[Opensim-users] Speaking of Content Theft, How About Our Own Backyard?

[Michael Dickson]

On Mon, 2010-05-31 at 15:07 +0000, Karen Palen wrote:
> This is the last post from Lillith Heart that made it to the
> opensim-user list so I will respond to this one.
> 
> What Lillith seems to be advocating is converting Second Life and
> OpenSimulator grids into some sort of "There.com" clone where all
> sales are "vetted" by the grid management.

Wow, that's quite a leap from her actual comments.  I don't think she
advocated anything (which was a shame) other than that grid owners be
sensitive to content creators.  Personally I'd like to see more of a
dialog from content creators on what sort of solutions they'd find
acceptable.  At a minimum I believe (and past history would seem to
support it) that grids providing publicly accessible services need to
provide a mechanism for reporting illegal use of copyrighted content and
when reports are filed investigate and handle them. And yes this costs
money. It's a cost of doing business.

<snip>

> In short unless the "injured party" themselves provide the
> identification of stolen content AS THE LAW REQUIRES, there is no
> reason for authorities to assume this burden.
> 
> There have been any number of attempts to shift this burden, but I am
> not aware of any that has actually increased innovation or creativity
> in any way.

The legal responsibility runs both ways.  Yes, the injured party needs
to provide proof of infringement.  And the service provider needs to
handle reports diligently when they happen.  Past attempts to claim a
service is just a pass through and that there's no responsibility for
content therein have failed. The law recognizes service providers as a
part of the transaction so grid operators need to consider how they wish
to handle that responsibility if they're providing a publically
accessible service.

Mike