Linden Lab changed Second Life´s terms of service on 18th September. The new service allows residents to settle minor disputes with the company via binding arbitration by a variety of means, including legal proceedings inside Second Life itself.

In a post on the official Linden Blog, Robin Linden introduced "binding, non-appearance-based arbitration" as a new way for the customers to settle claims totaling less than US10,000.

Under the policy, arbitrators can accept petitions "by telephone, online, or based on written submissions, and the Resident and Linden Lab will not make any in-person appearance at the arbitration hearing."  

We wanted to make you aware of a change to our Terms of Service (TOS) regarding the way that disputes are resolved between Linden Lab and Residents. You will be asked to agree to these Terms of Service the next time you log into Second Life.

In the past, we´ve received some constructive feedback that our process could be improved, and with the aim of reducing the burden on Residents, we´ve acted on this feedback. We´ve made some changes that we hope will provide Residents with a cost-effective means of resolving small disputes that they may have with Linden Lab. Of course, we hope that disputes are few and far between, and our aim is and always has been to communicate with Residents to address their concerns as best we can. However, we recognize that disputes occasionally arise, and we´d like to provide Residents with the option of resolving small claims quickly and inexpensively.

Our new updated TOS, which are the terms and conditions on which Linden Lab provides access to the Second Life environment, give Residents the option of resolving claims for amounts less than 10,000.00 USD through a proceeding conducted by telephone, online, or based on written submissions. With this proceeding¡ªcalled "binding, non-appearance-based arbitration"¡ªwe aim to save Residents both time and money by eliminating the need to appear in person at the arbitration hearing to resolve small claims.

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The Q&As after this post go into greater detail about the updated TOS. We hope that this change provides a neutral and cost-effective means of resolving small disputes quickly and effectively, and as always, we welcome feedback.

Questions and Answers

1. Why is Linden Lab doing this?
We know that the amount of money that may be at issue in a Resident dispute with Linden Lab may be small. So we updated the TOS with the goal of allowing Residents to resolve small claims quickly and inexpensively. The updated TOS gives Residents the option of resolving small claims through an arbitration proceeding that doesn´t involve a personal appearance by the Resident or Linden Lab.

2. What kinds of disputes does the TOS cover?
The TOS governs disputes between a Resident and Linden Lab. The new dispute resolution procedure does not apply to Resident-to-Resident disputes.

Read More: Here

News Original From: Recuters/Second life

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