The person who submitted the complaint is the person who should be suspended for 1 day for being ignorant and dumb along with a spanking of the Linden who sanctioned the banning action.

I would have thought the tact to take would be to explain that Brooklyn Is Watching is one model of how corporate business would work in SL and that Selavy Oh being either an ‘employee’ in a lose term or even a ‘valued customer’ doing exactly what was expected of her on the sim and being banned for it is an example of gross incompetence on behalf of Linden Labs and under such conditions corporate business is sure to fail.

An e-mail to M Linden to this effect should get some reaction, for it is a very good example on how LL is fucking themselves over.

Left by Dekka Raymaker on October 7th, 2008

elro Tuominen recently had some artworks returned with a comment that he’s very creative but must learn to use less sim resources in his work. One almost wonders if some genius at LL has resolved to raise grid stability by returning art. If a pattern of this develops, and 2 incidents is not yet a pattern, we should start organising a response.

Left by Alberik Rotaru on October 7th, 2008

I think the whole LL way to how they repsond to virtual art in general needs to be rethinked. The way they handle abuse is more like how an isp handles abuse(which doesn’t suprise me I’ve worked in an isp abuse dept) they don’t see the sitution for what it was. All they see is the person who reported it saying OMG I WAS ATTACKED and then they just supend her.

Alberik - Was elros stuff returned at burning life or just on his mainland parcel I’m curious to know.

Left by Klink on October 7th, 2008

Alberik states above that there have been “2 incidents”, if only that were the case, this kind of ignorance and in many cases blatant censorship, has been happening for years.

I talked a lot about this incident to Selavy in private already but there is a discussion in SL later today that is of relevance and might be worth attending. Amy Freelunch knows this organization, the Virtual Coalition Against Censorship, and they may be able to help or at least bring attention to yet another stupid, ill-informed decision by LL that infringes artistic freedom and expression:

Libertad Lane: The Virtual Coalition Against Censorship is hosting a discussion on censorship in Second Life, especially as concerns child avatars (the SL5B exhibition, for instance, banned images where child and adult avatars appeared together). The discussion is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct 7, 7pm SLT in at the VCAC pavilion on Commonwealth 3 (103, 81). Please come!

Left by Arahan Claveau on October 7th, 2008

I’d love to come, but 7pm SLT is 4am GMT I doubt I’ll be there, any chance of a more friendly European time too?

Left by Dekka Raymaker on October 7th, 2008

Yes I’m in London so same dilemma. They will probably be doing other discussions in the future, I’ll try and find out if there is a group or something we can join.

Left by Arahan Claveau on October 7th, 2008

I posted about this incident on the SL forums, the title I used is ‘artistic’ license on my part

The replies are on the whole negative to the Lindens actions, which is good. The forum link is: http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=285881&page=1&pp=15

Left by Dekka Raymaker on October 7th, 2008

You guys seem much more “in-the-know” about this incident than anyone else. The elros-Selavy trend is very disturbing. Underneath there is this mentality that Art should be beholden to the same rules of economy imposed by resource nazis and SL TOS purists.

This is engineer thinking.

Just as it is in the material world, the job of art is often not to fit comfortably into the world, but to push the boundaries. This means the artist sometimes has an obligation to challenge LL to do better, to expand scope and stability of services. We are best suited to do so.

There are two arguments here really. Resources and behavior. Like elros I am ragged on all the time for my policy of a non-engineering view of resources. I believe that Art is too important to the world to be stuffed into this rigor.

The second issue is more murky however, and intervention into another person’s enjoyment of the SL world should be governed by the conscience of the artist making things. The terms of service loosely defined, forbid interventions that “force” someone’s avatar to do things. Forcing someone’s avatar could be what passes for assault inside a space where physical battery is not possible.

So don’t be too quick to pick a battle with LL, who try desperately to remain as neutral and fair as any colonial power can be. They could be much more heavy handed than they are.

Just like in the material world, to make art that treads the line of assault might be interesting to the artist and critic, but it also might not be fun for some viewers. There are a WIDE range of viewers out there! (this diversity is healthy)

Part of the fun of creating challenging art is crossing over this line and pushing boundaries. But the other part of the reality is the necessity of facing the consequence of making this challenging work and explaining or saying sorry when you piss someone off. (trust an old coyote on this one!)

Much trouble might be avoided with clever didactic signage or an obvious escape button….

SOLIDARITY with elros and Selavy!

DC

Left by DC Spensley on October 7th, 2008

Foucault insisted that truth is always a coefficient of “regimes of power.” Witness a perfect example of such power. Sincerely , Penumbra Carter

Left by Pen Carter on October 7th, 2008

Well as Jay hasn’t explained the background I’ll copy the blog post I made over at Arthole -

Dear Selavy Oh,

This email is notification of action regarding your Second Life account, Selavy Oh, for violation of the Second Life Terms of Service or Community Standards. The violation in question occurred on October 4, 2008 in the region of Popcha.

Violation: Community Standards: Assault, Scripted Objects

Creating scripted objects which in any way singularly or persistently target another Resident in a way objectionable to the targeted Resident in a Safe Area or scripting object that prevent other Residents from entering or participating in damage-enabled areas.

Action:
As a result of this violation, your Second Life account is being temporarily suspended for a period of 1 days. It will return to active status on Sunday, Oct 05, 2008.

To summarise; Selavy had a chain suspended between the two towers at Brooklyn is Watching, it was scripted to swing when flown into and then would eventually break and reassemble. The chain broke and fell onto someone’s avatar, that person messaged Selavy, who was not online, they then filed an abuse report which resulted in the one day suspension.

According to Selavy; “the chain breaks because of flaws in Linden Lab’s physics engine. the parts of the chain are scripted for self-repair. So I was banned on a private sim because I put a harmless script in a physical prim which fell on someone’s avatar due to a bug in Linden’s software”.

Selavy has appealed the decision and is awaiting a response.

Left by Arahan Claveau on October 7th, 2008

In SL the king has no head to cut off….

Ever notice the similarity between SL and Foucault’s Panopticon? SL is a new kind of colonialism that carefully builds on the lessons and technologies of the past.

Engineers are the soldiers/guards of the new, nuanced king/prison, seeking to find a comfortable relationship with the state, artists by definition have no such comfort and often run afoul of the established order and have THEIR heads chopped off as a proxy for the king.

Desert Critter

Left by DC Spensley on October 7th, 2008

thank you all! it’s fantastic to have all that support. it was just one day of being banned, but it should make us reconsider what we’re doing, and whether it is wise to do it in Second Life.

art was never just enjoyment. if i look at some parts of the Isenheim Altar by Grünewald, i’m still horrified, even though that was created 500 years ago. not to talk about what you can see and experience nowadays in every decent museum of contemporary art (take, for example, work by the Chapman brothers).

if we push avatars (not real people!) in a feeble attempt to play with the immersion of our viewers, hey, come on, that’s completely harmless!
but if the company providing the platform for our work regards this as being harmful for their business, then we should reconsider whether this is the proper platform for our work.
would Mathias Grünewald have painted on a canvas that could be taken back by the company for not adhering to the TOS?

Left by selavy on October 7th, 2008

Selavy, does this mean you are considering taking up chess? Yes,this institution might give me St. Anthony’s Fire, but, I will seek treatment. There could be nothing worse than shelling out Institutional Contemporary Avant-Garde.

Nail of the head Desert Critter.
Sincerely,
Penumbra Carter

Left by Pen Carter on October 7th, 2008

Selavy,

Yes. You should keep working in SL because we must do our art. SL is not another world or a second life really. It is our one life through another lens. It is a frontier where we get to see into the heart of our desires, free of the bonds of gender, race, and family name.

We ARE hearts and minds here.

Justice is spotty on the frontier and the colonial power that controls SL is no different than any other when push comes to shove.

But we colonists are different, and have the combined agency to influence the terms of service of Second Life. We have the means and the motivation to come together and demand representation and the education and insight to establish a brand new pattern.

Why should your individual rights disappear when you log on to a virtual world? Every artist should stand on notice that SL IS NOT A DEMOCRACY. Your rights to things like ownership of your cultural production and free expression of your opinion are all subject to the whim of a colonial power with its own agenda.

I personally admire how well LL manages what can only be called absolute power, even though I am critical of it on principle and think it needs work. However as we become more serious about our work here, it becomes clear that SL is NOT a game and that there are real issues at stake.

Eventually the frontier will become a city. What kind of city will we make? One where we have rights or one where we do not?

If SL is a world made entirely by its residents, this must include the terms of service and HAVE OUR SAY in the document that governs all activity in this simulated space, that becomes a place when we are here together.

Thanks for your endorsement Pen.
And keep on truckin’ Sel.

Deviant Caravan

Left by DC Spensley on October 7th, 2008

“We ARE hearts…”

Great post DC, agree fully. And Selavy, keep on making great art.

Left by Dekka Raymaker on October 7th, 2008

*I tried to attend the censorship discussion in SL but it said “Invalid location (Offline)”. No reply from Libertad Lane either. It is past 4am here now so I waited up for nothing. Goodnight!

Left by Arahan Claveau on October 7th, 2008

I wouldn’t have been able to attend the censorship discussion anyway; I was unfortunately at work. Hopefully they will reschedule it, I’d like to attend. I think anyone who is serious about art should go as well.

I am too tired and brain-dead to add anything articulate to this conversation, but I wanted to be on record for at least contributing something to the anti-censorship discussion. Freedom of expression is an issue that’s HUGELY important to me, one I feel should be a basic human right.

Selavy, hang in there; glad to know the suspension was only one day — but it never should have happened at all. These incidents cannot be ignored and tolerated. I think as artists, we must show some solidarity when issues of censorship arise.

Left by nebulosus.severine on October 8th, 2008

thank you all again for the encouraging posts!

i guess there’s still some time until i switch to chess, but it’s certainly an alternative

just to let you know: linden lab has reacted, i’ve posted their response on my flickr page and in the forum thread (see link in dekka’s post above!). no apology, but my account is clean again.

Left by selavy on October 8th, 2008

I wish I could respond to this more deeply, but just can’t - I’m in a writing crunch elsewhere.

I called the media in on last year’s Burning Life on the “Shower Nude” (LL had called in censored blocks, claiming a nude was outside the bounds of a PG sim). LL needs to spend time dealing with its social management.

By and large DC (who did not show for our opening in San Francisco despite my best efforts) are in agreement, before the theoryspeak kicks in.

The problem is that it sounds like Linden is colonizing its inhabitants, when no one twisted our arms to sign up. This is why I, and many others are looking at all manners of how to free up the user of SL-like virtual worlds. More on this if you want.

Foucault’s panopticon is similar to McLuhan’s Global Village (everyone is into everyone else’s business) - There was an interesting public conversation I had with a young woman in the late 90’s at the Cleveland Center Contemporary Art, where she said that the Internet is the new egalitarian, grass roots space where we can all be free and equal.

That is until corporate or national interests deem your speech inappropriate, in violation of AUP’s TOS’s etc. I’ve been involved in projects that have caused the subjects of “free speech” to go upstream THREE levels and yank everyone downstream (Including online entities for PS1, ArtForum, and many others)…

It just says that we live in a tragedy of the commons in which we’ve let ourselves be gradually bought out over the past couple to few decades. We live in a world where there is not such thing as public space (or very little of it), and in private space, Constitutional rights do not apply.

Some of this thought is in my essay “Grasping @ Bits - Art and Intellectual Control” that I updated a couple years ago, but was created for Ars Electronica 2000.

http://www.voyd.com/gab

Would we like Linden to be more consistent, or more contiguous with broader society? I think so.

I would hate to see if they got hold of Gaz’ can…

Some of the arguments here are a bit contradictory, but I agree that Linden needs to be more responsible. Conversely, we also need to be aware that we plugged ourselves into The Matrix - we were not abducted and forced.

I won’t pick at details - I agree that censorship in SL is inconsistent, stilted, and largely unnecessary. It’s the hypersensitivity to “griefing” that gets people banned without any discussion. It’s an ongoing issue.

I would think that perhaps Boris could call Concierge and have a discussion regarding this.

It’s a crazy october; lots happening in SL…

Left by patlichty on October 8th, 2008

Whilst it is true we sign away virtually (no pun intended) all our rights when we agree to the Terms of Service, what is extremely infuriating, as Patrick already stated, is that Linden Lab is so inconsistent in their policies and how they enforce the rules.

Here’s an example to illustrate how out of control the situation is -

“Combating intolerance is a cornerstone of Second Life’s Community Standards because expression that marginalizes, belittles, or defames individuals or groups inhibits their ability to take part in a satisfying exchange of ideas and diminishes the community as whole. The use of derogatory or demeaning language in reference to racial, ethnic, or social groups is never allowed in Second Life or the Second Life Forums.”
Linden Lab Community Standards

“Combat 18 (or C18) is the “armed wing” of the British neo-Nazi organisation Blood & Honour. The “18″ in its name is commonly used by neo-Nazi groups, and is derived from the initials of Adolf Hitler; A and H are the first and eighth letters of the Latin alphabet. Combat 18 was formed in the early 1990s from a British National Party breakaway group composed largely of former members of the party’s security team who were disillusioned with its change of policies and image and increasing focus on electoral politics. C18 soon attracted national attention for its members’ violent attacks on immigrants, members of ethnic minorities and its left-wing opponents.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_18

So, you would think that any white nationalist group with this agenda would not be welcome in Second Life given Linden Lab’s strict rules regarding inciting intolerance? Wrong! The SL division of C18 has been active for some time now and they are just one among a growing number that has been allowed to flourish. Take a look at this website and then this revealing search result from the official SL website.

In 2007 I was threatened with suspension by Linden Lab for “inciting intolerance” and forced to censor an image, the irony was that the work was actually trying to bring attention to global injustice and intolerance, Linden Lab just did not get it. They seem perfectly at ease however with groups like Combat 18, Blood & Honour Division and 14 Worms, to name but a few.

So, they are indeed entitled to enforce the ToS but it is not unreasonable to expect they would do that responsibly and fairly.

Dear Arahan Claveau,

Linden Lab

Left by Arahan Claveau on October 9th, 2008

Patrick!

You had an opening in San Francisco and didn’t tell me? Darn! Not sure what your best efforts were but and email will do fine next time!

dc@spensley.com

Cheers!

DC

Left by DC Spensley on October 10th, 2008

I was gonna make an art about selavy’s banning but SL lanced my creative boil Oh some day they will pay. *fist waggles*

Left by Pavig Lok on October 11th, 2008

Jay, is there any chance you could approve the reply I left here three days ago?

Left by Arahan Claveau on October 12th, 2008

Thank you, better late than never I suppose.

I was hoping to bring attention to something people might not be aware is going on in Second Life. Whether or not anyone will care is another matter entirely but at least it is presented here as evidence of the shocking hypocrisy going on under our noses.

Left by Arahan Claveau on October 12th, 2008

It is really hard to imagine a system of governance more open to abuse and error than one that relies on anonymous denunciations. Where the company’s response to almost every governance issue is couched in libertarian terms, it is surprising that artistic liberty merits so little in their eyes. Apparently Selavy’s record is clean. Logically that means the original decision was wrong. And that merits an apology.

Left by Alberik Rotaru on October 12th, 2008

[...] in handling abuse reports in Second Life”. Following this were posts by Bettina Tizzy, Brooklyn is Watching and in the SL Forums. Honestly I am glad this happened the way it did, of course not out of lack of [...]

Left by Art, AR’s, LL and Avatar Rights « Tomorrow’s World on October 15th, 2008