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If you're here to split hairs on that, then I wrote something pretty decent. By the letter of what they wrote, they did not in fact ban banks - they banned anything posing as a bank. Since this site is contextual, writing 'bank' here implies a Second Life context. Styles may vary. Maybe I could have written that better. But I'm pretty sure people in Second Life knew what I meant.

In other words, I accept that criticism and leave it here - but I don't think that is the most important part of the article. Indeed, that is just background.

I think that there will be no bans on porn. It is impossible to institute properly. They can ban types of porn - such as the child related stuff - and most people will not blink. Take away hetero-sex, well, there will be an uproar. And don't mess with the people with rainbow flags - even HBO is cashing in on that crowd. Sex is as much a part of Second Life as the Linden dollar. And from what I have seen and heard, people exploring fantasies or even being open about a lifestyle that they are less likely to be open about in a synthetic world seems to be *generally* a good thing.

Thats why I spend most of my time as a penguin. No one thinks of penguins that way. I hope.

So - Linden Lab banning things? You know what? I'm all for Free Speech. I'm all for a lot of things. But some people create Laws by their lack of conscience/ethics. It wasn't ALWAYS illegal to kill someone. It was considered unethical in a lot of the world (not so in others), but it wasn't illegal. People, by their actions, created Laws. And so, in Second Life, people create Laws by their own actions. Whether those Laws infringe upon user rights is really a hot topic for debate, and one which has been mainly US-centric in discussion. What Linden Lab has learned the hard way is that the world is not as US-centric as the discussions... and that also has a lot to do with user rights.

Armchair discussions about that are, in my opinion, pointless. Things will evolve over time. And there will be good things and bad things...

Like first life, Second Life is a work in progress.
Second Life Consultant