Just a matter of time?

Raph posted this today "Here come the tax men!" With this with this from the Yahoo's article.

"Right now we're at the preliminary stages of looking at the issue and what kind of public policy questions virtual economies raise -- taxes, barter exchanges, property and wealth," said Dan Miller, senior economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.

While I'm no fan of RMT, it does make me wonder what steps developers will be required to take in order to help collect or at least reporting. It seems that Second Life will be the first to face some of these issues (including Bragg v. Linden), but I'm sure they will not be the last one.

The biggest loss, in the end will be for the player. As the world of fantasy is stripped away and replaced with tax codes and property rights. *sigh*

Watch what you write, the internet takes a turn for the worse.

This is a real story, I couldn't make something this silly up (maybe I should consult a attorney before calling it silly).

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A children's services referral provider was awarded $11.3 million in damages from a mother who posted critical Internet messages after seeking her advice. The defendant, Carey Bock, called Sue Scheff a "con artist," "crook" and "fraud" in messages posted on a site used by parents with troubled children at boarding schools. The award for Scheff, founder of Parents Universal Resource Experts Inc., is among the largest for a lawsuit claiming Internet defamation, according to legal analysts and an attorney involved in the case.

Moral of the story. Buy yourself a shredder, write those naste things down on a piece of paper and then shred said piece of paper. That is a lot cheaper way of venting than having to pay 11.3 million.