[Opensim-users] ToS and HG

[Karen Palen]

There are notecard giver scripts on the OSG Scripting Form that do this.

They range from simple to sophisticated.

On 09/14/2011 12:26 AM, M.E. Verhagen wrote:
> Is it possible to give people who hypergrid a notecard when they arrive ?
> 
> 
> 
> 2011/9/14 Karen Palen <karenpalensl at gmail.com>
> 
>> I can only repeat what I learned in my "setting up a business" seminar a
>> few years ago:
>>
>> "Your goal should NEVER be to make your TOS/Rules/Agreement legally
>> bulletproof. If there is that much money involved that it is really
>> necessary then you need to spend the money for a lawyer!
>>
>> "What you should do is try very hard to make the rules/ToS/Agreement
>> state exactly what you mean and be extremely clea rin stating that. This
>> is the starting point if you hire a lawyer anyway.
>>
>> "If you do a good enough job then people will either comply, or go away
>> (be banned!). Even if it ends up in court the fact that it was clearly
>> written and easy to understand will be a major help in your case.
>>
>> "Lawsuits generally only result from two or more parties come up with
>> different interpretations about what was said or agreed. If it is
>> completely clear then there is simply no point in going to court!"
>>
>> Sadly that level of clarity is harder to do than it seems, and you might
>> want to hire a lawyer just to get the phrasing exactly right and
>> consider all of the possibilities.
>>
>> In any event plan on several drafts, and get a couple of people who see
>> the document for the first time to read it and tell you in their own
>> words what they think it says. You WILL be surprised the first few times
>> you do this - I KNOW!! :-)
>>
>> Oh yes if you are planning on something that large/critical, then ALSO
>> look into setting up a business entity (Corporation, LLC, or whatever)
>> to run it.
>>
>> See http://www.keytlaw.com/ for a summary of this aspect.
>>
>> "Information & Articles about Arizona and United States Law"
>>
>> Keyt is an Arizona/US lawyer, but the issues he raises are universal. I
>> highly recommend studying his website!
>>
>> As Keyt says in one of his articles, the day the process server knocks
>> on the door is one day too late!
>>
>> Karen
>>
>> On 09/13/2011 10:32 AM, Sarge Misfit wrote:
>>> Location, or jurisdiction actually, is definitely a big factor. From
>>> what I have seen is that it is the location of the grid's "official"
>>> headquarters that is the deciding factor. However, every ToS that I
>>> have seen also specifically states the jurisdiction, so it may be that
>>> I would have to include that as a requirement. I had planned to
>>> anyway, but its a good idea to raise that issue to, for the benefit of
>>> others. I don't think its about how strict a law is. Having worked as
>>> a researcher in a law office (quite some time ago), I can tell you
>>> that this is pretty new ground, so we may be developing precedent
>>> here.
>>>
>>>  I just don't want to be the chum that gets tossed into the pool :-)
>>> But I also don't want to end up with some overly long legalistic ToS,
>>> either. I want to develop one that is in plain language and easy to
>>> understand. In fact, I am using SL's ToS as an example of what NOT to
>>> do *chuckles*
>>>
>>> On 9/13/11, Robert Martin <robertltux at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 12:24 PM, Sarge Misfit
>>>> <fubat.enterprises at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Doesn't HG already land a person at 128, 128, ground?
>>>>>
>>>>> The reason I'm asking about this is that I am planning on making my
>>>>> stand-alone public and having a good ToS in place is important. I
>>>>> don't want to end up setting up a visitor as violating anything. Other
>>>>> recent discussions have raised this issue, mostly about avatars, but
>>>>> also the very important issue of intellectual property protection.
>>>>>
>>>>> For example, the DMCA applies to US-based grids, but I'm Canadian, so
>>>>> my ToS should include something about Canadian IP protection law
>>>>> having jurisdiction. I think.
>>>>>
>>>> The real hook is that the law gets "messy" since there are possibly 3
>>>> different countries involved and the overlap in laws may cause
>>>> conflicts.
>>>> 1 users physical location
>>>> 2 users POP /network "location"
>>>> 3 location for the grid server/ grid owner <---- this may actually be
>>>> a fourth location
>>>>
>>>> I would think that somebody needs to throw enough "chum" into a shark
>>>> pool to get this sorted out as a first pass effort.
>>>>
>>>> In this case i think that the stricter law applies (which would be the
>>>> US DMCA) for those using a Canadian Grid in the US.
>>>> --
>>>> Robert L Martin
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