What is the Second Life's Police Blotter?

Theater and the movies have sometimes chosen to give a leading character a second life. Such a character would be expected to charade as one sort of person during the day, and then operate within a wholly different realm at night. A spy with a second life would be a counterspy. A housewife with a second life might be a "desprate housewife," a woman seeking a romantic encounter. Superheroes, such as Superman and Batman, have always had some sort of second life.

The Internet has let to creation of a new sort of second life. Not all of those in that second life are either desperate of super heroes. More than five million internet viewers have now joined the "second life" found in the virtual world. Like all communities, the community comprised of those who "Inhabit" the second life has sought to establish and maintain community standards. In order to accomplish that goal, the community in the second life has developed a Police Blotter.

Now in the actual world, the world that existed long before the virtual world, the Police Blotter is a crime-fighting tool. It presents a local record of criminal offenses. A Police Blotter helps law enforcement groups to share the information they might have on a wanted or captured suspect. In the second life, there is no real police force, but there is a Second Life Abuse Team. That Team helps to create the Police Blotter.

The second life police blotter is a list of the 25 most recent disciplinary actions taken by the Second Life Abuse Team. That Abuse Team seeks to monitor the quality of the content on the various web sites. It seeks to discipline those who present content that the Team considers dangerous or offensive. By posting the action it has taken the Team expects to deliver a strong message. The Team hopes to show why each person in the second life should follow the "rules."