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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Burnman,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Technically your comments are off, as Michael already pointed
out. They are so off that I think they are directed at the Open Sourced LL viewer,
i.e. at the ability for clients to get complete information about the
objects inworld to the point of being able to store them locally and to replicate
them. Note that this has nothing to do with OpenSim, strictly speaking. But let
me comment on that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>All clients get that information, or else they wouldn’t be
able to render it; there is no way around that: a representation of the couch
you see on your screen must be sent to your computer, period. In a context
where you do want to show your objects to the world, ensuring that people don’t
use the LL viewer to “steal” them is impossible with technology
alone. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Other contexts are possible, however. One could add a PGP
feature in which all inworld objects would be encrypted with their owner’s
private key, so they looked like garbage for everyone, except for those clients
who had the object owner’s public key. There’s a neat research
project right there! I bet it could be added very easily :-)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>While the solution is technically feasible, what sense would it
make to go around the world seeing garbage everywhere?? Plus anyone who wanted
to see the decrypted objects would have to use an extended version of the LL
viewer, one that does decryption. Not to mention the added performance overhead.
… Again, I doubt massive adoption, but this could definitely be done,
technically.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I’m on the camp that thinks that these kinds of *<b>technological</b>*
solutions are silly, paranoid, and ultimately unreliable, because given enough
motivation to break the encryption, it will be broken. But at the same time I
have a lot of sympathy for your position. One cute thing about LL’s SL is
that it enabled ordinary people to suddenly feel like famous entrepreneurs and millionaires,
simply by creating virtual objects that other people want. This is part of the
fantasy-game designed by LL, along with the forced pseudonyms, the Linden “dollars”,
etc. I understand you want to protect that feeling, and someone ought to
protect it. I sincerely hope that will survive in some grids, because it’s
empowering! Technology is the wrong approach to do it, though, it has to be
something else.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>However, if these fantasies are all there is to the metaverse, we’ll
be in really bad shape. We might as well wrap-up OpenSim altogether, and let LL
continue to do its thing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Crista / Diva<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>University of California, Irvine<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><off topic> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>The thought of going around a virtual world where everything is garbage
due to encryption is a powerful, almost artistic, visualization of real-world
paranoia and distrust. Picasso’s Guernica comes to mind.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'></off topic><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> opensim-dev-bounces@lists.berlios.de
[mailto:opensim-dev-bounces@lists.berlios.de] <b>On Behalf Of </b>The Burnman<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, March 04, 2008 8:53 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> opensim-dev@lists.berlios.de<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Opensim-dev] Thoughts....<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 5:09 AM, Michael Wright <<a
href="mailto:michaelwri22@yahoo.co.uk">michaelwri22@yahoo.co.uk</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;
margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal>Maybe in the future, opensim might include some DRM system
as a option people can use, or extend. But that is a long way off, we need to
get the base done first. <o:p></o:p></p>
</blockquote>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><br>
I think this stage is exactly where you should be considering the most basic
concept of IP Rights protection. I am not talking about installing a BMG
style DRM utility which actively attempts to thwart the attempts of
thieves. After my discussion with Charles the other day, a compromise of
offering the option to allow assets to be downloaded to the client for local
storage or not seemed rather reasonable. This would allow both sides of
the argument greater control over their grids. But moving to far in one
direction will only make it that much more difficult to explore other avenues
down the road. Implement local asset storage without any other
consideration now, and the rest of the development will end up being based on
that concept. The wheel would have to be reinvented.<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;
margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal>I'm sure someone will mis-understand this and take it as me
saying that opensim doesn't care about IP protection, but that is not what I'm
saying. I'm saying its outside the scope of opensim. Opensim is not a grid, its
not any single installed instance of opensim. Opensim is purely a software
platform. That overs take and make it do what they want it to do.<o:p></o:p></p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><br>
I disagree wholeheartedly. I believe that considerations for IP Rights
are essential if OpenSim is attempting to set a standard for the
metaverse. While all of the hard work that has gone into OpenSim is truly
impressive and deserves much praise, at the end of the day, the content which
will end up going into the grids will be the focus of most of the users.<br>
<br>
The cold hard truth is that the end-user looks at the web pages, not the web
browser or the server the page is hosted on.<br>
<br>
I can see that some who have expressed their opinions here will not change
their minds, and I certainly don't believe my own position will change much
either, so this may be a futile discussion. It will be interesting to see
what else comes up down the road which offers more to the content creator than
"you should give your hard work to society... uh... because we want
it".<br>
<br>
Please forgive my frustration, but I think the open-source mentality goes too
far sometimes.<o:p></o:p></p>
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