenburgers have lost our precious time in judging this guy). But eventually he/she'll get almost all his money back. It will be morally unfair for Neualtenburg to use this money for our own purpose. We should return it (or most of it) as soon as possible.

But I'm certainly open to discuss this further, as Sudane suggested.