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Second Life Could See Regulations

Now that the virtual community Second Life has increased its user base exponentially merely one year, some countries are looking into the long-term consequences this world-wide community could have on terrorism and crime. Some consider Second Life no more than a glorified online casino, allowing players to essentially use real money to exchange goods online. Currently the British government is looking into the lack of regulations within this cyber community, and wondering if the environment fosters criminal activities. Other industry like online casinos are heavily monitored and regulated in some countries, so some wonder why not Second Life too.

Second Life is a virtual community where players choose an avatar to interact with other players from across the globe. Then they have the option to buy or trade goods and services by using Linden dollars; the Linden dollars can then be traded in for actual currency. This creation is from the Linden Lab company based out of San Francisco, and has proved to be wildly popular as it gains notoriety. Of import for the virtual community is the almost overnight explosive growth. Last fall the community boasted 700,000 players…now that number has grown to over 6 million subscribers world-wide. Some of the popularity in the U.S. is because though Second Life has been investigated by the FBI to determine if it is on par with online casino gambling, it is still a legal activity for U.S. residents.

Central to Britain’s current concern is the fact that the virtual community is not an online casino, and is a world unto itself; and inside of the world, there are no courts, taxes, or regulations, players able to freely buy and exchange goods, services, and more importantly—funds. Some are quick to point out that the community allows for an extremely easy way to transfer large sums of money between countries without any way to trace the transactions. At least with online casinos the financial institutions are still able to track and account for the funds.