Your2ndPlace

No, I'm not a buzz agent. I'm really not. In fact, if there were a scale of how much of a buzz agent one is, you could probably see something slightly above zero - so slight, in fact, that it could be considered zero. And if you're like me, you may be wondering what a buzz agent is.

Maybe this article will explain it to you: 'Phoenix' soars into Second Life. From the article:

NEW YORK -- A virtual marketing campaign for "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" engagements in Imax theaters that transformed Second Life avatars into "buzz agents" for the movie is getting credit as the main impetus behind Imax breaking all of its boxoffice records...

Gee. Reading that article immediately reminded me of when I reviewed Virtual Worlds: Rewiring Your Emotional Future. That's the sort of stuff Jack Myers was writing about, only he didn't talk about how we could use other people; instead he warned other people would try to use us. And, despite the marketing departments all over the world talking about how much the internet makes their jobs easier - they refuse to realize that the people who might buy products are reading what they write.

I'm sorry. I'm not your 'buzz agent'. I recoil from that.

As I mentioned previously, internet radio stations are in trouble with a copyright royalties scheme that could cause their business models to crumble. While the action of SaveNetRadio has allowed for a partial reprieve, this should be ringing a few bells at internet governance levels as well.

From the Wired article, Net Radio Wins Partial Reprieve as Royalties Loom:

A coalition of webcasters have worked out a deal with the recording industry that could temporarily stave off a portion of crippling net radio royalties set to take effect Sunday, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

The deal is not final but creates a window for webcasters to continue broadcasting while a more lasting solution is sought. Webcasters have said the fees would effectively force many services that personalize individual channels for listeners to close shop by the end of the weekend.

For now, the parties involved in what's described as ongoing negotiations have agreed to waive at least temporarily the minimum charge of $6,000 per channel required under a scheme created by the Copyright Royalty Board, or CRB.

The deal, brokered late Thursday, is not final and could change. One person involved in the talks described the situation as a reprieve, and said that "internet radio won't be saved until a workable royalty rate is set."...

<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/582975121/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1411/582975121_9b49008ea9.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Busted" align="right" border="0" hspace="5" vspace="5"/></a>Yup. <a href="http://www.knowprose.com/node/17657" target =_blank>Instead of turning that philanthropy inward</a>, they're <a href="http://taotakashi.wordpress.com/2007/06/21/philantrophy-in-virtual-worlds-diskussion-with-linden-lab-ceo-philip-rosedale-and-jonathan-franton-president-of-the-macarthur-foundation/" target =_blank>exporting it to virtual worlds</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life" title="reference on Second Life" target="_blank">Second Life</a> in particular. </p>
<p>As I commented there - if philanthropy actually <i>worked</i>, it would have eradicated itself by now. Instead, it creates the need for people to write papers to other people who need tax breaks. Pass around the hat. </p>
<p>Wait - who counts among the venture capitalists for Second Life? Oh dear. Maybe poor Philbert is just a meat-puppet. Poor guy.</p>
<p>I'd love to see them actually have one of these meetings in a poor area without electricity, water and (*gasp*) internet access. </p>
<p>So if you want to endure a soiree of who's who and who knows who and who funds who... you know what to do. But if you want to actually make things better in the world, here's all I'll say.</p>
<p><b>Sometimes the hand you hold is the hand that holds you down.</b></p>

From the Second Life Community Standards, Section 4:

Disclosure
Residents are entitled to a reasonable level of privacy with regard to their Second Lives. Sharing personal information about a fellow Resident --including gender, religion, age, marital status, race, sexual preference, and real-world location beyond what is provided by the Resident in the First Life page of their Resident profile is a violation of that Resident's privacy. Remotely monitoring conversations, posting conversation logs, or sharing conversation logs without consent are all prohibited in Second Life and on the Second Life Forums.

A reasonable level of privacy. That is a good spirit for people to follow, isn't it? People who I respect who write/blog about SecondLife always get permission before quoting. Yet there are some that don't. I won't point a finger at anything or anyone specific - but if you follow SecondLife weblogs at all, you probably know at least one person who doesn't ask permission.

I haven't been following Honey Wendt, so I don't know her style and cannot comment on whether I agree with her ethics on quoting or not - but since Wrestling Hulka pointed at this entry where Meta Linden retracts a statement about Terms of Service violations when posting conversations on third party sites, I have to reference her. Maybe she gets permission, maybe not, I don't know.

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After posting an interview with Sarah Nerd with respect to age verification and Sarah Nerd closing a high school role play sim, Tateru Nino did some digging and got to the meat of the issue that many people were wondering about: Whether adults pretending to be under 18 is OK in SecondLife.

Tateru posted Acting your age - or some other age which holds the official answer at the bottom:

'If you say you're under 18' applies to the real life person. Child avatars are not a problem in themselves. You can say your avatar is under 18, just as long as your under-18 avatar is not engaged in lewd behavior."

So... can a 30 year old pretend to be a minor take part in lewd behavior? By the Linden Lab answer, no. Can a minor pretending to be an adult engage in lewd behavior? Legally, no, and that is why age verification (that actually worked) would be worthwhile.

Do furries get measured in dog/cat years? Make sure you card before yiffying.

Can a 30 year old pretending to be a minor pretending to be an adult take part in lewd behavior? Aha. That is where it gets weird. So put away your pom-poms and graduate.

Speculation: Colleges will start springing up everywhere because cheerleaders, apparently, never get old. Unfortunately, you're stuck being the prom queen once if you want to be lewd.

Certainly this sort of position belongs... on... the official SecondLife blog... right?