PayPal hands over ‘John Doe’ information
By Eric Reuters
SECOND LIFE, July 20 (Reuters) - PayPal has complied with a subpoena requesting the identifying information of a Second Life avatar as part of a copyright lawsuit, according to a lawyer for the plaintiff, Eros LLC.
Eros boss Kevin Alderman (Second Life: Stroker Serpentine) sued Second Life resident Volkov Catteneo earlier this month, charging he illicitly sold copies of Eros’ “SexGen” bed. As part of the lawsuit, Eros subpoenaed PayPal and Linden Lab in an attempt to discover Catteneo’s real-world identity.
According to PayPal’s privacy policy (requires login), the online payment company collects user information including name, address, bank account and credit card numbers, and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.
Linden Lab, originally due to respond to its subpoena today, has been granted an additional two weeks to produce the requested information, said Frank Taney, lawyer for Eros. Linden now has until August 3 to either hand over the avatar’s data or mount a legal challenge.
