Quite a bit of fire around the WSE (World Stock Exchange) from this Reuter’s report. Having followed the emergence of these nascent exchanges- some of this is no shock at all to me. More a matter of time.

I actually know Shania Stewart, I have conversed with her on several occasions and found her to be one very bright and very savvy individual- no perfect past, but then again she was forefront as we discussed business, philosophy and the emerging metaverse- good, bad and ugly.

There is a common test in Second Life, for those who work purely virtual.

a) You take a chance and reveal who you are in real life.

b) The other party listens and either reveals who they are and/or hands you a several hundred thousand lindens- if you are trustworthy- you hand it back.

I handed it back.

That is the acid test on the street.

So one thing sticks out here- and it is accountability or lack of it. This is where the WSE, and I don’t fault any or all of the exchanges because the idea is new, the concept so infantile and the entire platform not secure…there are going to be many of mistakes along the way. Virtual trading is incredibly interesting, thinly traded equities, no real names for most part, yet people come in droves- virtual firms raised decent amount of Lindens to expand. Note- FICTIONAL EXCHANGE, FICTITIOUS CURRENCY.

One things jumps out at me: Ms. Stewart goes to the press and as I have it from her Linden Labs cleared her of any wrong doing or knowledge of the transgression- I am not surprised- she pushes envelopes, but has never practiced conceit or duplicity in my eyes- as a researcher I am trained to find it- there is plenty out there.

Compare and contrast this:

“I noticed a large withdrawal by an avatar with no history. I then closed the WSE immediately and began to investigate,” said LukeConnell Vandeverre, CEO of the WSE and its parent company Hope Capital, in a statement on the exchange’s website.

“It appears that a past employee of Hope Capital, who assisted in fixing previous bugs in our ATM, had decided to try and use their inside knowledge of our ATM communication channel to their advantage,” said Vandeverre (real name: Luke Connell of Melbourne, Australia). “We are hoping that most of the linden dollars will be returned.”

to this

news of the theft first came to light in a blog post by Mystik Boucher (real name: Shania Stewart of Nashville, TN), CEO of the Second Life firm Mystik Designs, whose account was suspended on Saturday.

“A few short days ago, it had come to the attention of LukeConnell that the WSE had been hacked and lost over 3.2mil/L. I come into this story, well, because it was the Chairman of Board @ MDS who has allegedly hacked the WSE,” Boucher said on her blog. “On Saturday I received an e-mail from Patsy Linden stating that my account was placed on Hold due to an Administrative Review. This is likely the cause of the transactions between myself and Thurston (Hallard).”

Ms. Stewart broke the news. It could harm her company, her credibility, her street credentials- even though she removed the offending individual. I hear her account is frozen. (Note: I have a minute interest in her firm 763 shares at current value L$3,441.13). It remains frozen. Too bad- I would buy more from a leader who stands up and gets the issues out so the community can work with them. Alas, there is little community when “lindens” are at stake. There are some, there are forward thinkers, innovators and those who care for it, but much of it is greed.

*** Mr. Hallard (the avatar)…yes I know his real name too, and even more- but that is his story to tell and he must be accountable for his actions. He is hardly a hardened thug, but talented at design and extremely shortsighted in my opinion- I think it is sad he took advantage of the system- disappointing even. Do the right thing Mr. Hallard- karma catches up.

*** LukeConnell needs to learn from his mistakes and build a more secure platform, understand that MOD rights means MOD rights- and think about contracts, and protecting the platform- and assisting new traders in form, disclosure, etc. It is dicey enough with no Real Word identity and NO REAL accountability- let alone goods that don’t exist, a platform that is rocky, and so many security hazards I can’t name them all and I am a security professional. By now some my have guessed who I am (well one of how many avatars?)…out performing strange social experiments, going Indiania Jones style ala Snowcrash and exploring the brave new world. If you have figured it out- good for you- if not- soon enough. You’ll be seeing me, because if Ms Boucher is cleared I want to know why trading is still halted. I think we both know.

*** As for Ms. Boucher a.k.a Ms. Stewart- she did the right thing. She removed Mr. Hallard, she got the issue out in the open and most importantly- she is now a real person, with a name who lives in a real state. Her mistake- having a partner commit a fraud, but she wasn’t in collusion and she took the road less traveled…talked about it- aired it- went public. In the future Ms. Stewart, if you read this…remember our discussions on due diligence, you may have a bumpy ride as some may need to regain trust, but not from me. You did the right thing.

Accountability- Second Life will continue to spin its wheels, no matter how much I love and support the platform- until it rewards registered users beyond of 512 meter tract of land for “Merlin Bot” to grab….need ideas Linden Labs- I have plenty….offer up those who are accountable what they deserve- respect, perks and real citizenship, because we are the ones investing in “your world” and “share your vision”- we have a vested interest.

The story of this debacle will come and go as all things do, but avatars must learn that without accountability, without repercussions of some sort- it really is just a game and the object will always be to “Game the system” and not a better world make. Reward those who are accountable. I do. We all should- there is much value in the virtual world and it isn’t all in Lindens- relationships, ideas, talent and friendship. Learning, new viewpoints, new cultures, new models for metrics! Here is a tip- just like Facebook- what you do and say isn’t private. Get that straight my dear avatars. It is an illusion easily understood by reading the Terms of Service. This doesn’t mean it is all bad, but don’t let the ephemeral nature of the medium lull you to sleep.

ADDENDUM: Joy of joys. Ms. Stewart has tentatively agreed to write for the new Revenews.com re-launch on virtual worlds- which is an ongoing mega project to preserve ten years of information from some of the web’s top and brightest on revenue generation.

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