"EARN IT" Bill In Congress Could Mean Bad News For Internet Freedom

By Bixyl Shuftan

There's another Internet bill in Congress that could have potentially dire consequences for privacy expectations people online take for granted. Introduced "to establish a National Commission on Online Child Exploitation Prevention, and for other purposes," the "Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of  Interactive Technologies" Act, or EARN IT, "opens the door for the government to require new measures to screen users’ speech and even backdoors to read your private communications."

According to an article in Bloomberg, "The bipartisan measure, ... would affect a wide range of social media companies, cloud service providers, email and text platforms and other technology services. It could put Facebook in the government’s crosshairs for its plans to encrypt all of its messaging apps and undercut Apple’s refusal to create back doors into its devices and services." The article would go on to say, "The Justice Department has tentatively scheduled a Feb. 19 meeting on the future of the immunity known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act ... The provision protects platforms from responsibility for content posted by third parties. Although the measure doesn’t directly mention encryption, it would require that companies work with law enforcement to identify, remove, report and preserve evidence related to child exploitation -- which critics said would be impossible to do for services such as WhatsApp that are encrypted from end-to-end."

Companies would have to "certify that they are following the best practices set by the 15-member commission." If they don't to its satisfaction, "they would lose the legal immunity they currently enjoy under Section 230 relating to child exploitation and abuse laws. That would open the door to lawsuits for 'reckless' violations of those laws ..."

Supporters of the bill insist the ability to read encrypted messages is necessary, saying efforts to protect encryption, “will make it harder to detect -- and stop -- child abuse and similar crimes." Elliot Harmon of the Electronic Frontier Foundation retorted that if the bill became law, "the Attorney General could unilaterally dictate how online platforms and services must operate. If those companies don’t follow the Attorney General’s rules, they could be on the hook for millions of dollars in civil damages and even state criminal penalties. ... It opens the door for the government to require new measures to screen users’ speech and even backdoors to read your private communications.

"EARN IT undermines Section 230, the most important law protecting free speech online. Section 230 enforces the common-sense principle that if you say something illegal online, you should be the one held responsible, not the website or platform where you said it. Section 230 has played a crucial role in creating the modern Internet. Without it, social media as we know it today wouldn’t exist, and neither would the Internet Archive, Wikimedia, and many other essential educational and community resources. And it doesn’t just protect tech platforms either: if you’ve ever forwarded an email, thank Section 230 that you could do that without inviting legal risk on yourself." Harmon would call the bill an attack on Internet Security, entrepreneur innovation, and just plain unnecessary.

Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerburg has stated his company will continue to be “standing up for encryption, against those who say that privacy mostly helps bad people.” Senator Ron Wyden has openly spoken in protest about the bill, "a tired, debunked plan to blow a hole in one of the most important security features protecting digital lives of the American people."

The website fightforthefuture.org/ has a petition calling on Congress to reject the bill. As of the writing of this article, it has over 8660 of the 12,800 signatures it set as a goal.

The Justice Department is currently led by Attorney General William Barr, whom lately has been the target of calls to resign for interfering with the trial of an ally of President Trump.

Sources: Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, Reuters, Bloomberg, Ron Wyden

Bixyl Shuftan

Rita Mariner's Account Suspended Due To Missing IRS Tax Form

On Friday night, Rita Mariner, the leader of the Sunweaver community, got an unpleasant surprise when she tried to log in. She found her account had been blocked. So she came on with an alt that night. Her name couldn't be found in the Sunweaver group, though it was still on peoples' friend lists, leading to speculation she'd been hacked. But when she called Linden Lab the next morning, it turned out they'd suspended her due to not filing a form with the IRS.

Sunnies:  Rita discovered the reason she was blocked and took care of the issue.  Seems LL sent her an IRS Tax Form W9, via e-mail, that they wanted her to fill out.  She didn't notice it in scanning her e-mails, on her cell phone, but she found in checking on her PC.  It was dated last month.  Still Rita was upset wondering WHY they wanted the form filled out and all that sensitive, personal, info, since she didn't do business on SL, wasn't here to make money. In fact SL costs her.



At the Club Cutlass event on Saturday night, she (via the alt) talked about what was going on, "LL wanted me to fill out some IRS Tax Forms, why?  I have no clue. ... If I was making money on SL and pulling it out, I could see it, but the opposite is true, I pour money into SL every month." She stated that it was a W9 form sent in her emails, "So I filled it out and then I had to verify it again it was me. It was from a Linden. It had a ticket number. And it was in my account."

Others around were puzzled by the turn of events, one commenting ironically, "Because the IRS just KNOWS you are getting rich off SL." Another remarked, "Odd that I haven't heard of other large land-owners having issues." "Other than H and R Block, no business has demanded a tax form from me," spoke a third. "So maybe the IRS is gonna make you pay tax on the rents you collect?" someone jokingly asked. "If they try, then I get to deduct the losses," Rita answered, "which means I get a refund." "Or offer to pay them in Lindens (grin)."

Rita was optimistic, "I found the problem, filled out the paperwork, now just have to wait. ... Hopefully (by) Monday Rita will be back, now that LL has their desired paperwork."

Talk soon turned to other issues, such as the upcoming Relay season, hopeful the situation was on it's way to being resolved.

Bixyl Shuftan

Montecito Bay UFO: The Military Responds

Montecito Bay has seen no shortage of weirdness. But it was about six months ago since it's weirdest time, when one of the town's buildings was hit by what looked like a UFO. Following when the strange craft was removed from the building but before it was taken away, the Newser managed to get a closer look. It's being taken away and the weird building that appeared in the wrecked structure's place overnight might have been the last word on the story. But this week, the Newser finally got an explanation from the US Military about the incident. So did they give a reason other than "swamp gas?"

Read the story in Extra.

News and Commentary: On the NSA's Surveliance of Second Life

It's been about a week since it made the news that the National Security Agency has been sending agents to virtual and gaming worlds. World of Warcraft, the largest of the MORPGs, has been one of their targets. But so has Second Life. The virtual landscape of Hippos and Lucky Chairs had found itself the target of "the spooks."

The NSA's gathering of "metadata" has been highly controversial. Outside the United Sates, the language has often been harsh. The German Chancellor recently compared it's practices to those of the East German Secret Police in the days of the Cold War. In the United States, both liberals and conservatives overall dislike what the NSA is doing, or at least the extent that it is. But the level of criticism doesn't usually reach the level it often does overseas. Perhaps both sides are after bigger fish in political struggles, (health care, employment, etc.), some people are still jittery about a 9-11 style terrorist attack, or something of both. Indeed corporations who depend on the Internet for their survival have often been reacting more harshly than the public as a whole. Microsoft went as far as to condem the US Government's activities as an "advanced persistant threat."

Americans, annoyed that their emails could be possibly snooped on, seemed to mostly regard the news about the NSA doing the same with online games with amusement. There were a few skits about NSA agents looking for terrorists amongst the orcs (video link). Some people joked that what was going on was agents goofing off: spending working hours playing games, then claiming to their superiors they were investigating terrorism leads.

For Second Life residents, part of the reaction was interest to being on the national news for reasons other than gossip stories about virtual infidelity and "catfishing." The overall reaction from my point of view has also been amusement, cracking jokes about NSA agents goofing off with romps in sex clubs. The topic was also joked about at the Avi Choice awards, a host and hostess saying hello to any agents watching, and cracking a joke about a "favorite NSA agent" category.

Not everyone was laughing though. New World Notes reminded that it had reported in 2007 on stories about terrorist in Second Life and Federal agents also in looking for their activity. NASA and NOAA are known to have come into Second Life, Halmet stated, so "it's not really a surprise to find the NSA is there too." Judge Richard Posner, who appeared in-avatar in Second Life, commented, “The Internet offers opportunities both for terrorists and counterterrorism,” he observed. So it's an arms race between the opposing forces, both seeking maximum advantage from the digital revolution.” Hamlet would also write about an article mentioning Cory Linden visiting the NSA being misinterpereted as him encouraging the agency to spy on Second Life's residents, while in reality he was there to stop possible government censorship and regulation.

Iris Ophelia wasn't laughing either, taking the matter quite seriously. "Maybe you know better than to post drunk selfies of yourself on Facebook," she reminded, "but what have you been up to in the presumed privacy of your virtual home?" Over time, one meets up with a lot of residents here, and we talk and do things with them without a second thought. "those friends you've known for years? What are they up to? One of them asked you to hold into some L$ for them recently, do you know why? She also asked you to help her get into that invite-only group, why? What do they do? Are you a member? What about that person you paid for that item a few months ago, you know the one. What do you know about them? We just need you to answer a few questions..."

In an open letter to the people of Brazil asking for asylumn, Edward Snowden, whom leaked a number of information about the NSA after leaving the US to China, then Russia, claimed that what the NSA was doing could also be used for "economic espianoge" and "social control." While Snowden is not a neutral party in this matter, and is considered a wanted criminal, his statement was a reminder the NSA's activities can be used for far more than just looking for Al Quedia.

The NSA's activities could lead to some long-term consequences beyond just people looking over their virtual shoulders. Many countries were already less than happy with the Internet being of American design governed by American rules, and dominated by a few American companies. The NSA's snooping could very well be the final straw, seeing the Internet "Balkanized" among various countries. Online games based in America, as well as Second Life, would find it harder to get new users overseas.

Yesterday offered some good news though. A US Federal judge branded the NSA's surveillance as "Orwellian," and stated it likely was a violation of the Constitution. While the ruling didn't stop the snooping right away, as he put it on hold pending an appeal by the Government, it could very well be the beginning of the end of the wide-scale spying campaign of the Internet, and Second Life.

Sources:CNN,  The Guardian, New World Notes, Microsoft

Bixyl Shuftan

CISPA Passes US House, Stalling in Senate

While the nation's attention has been on the Boston bombers and questions about their links to Islamic terrorism, computer users faced some other worries. On Thursday April 18th, the CISPA Bill passed the US House of Representatives by a vote of 288-127.

CISPA, officially named the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, was introduced supposedly as to help the government "investigate cyber threats and ensure the security of networks against cyberattacks." But it has been heavily criticized for being a threat to the public's right to privacy. This includes permitting authorities to search databases without warrants, and Internet service providers would be banned from making "legally binding" promises to protect users' privacy.

Fortunately for privacy activists, the bill's future is iffy, at least for the short term. The Senate has been preoccupied with other issues such as immigration and the right to buy firearms. The White House has also threatened to veto the bill if concerns about privacy issues were unanswered, "Citizens have a right to know that corporations will be held accountable, and not granted immunity, for failing to safeguard personal information adequately … " This is a similar course to what happened in 2012, and the bill was never taken up by the Senate that year.


Sources: ABC News (Chicago) , CNet, Wikipedia

Bixyl Shuftan

Virtual Cash Makes Real-Life News with Bitcoin Crash

By Bixyl Shuftan


Last month, the US Department of the Treasury issued "guidelines" aimed at virtual currencies. While the Linden dollar will be affected by the Government's interest, another virtual currency with a larger distribution and volume was also targeted: the bitcoin.

Wikipedia defines the Bitcoin, abbreviated to BTC sometimes, as "an online commodity that is based on an open-source, peer-to-peer encryption protocol … creation and transfer is accomplished on an Internet-based network and is not managed by any central authority." Bitcoins are created through "miners" that automatically add new amounts by "adding codes to a decentralized log, which is updated and archived periodically." They're transferred electronically, either via computer, or through handheld devices like smartphones.

Computer geeks are sometimes drawn to it due to it's online nature. But as banks are not necessary in the exchange, and it is not created by governments, some people are attracted to it due to the lack of involvement by larger institutions. It's also gotten some skeptics because of the lack of involvement by larger institutions, and concerns that drug traffickers and other criminals use it as an easy way to sell illegal goods.

Bitcoin went through what some are calling a "bubble" recently when it's value jumped from about $90 in late March to a high of $260 on the morning of Wednesday April 10th. Then the value crashed, plummeting to around $130 in six hours. It regained some of it's lost value the following day, rising to $160. As of the writing of this article, bitcoincharts.com listed the value as $99.00.


The crash was linked to an unknown bitcoin owner who up and gave away $13,000 in bitcoins via the Reddit social website. But there have been other problems. There have been attempts by hackers to break into computers and make it mine bitcoins for the hijacker. News of this did cause a drop in the value of Bitcoins on April 4, but the price surge continued again. There was also an account hacking in which $12,800 worth of Bitcoin was stolen.


The crash has caused some to feel Bitcoins, or any other unregulated currency, is just too risky. But others are still trading them. Even as all this was going on, people in the US Treasury Department had already taken notice. In March, the Department of Treasury's FinCEN issued it's guidelines, defining Bitcoin as a "de-centralized virtual currency" with "no central repository and no single administrator, and … persons may obtain by their own computing or manufacturing effort." Like Linden Labs, Bitcoin miners in the United States will have to file anti-money laundering reports with the Treasury Department, in addition to registering with them. There is a "blurred definition" however between users of Bitcoin and "administrators." Could a miner be considered just a user as long as the Bitcoins created weren't traded for US dollars or other real-life money?

Already having caught the interest of the US Government, with the news of hacking attacks and the market volatility, bitcoin is highly likely to face additional scrutiny from both American and European authorities. It's laissez-faire days of being free from big business and government may soon be coming to a close.

For information on what a bitcion cost, check this April 14th article at techcrunch.com.

Second image from salon.com

Sources: Wikipeda, BBC News, CNN, verge.com, Modern Payment Systems

Bixyl Shuftan

Jacek Shuftan of Podex on the US Treasury's New Guidelines for Virtual Currency

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Friday April 5th, Second Life Newser wrote about the US Department of the Treasury's new guidelines on virtual currency. This move has consequences for Linden Lab as they'll have to spend time, and probably money on extra lawyers, on required paperwork for them. And it's likely this is just the beginning.

Over the weekend, I met up with Jacek Shuftan, the head of the Podex Exchange. He had spoken briefly about the matter at the time the article then was being written, "every coin has two sides, if (Linden dollars) were virtual currency, it would be more trustworthy, and (Second Life) will have more investors." I felt as a Linden reseller, he would have more to say on the matter.

I asked him, "Was there anything else you wanted to say about the US Treasury and Linden Lab?"

"I am still thinking how close it is, and if it (will) happen," Jacek answered, "For now, it is not an obligatory law. For now, it's guidelines. But it does appear there will soon be some regulations. I think that bitcoin is the main point of this, and Lindens is only side effect. But anyway, it can be a pain for us all."

"Anyway, it's too late to stop (the) economical revolution started with virtual currencies. If they ban LS, people will sell objects in SL for, bitcoins, Avination CS, or whatever else. It's only a few lines of coding. Even the real world is full of such 'currencies.' If you go to car wash and get a special metal coin to put into machine, what is it if not currency? You can sell it to other car drivers, exchange it for a glass of beer, or keep it and sell for a higher price when the price of a car wash will go up. Or you can just return it to car wash owner and get cash back. Isn't it currency like Lindens, guaranteed by the car wash owner."

"But nobody cares. and governments look at virtual coins because they are new, and the turnover is higher than a car wash (grin).

I asked, "So even if the Lab calls it's Linden dollars a 'transferable license' and not virtural currency?"

"Its not important what name Linden dollars are called," Jacek answered, "if real-life authorities say it's currency."

"I am afraid it's inevitable, governments can not let citizens have something independent of them."

"So you think it's more about control," I asked, "and not so much a desire for another source to tax?"

"Both," he answered, "It's not a secret that lots of bitcoins are used for illegal operations, and governments want to control it. But taxation is also something tempting for governments. If we go this way, ie if we tax Lindens, what about (virtual) land? It's also a possession. Should we write in a yearly tax statement - 512 sqm parcel by the sea? Ferrari car, 123 prims, bought on Marketplace?"

"I can bet any money that officials do not know what to do with it. So they are just testing now."

I asked, "So they're just seeing what they can do before people complain?"

"I think (to them), it looks like a pimple." Jacek answered, "New activity, like virtual economy, appears. Nobody cares at first, but its growing and growing. You try to ignore it as long as you can, because nobody likes having a pimple at the end of the nose. But finally, it's so big and painful that you must accept it, and we are close to this moment."

I asked, "So that's how you think government sees it, in your opinion?"

"Yes," Jacek answered, "They tried to ignore it as long as they could. And now, its high time to do something. But nobody knows what. So they gave us this paper … And they can always say it's only guidelines if something goes wrong. We observe the same tendency in Europe, and in the USA. So it's a worldwide problem, I think."

" 'There is no such wickedness, or cruelty, which otherwise would not have committed a mild and liberal government, when it runs out of money.' Alexis de Tocqueville, at least through Google translator."

"We will see what the future brings. But people adapt fast. We are very flexible in Second Life."

The interview then ended, and Jacek went about his way.

Jacek Shuftan’s Podex Exchange, sometimes called the Podex bank, exchanges Lindens for several world currencies. Recently they moved to the Coda sim at (45, 218, 61).

Bixyl Shuftan

New Guidelines on Virtual Currency by US Government Mean Complications For Linden Lab

By Bixyl Shuftan

Last month, the US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an "interpretive guidance" (pdf link) or guidelines for the regulation of virtual currencies. Alex Kadochnikov of the "Modern Payment Systems" blog had a few things to say about the matter and what it means for Linden Lab. For the average Second Life resident, these guidelines don't directly affect him/her. But for Linden Lab, "FinCEN now considers Linden Dollar as a convertible centralized virtual currency," and it means regulations and paperwork.

To begin with, Linden Lab's terms of service doesn't refer to Linden dollars as virtual currency but each being a "virtual token" or a "limited license" that could be traded, "Linden dollars are not real currency or any type of financial instrument …" But these words haven't meant much to residents who've treated it as money within Second Life, the only risk being if they ever lost their connection to the Grid. As Kadochnikov wrote, "FinCEN goes by the approach 'If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.' And Linden Dollar sure does 'quack' like one. Linden dollar is a virtual currency because it has value in real currency (a buck will buy you about 270 linden bucks); and people buy good and services with it."

As "an administrator and an exchanger of virtual currency" they were a "Money Service Business" or MSB under US Treasury guidelines. As a result they, "must register with the Treasury Department and make Anti-Money Laundering and periodic reports." This means more expenses for Linden Lab as, "these reports are not little one page chores a trained monkey can do. There is a reason corporate compliance departments are stacked with lawyers and accountants. As you can imagine both of these items cost a lot of money."

Hamlet Au thought that this would mean Linden Lab will have to hire two or three additional lawyers just to deal with this matter, costing them about a half million dollars a year. The only other option it seems would be to abandon the Linden dollar and deal just with real world currencies. While it would save them these bureaucratic headaches, it would be "like turning off a printing press that prints money. And who in their right mind wants to do that?"

Hamlet Au thought there was one additional complication. If the Lab was thinking of selling Second Life, it just became more difficult as any buyer would have to deal with these regulations and expenses. One result of the Treasury Department's new guidelines may be that Linden Lab can pretty much forget about someone buying the virtual world from them.

Second Life Newser did briefly discuss the matter with Jacek Shuftan, the head of it's sponsor Podex Exchange. He expressed suspicion of the US Government's motives, but "every coin has two sides, if (Linden dollars) were virtual currency, it would be more trustworthy, and (Second Life) will have more investors." So perhaps the move has some benefits.

Sources: New World Notes, Modern Payment Systems

Bixyl Shuftan

Job in Counter-Terrorism, Second Life Experience Desired, May Require Travel to Afghanistan

With attention on 9/11 this week, New World Notes had an article about a certain job offer from Lockheed Martin. They're looking for a "Counter Threat Finance Analyst" for a job in Tampa Florida to work with US Central Command. Among the desired skills, "Knowledge of emerging alternative and mobile payment methods is also desired (Bitcoin, Secondlfe, etc.)" The hitch, there may be occasional work in Afghanistan.

Hamlet Au did note there's been plenty of trade between Bitcoin and Second Life's Linden dollars, and wondered "if CENTCOM has reason to believe that the Taliban are using Second Life and Bitcoin for those purposes." Far-fetched perhaps, but it seems lately the terrorists have been using Facebook to create fake profiles of attractive girls to lure soldiers into revealing sensitive information.