Quicklinks: French Lawsuit, German Investigation, and the Bluebird Cafe
June 5th, 2007 by Benjamin Duranske
Virtually Blind periodically runs “quicklinks” — items that are not long enough for a full story, but are worth a click. Here’s today’s batch:
Gamepolitics reports that French watchdog group Familles de France is bringing a lawsuit targeting Second Life and a number of ISP’s who provide access to it because Second Life contains, “…pornographic photos and videos in free access [areas where] users can mimic sexual acts, going as far as rape scenes, bondage, zoophilia and scatophilia.” Here’s a translation of the original article (from the site liberation.fr). It looks like there’s a real lawsuit involved, as the article mentions a June 18 hearing before the Tribunal de grande instance de Paris. It is not clear what French law is allegedly being violated.
- According to Heise Online, the German police have confiscated child pornography from a Second Life user. The article discusses the report that aired on German TV several weeks ago highlighting child pornography in Second Life, but doesn’t draw a direct connection between the incidents.
Finally, (and totally unrelated to virtual law, except that I got to visit the real-life venue when I was defending an expert deposition in Nashville a few years ago) the Bluebird Cafe now has a Second Life presence and is streaming live shows! Why am I so excited that I’m employing a rare exclamation mark and going this far off-topic? The Bluebird Cafe is the place to hear the best new singer-songwriters and vocalists trying out their stuff, bar none. Stars like Garth Brooks and Kathy Mattea played the Bluebird before they were famous, but it’s not all country… or at least it’s not all the kind of country you probably don’t like. Got a Second Life account? Check the schedule of live events and then check it out at this SLURL. You’ll be very happy you did.
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