[Opensim-users] Correcting some errors was Re: Signal to NOISE ratio

[Karen Palen]

There seem to be some issues here that are of general interest so I will post them as a reply.

FWIW I am currently registered to practice as a US Patent Agent with the USPTO - I will be happy to supply my registration number etc. on request. I mention this as my credential for some of the comments later in this posting - I DO know something about IP law and piracy issues!

To my knowledge the ONLY "complaint about patent lawyers" was by Diva a few weeks ago.

My only disagreement with what she said is that the "rot" is far more widespread than merely software patents. If anyone actually wants to work on changing this I can put you in touch with a friend of mine who is actively working with the various Bar Associations on many of these issues. You do not have to be a lawyer to help!

--- On Thu, 2/25/10, dz <dz at bitzend.net> wrote:

> From: dz <dz at bitzend.net>
> Subject: [Opensim-users] Signal to NOISE ratio

> 
> If you want to post information about 
[snip]
> how DRM can be circumvented 
[snip]
> Please DO NOT!  

I disagree!

The mystique about DRM, the resultant "snake oil" sales, vigilante "justice", and "witch hunts" are among the factors that are holding up achieving a realistic and lasting solution to the "piracy" problem!

> If your intent is to flaunt the fact that you are
> intentionally violating the Linden labs terms of service

Please be more specific here. I know of nothing in the TOS that does not allow me to move content that I have created to my own system!

> or  boast about how efficient it is to get pirated content
> via this URL vs another, 

For some reason you seem to be assuming that since I no longer buy content from Second Life that I must be pirating it! That is simply not true!

I am not buying content on Second Life for the same reasons that someone who purchased some music (1) on vinyl records, (2) on 8 track tapes, (3) cassette tapes, and (4) yet AGAIN on a CD does not see why they should pay yet again for that same music on MP3!

That is not piracy, the legal doctrines are "fair use" and "first sale" if you care to research them, Wikipedia does a fairly good job of explaining them and I will look up the case law if you really want.

The content that I am moving from Second Life to MY sim are one or more of these:

1) Stuff I built myself

2) Full permissions under SL DRM system (when purchased or obtained that way)

3) Moved with the explicit permission (sometimes at the request of) the creator.

I add the caveat to 2 above since about half of my SL inventory is now "full perm" due to a Second Life database glitch that reset the all of the permission flags. ALL of that content remains on SL only!


> There are a lot of people dedicating significant amounts of
> TIME and MONEY trying to make OpenSim a working application
> platform. 

I am well aware of that since I too am one of the contributors.

> One of the  MAJOR hurdles to that effort is
> the fact that anyone who comes to see what the user
> community is about sees POST after POST after POST detailing
> your basic disregard for the concepts of content
> ownership.    

I am not sure just what "concepts of content ownership" comprises. 

US law grants certain limited rights to the creator of a product although there are a great many legal issues yet to be resolved with "virtual content". There are some very definite limits to those rights as well!

By contrast there are the "rights" claimed by RIAA, MPAA, and some software companies, most notably Microsoft. In simple terms what they claim is that "software" is a "work" not a "product". This claim has never been upheld in court and in fact has been denied on several limited occasions. There is presently a US Federal court case which directly addresses this issue and might well provide some guidance.

In short this is no different that people who loudly proclaim an unlimited "right to bear arms". The US Supreme court made its first ruling on parts of this issue last year - everything else is just "screaming and shouting"!

Until something similar exists for "virtual content" these claims too are nothing but "screaming and shouting".

You don't have to like it, but it IS the law!

> They AREN'T going to read your
> sentence at the end where you "disclaim" any
> relationship with the folks generating tools designed to rip
> legitimate content.   

I don't "disclaim" any such relationship! I have not personally written any of the tools that are being passed around, but I have used many of them for the purposes I stated above.

Look up "guilt by association".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilt_by_association

I can't think of any viewer (including the new LL beta viewer) that cannot be used for some unlawful or improper use. The moral and legal offense is not in merely possessing such a tool, but in using it in such a way!

> Honestly.   Please..   If your bitch with Linden Labs
> is about your inability to make backups of the things you
> designed on the SL platform, take it to their forums.

Actually I think Linden Labs has done a reasonable job given the constraints they have. Second Inventory is designed for the backup function (SL to SL) and is slowly evolving into a reasonable tool to do just that. It could be used for "piracy" of some sort, but certainly is not designed for that!

My "bitch" is with the vigilante groups who want instant solutions or the appearance of such solutions. This rapidly becomes simple fraud.
  
> Your postss here do nothing to resolve that issue.

My goal here is to try to stop this hysteria from spreading to the OpenSim community.
  
> Your
> continued discussion of methods of exporting SL content to
> OpenSim just makes us ALL look like we share your disregard
> for the contract you entered when you agreed to use
> SL.    

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_of_adhesion#Contracts_of_adhesion

I know of nothing in LL policy or elsewhere which forbids me from moving content in the three categories I set forth above to my own sim!

Do you?

> There are dedicated efforts to making legitimate
> backup tools for content creators in OpenSim.  Once those
> tools are in place, OpenSim will have a competitive
> advantage.  

First of all I don't consider OpenSim to be in competition with Second Life. 

Secondly my understanding is that both SL and OpenSim are working on this problem - they are complimentary not mutually exclusive!

> That advantage will be useless when all of our
> future customers are wondering if we are still using all of
> these other "tools".

You seem to assume that OpenSim must somehow become a "clone" of Second Life.

What comes to mind is the similar situation with Linux and Windows:

http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

(I admit it this is one of my favorite articles LOL)

My plans for OpenSim and my advice to the grid managers that have asked for my help is to avoid becoming a "commercial entity" if you can, but if you do be very aware of what that implies. There are legal issues, social issues, and political issues involved. Not the least of these issues is that a "commercial" grid MUST cater heavily to its merchant's wants and desires before it caters to the "average" user!

My own sim is intended simply as my own playground and may never be opened to access by more than a few close friends.

There are several purely social grids already, as well as grids devoted to Architecture, Education, and experimental Art.

"Theft of content" is almost a non-issue with most of these grids!

I am sure that if you took a survey of OpenSim people (users and developers) you would get almost as many "visions" of what OpenSim should be as there are people!

About the only thing that I have heard agreement about is that OpenSim should NOT be a "clone" of Second Life! 

To me that would be like trying to compete with Wall-Mart.

Karen