Bragg vs Linden Labs et al

If there's one thing that would make my RL job much easier, it's people who take responsibility for their own actions.

Linden Labs provide a service. If you breach the terms of service, Linden labs reserve the right to withdraw that service in their ToS. I would liken that to the state ability to seize assets gained by fraudulent methods.

This entire case, to me, drops into the category. Mr Bragg obtained this virtual property by deception; it was therefore forfeit. With regards to any property he gained legally, he knew he was jeopardizing that when he tried to cheat the system. He knew the risks. Breach of ToS equals banning with no compensation.

This comes down to culpability. It's got nothing to do with what Linden Labs can and can't do, want to do and don't want to do. This was one person who purposefully set out to break the rules, IN THE KNOWLEDGE that if he got caught, Linden Labs would ban him. At the end of the day, that's the issue at the back of this - whether or not he should take responsibility for deliberately breaking the rules and the consequences involved in getting caught.

The fact remains, if he hadn't deliberately tried to cheat the system, there would have been nothing for him to be caught doing and nothing that Linden Labs would have banned him over. I do agree that if Linden Labs just close your account with no explanation and seize your assets you'd have cause to bring case against them, but everyone seems to be of agreement that this person DID CHEAT.

If you're honest, you don't risk anything. This person wasn't, and he got unlucky and got caught. He paid the price. He can't expect the judiciary to come to his rescue because he committed fraud in the first place. Sorry, but I don't have ANY sympathy for him, and neither do I believe that he has a case.