There is no real surprise here... for the past year or so, Linden Lab has slowly been cutting down on all sort of illegal activity in Second Life, as (several) governments are putting pressure on them to stop illegal or criminal activity inside their virtual world.

Sadly, there is really nothing else they could do. Linden Lab cannot become a "regulation authority" for "virtual banking" — they're merely a software house providing a hosting service. They simply have no mandate from Earth's government(s) to become a regulatory body, and so, they have to defer to the proper organisations which do that kind of regulation...

In this case, each country has its own regulatory body to act against fraudulent banking practices. People have for long been scammed out of their money because of the illegitimate 'banks' that pop up one day, accept huge amounts of cash — real money! — promising impossibly high interest rates, cashing out the money, and disappearing the next day. Several have naturally complained to Linden Lab, who obviously cannot act as "judge and jury", either — all issues between residents (users of Second Life) have to be dealt with by the residents themselves. But, obviously, some people have alerted their own authorities and pointing out the scammers to them. In some cases, this meant that Linden Lab was approached by the authorities and asked what was going on.

After a while, the situation clearly got out of hand — and Linden Lab had no choice but to simply forbit all in-world 'banking' (ie. accepting money transactions and paying interest on held money) unless one can provide a valid license from a local regulatory body that they're allowed to do that.

Obviously, none are licensed organisations. They'll all be gone by January, 22nd.

On the other hand, this obviously opens up the possibility of having real financial institutions opening up shop in Second Life, now that Linden Lab guarantees they'll keep the petty criminals out of it. The future should be very interesting to watch. It is, after all, a business opportunity worth a few hundreds of thousand US$ every day. This should at least get some attention from a few companies, mostly those doing personal credit or managing small-scale private investments...

It's time that Linden Lab starts shutting down the game, If it's causing too many problems to everyone and they can' fix that at all, then it's time that they started shutting down, and close it off for good till they start making another game with less problems then it's predessesor. The Game is already famous of many negative responces, and less positive responces about this game. The game is hated by it's real-money economy to virtual currency, the many idiots in the game, pornography, and usual graphics/gameplay that people don't like.

It's time that they start shutting down, to end their problems and end everyone's second sucky life.

I think these guys are toast.

They just admitted to accepting real-world liability for what goes on in the game.

Lawyers of the world line up.

Easy pickings here.

Originally posted by darkedone02

It's time that Linden Lab starts shutting down the game, If it's causing too many problems to everyone and they can' fix that at all, then it's time that they started shutting down, and close it off for good till they start making another game with less problems then it's predessesor. The Game is already famous of many negative responces, and less positive responces about this game. The game is hated by it's real-money economy to virtual currency, the many idiots in the game, pornography, and usual graphics/gameplay that people don't like.

It's time that they start shutting down, to end their problems and end everyone's second sucky life.

Maybe it's time for you to uninstall. If you find idiots, porn, and gameplay you don't care for, it's because you logged in, searched for it explicitly, and then hit teleport to that local. How is this LL's fault? Right, it's not their fault.

Edit: Oh hey, yeah, right below you, another internet lawyer...

I feel sorry for all the honest, independent bankers who may not have a degree in finance , work for Chase Manhattan, or are a CPA, who now are no longer able to do what their passion calls them to do.

The great thing about games such as Second Life is that they allowed people who weren't financial gurus, entertainers, paid escorts, and real-estate moguls to become these things; to have an impact in Lindenland.  Now, it seems that what you are in the world outside of Lindenland determines what roles are available to you within Lindenland.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  Will you have to be a licensed real-estate broker with real life credentials in order to transact in real estate?  Will you need a law degree to give out virtual advice?  Will you need to submit to a real life criminal background check and a real life drug test  to work in a virtual store?  Will you need to become part of the actor's union to act in a virtual drama?  All of these things seem possible, because the distinction between what is real and what is virtual has been, in my opinion,  too muddled for Lindenland to be a diversion from life.

aint it nice to be scammed? ahhh wonderful feeling huh. if you put yourself out there to be scammed you deserve it. but its nice to see Linden labs taking a active stance on preventing scams.