SLPD Detention Center, Impact and Coffee, and Men's Health at Health Info Island

 

Despite her injury that's caused her hiatus, Gemma Cleanslate managed to complete an almost finished article using her other hand. In her latest, she writes about a new Detention Center that's part of the SLPD, located at Terrapin. The sim was also home to an art show, Impact and Coffee by Ceakay Ballyhoo. And Health Info Island has a new monthly exhibit, this one for men's health. 

 

Read Gemma's article in Places.

 

SL Video: "Alcatraz - The Rock"

 

 

 (click here if the video does not play)

From Bleem Belargio on Sept 2021, "Video shot at the Alacatraz sim The Rock in Second Life." Sadly, the build is now gone, though this record of it remains.

 

Cartoon of The Day: Prison Jumpsuit For Eggs

 

 

 Taken at Club Cutlass' "Crime and Punishment" event. Lately even with inflation in mind, egg prices have gotten outrageously high. There's even reports of them being smuggled across the Canadian border. So it looks like people could soon very well end up in the "big house" for mishandling them.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of The Day: Jailbird DJ

 

Taken at Club Cutlass's "Cops and Robbers" event. So what would a DJ be in a prison uniform? Recalling that those wanting their own radio stations have had to deal with skyrocketing fee hikes, one possible reason came to mind. 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

Man Behind Fatal "Swatting" Makes Plea For 20 Years in Prison

In December 2017, online gamer Tyler Barris make a hoax or "swatting" phone call that resulted in a man being shot and killed. On February 25, his attorney made a plea offer in court asking that he get a twenty year prison sentence.

The incident happened on December 28, 2017 when Barris argued with another gamer over a $1.50 wager over a "Call of Duty" game. He made a call from his Los Angeles California home at the police department of what he thought was his rival's address at Wichita Kansas, saying he had shot his father and kidnapped the rest of the family, and had poured gasoline around the house. Police responded by sending officers to the address, which was a house owned by Andrew Thomas Finch. Police shot Finch at his front door when his hand moved to his waist, and the unarmed man was killed. Finch was 28, and survived by three children. The man's family has stated he wasn't a game player.

Barris, whose Twitter address at the time was "@SWAuTistic," initially boasted about the event, "That kids house that I swatted is on the news." But hearing someone was dead as a result, his response was to insist he was blameless, "I DIDNT GET ANYONE KILLED BECAUSE I DIDNT DISCHARGE A WEAPON AND BEING A SWAT MEMBER ISNT MY PROFESSION." He changed his Twitter address, but other gamers had taken pictures and shared it. The call and tweets were soon traced to him, and he was soon arrested by local police.

Given a total of 51 Federal charges, some related to other fake phone calls and threats, Barris pled guilty to all of them as part of a plea agreement in return for the shortest time in prison, which is 20 to 25 years. Two other gamers, Casey Viner of North College Hill Ohio and Shane Gaskill of Wichita Kansas (the city the crime took place), have also been charged in the case. They have pled not guilty and are scheduled to go to trial on March 15.

Barris' defense attorney claimed in court that his client's actions were a product of the gaming community's culture, and that being known as a swatter there "became an intoxicant" to him as he spent most of his time indoors playing computer games. His only family has been his grandmother, and has never held a job. "With no guidance, no structure, school, or employment," his defense attorney argued, video games, "became his salve to social acceptance in a virtual world." The defense attorney claimed Barris was genuinely remorseful for what happened. Barris has also written a letter to the Finch family, saying that he thinks every day about the incident and begged for forgiveness.

In April 2018, a glitch at a jail Internet kiosk set up for the purpose of allowing limited functions such as ordering items from the prison commissary allowed Barris temporary access to the Internet, which he used to access his Twitter, posting messages such as "All right, now who was talking s**t? Your *ss is about to get swatted" and "Y'all should see how much swag I got in here."

Tyler still faces separate state charges, including involuntary manslaughter.

Sources:  CTV News, ArsTechnica

Bixyl Shuftan

A Jailbreak In Archeage

It's been a while since the Newser wrote about the MORPG Archeage. This game has attracted the attention of a few fans of the paper, notably because of the feline PCs, and it's detailed crafting system. One player, Jasmine Dawn, decided to explore around a little, and seeing the Solis Prison decided to fly over it. Unfortunately, her curiosity got her into a situation that left her feeling a little "cagey." So she took matters into her own hands.

Read the story in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

Businessman Gets Four Months in Prison For Not Reporting Income From Second Life

Gregg Kaminsky, the CEO of Atlanta-based Circlenet, was recently sentenced to four months in prison for failing to report his Swiss Bank account and other foreign holdings of cash in addition to failing to report certain sources of income, including  $150,000 US from Second Life. Kaminsky told the court he thought "there truly was some confusion" over whether or not his income from a virtual world was taxable.

The US attorney for the prosecution, Sally Yates, stated that the case was a clear statement that "U.S. taxpayers are required to report all of their taxable income to the IRS, whether that income is earned in the real world or in a virtual world."

Hamlet Au noted that although Linden Lab has been "cagey" about it's recent economics, in 2009 the Lab reported fifty users were making over $100,000 US dollars from activities on the Grid, mostly through virtual real estate. The top 25 accounts made a total of 12 million US dollars. He also noted that ten years ago, one writer in SL contacted the IRS about taxes from income on Second Life, and was told not to worry about it.

In 2011, Michael Prime, known in Second Life as zFire Xue, the maker of the infamous "Redzone," was sentenced to four months in prison. His logging on Second Life was against the terms of probation for an earlier conviction.

Sources: Atlanta Business Chronicle,  New World Notes, Wall Street Journal, Reddit,

RedZone’s zFire Xue Gets Four Months in Prison

Michael Prime, or zFire Xue as known to the residents of Second Life, the creator and operator of the infamous RedZone, is on his way to a small cell behind bars.

According to Tateru Nino’s blog, zFire plead guilty “for four counts of violating his probation following a prior conviction for fraud,” and “has been remanded to the custody of the US Marshals and is off for four months in prison.“ When he’s released from the penitentiary, the conditions for his parole include not being allowed to work near computers or being allowed to go on auction websites, social network sites such as Facebook, or virtual worlds, at least not without the permission of his probation officer. The section of terms Tateru Nino posted specifically stated accessing Second Life would be a violation of his terms, unless he got permission from the probation officer.


Tateru also noted that a $500 fine that was part of his sentence had been waived due to “financial incapacity.” The investigators couldn’t find the money he made off RedZone. What happened to it is unknown, but this suggests that perhaps the residents of Second Life may hear of him at least one more time in the future.

For now however, he won’t be in a position to bother the Grid for a while.

Tateru provided details of his prior conviction Here. A “Redzone Victim” responding to her blog post pointed out the “United States of America v. Michael Stefan Prime” case Here. The gotvirtual.net forum also has a lengthy thread on ZFire's sentencing.

Sources: “Dwell on it,” “Find a Case”

Bixyl Shuftan