'Second Life' turns attacker in to FBI

It seems that the online virtual world "Second Life" is no place hackers and other digital vandals should take lightly when considering who to hit with denial-of-service attacks.

That much became clear this week, according to the blog Second Life Herald, when Philip Rosedale, CEO of "Second Life" publisher Linden Lab, announced during a virtual holiday party in the open-ended digital world that he had turned the perpetrators of a series of grid crashes over to the FBI.

Apparently, "Second Life" had been struck multiple times by attacks this week and prior and Rosedale told the multitudes gathered at the digital party that he wouldn't be having any of it.

"This seems about (as) good a time as any to tell you that I am turning over names to the FBI," the Second Life Herald, a third-party publication, quoted Rosedale as saying.

Rosedale could not be reached for comment for this story.

In any case, it's unclear how many times online game services have been hit by denial-of-service attacks, but one thing that seems sure is that users of "Second Life" probably didn't expect Rosedale's response.

And to judge by initial reaction in the comments section of the Second Life Herald, users were more pleased than perturbed by Rosedale's willingness to hand the culprits over to the feds.