[Opensim-users] Announcement of inventory tool (MyInventory), mostly of interest to grid operators/grid nauts

Thu Nov 15 17:18:20 UTC 2012

On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 4:26 PM, Fleep Tuque <fleep513 at gmail.com> wrote:

> A few things spring to mind as I'm reading the discussion and thinking
> about the proposed tool.  Like Marcus, I'm basing the following on a
> preliminary understanding of what the tool does, but can't have a truly
> informed opinion until we've seen how it actually functions.  Also, I am
> not a lawyer either, so insert all appropriate disclaimers here.
>
>
> First, I'm a freebie content creator who distributes all of my content
> with a CC license, and usually in IAR format since that is the only
> available format that reliably preserves textures, item contents, and
> scripting (Imprudence's xml export doesn't preserve item contents and
> texture corruption is more frequent than I'd like).  I've long wished for
> an option for non-grid operators to be able to upload IAR files, since
> right now, most of my content available from the web can't be used by
> anyone who doesn't have console access - which is a bummer for someone who
> wants to share her own content widely (and legally).
>
> The scenario you describe here is exactly one of the primary use-cases I
had in mind when creating this tool, the third input method is intended to
make publishing content easier. Basically the third, and yet unimplemented
feature, is intended to allow users to subscribe, either via a paid
subscription service or free access, to one or more inventory content
providers, the content will then be replicated to the users MyInventory
instance, and from there it can be uploaded to the users individual
accounts.

> While I absolutely 100% support content creators' need to preserve legal
> rights to their work, and do my very best to ensure that grids I manage
> have policies and permissions set to help enforce them, at the same time,
> it has been extremely frustrating to me that there are so many roadblocks
> in place for _legitimate_ asset distribution.  I make stuff to share, and I
> want people to be able to use it.  My legal right to share and distribute
> my work should be as important and high priority as the content creator who
> wishes to control access to her work, but the current combination of server
> and viewer architecture/permissions/policies seems to place a higher
> priority on the content creator who wishes to control access to assets.
>
> I understand why things have ended up this way; the legal issues are
> thorny and complex, and grid operators must always consider their legal
> liability, but I'm certainly interested in and would tentatively support
> tools that offer more options for the distribution of legitimate and
> legally licensed assets.  Right now it often feels like content creators
> who want to share their work freely are to some degree held hostage by
> content creators who don't, since grid operators and viewer developers
> alike are worried about legal liability and that trumps everything,
> unfortunately.
>
>
> Second, am I reading the proposal correctly that this would be an "opt in"
> service for grid operators?  I've re-read the initial email a couple of
> times and I'm not clear on that.  If yes, ie if grid operators need to
> explicitly include something in their configuration that would allow
> MyInventory to work, then I tentatively like the idea.  This would allow
> each grid to determine whether or not to participate and would presumably
> respect existing policies and permissions already in place. (Side question,
> have you been following Diva's work with the Hypergrid protocols around
> movement of objects between grids?  See
> http://metaverseink.com/blog/?p=459 and
> http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2012/09/hypergrid-2-0-coming-soon-no-export-permissions/for more information.)
>
> I am definitely willing to listen to ideas on how to make this tool safer
for grid operators, although the safe harboring provisions and DMCA
policies should be enough for most instances. I don't think anyone can say
anything for certain, since there is very little case law on the matter,
but IMO a reasonable assumption would be that a grid can be seen as a
service provider, thus making illegal content the responsibility of the
user uploading the content, as long as DMCA provisions are in place.

The "My Suitcase" is only available if you run your own simulator, and as
such isn't really a solution to the inventory problem. IMO having the
inventory and backing assets stored on the grid makes sense in the LL
scenario, but as soon as things starts to move to an open grid this model
doesn't make much sense anylonger. The inventory needs to follow the user
and *not* the grid (except in specialized cases).

> If, however, this tool would work unless a grid operator has contacted you
> to _opt out_, or opt for a more restrictive policy, then not only could I
> not support it, but I think you would be opening yourself up to a world of
> legal troubles that I hope you fully and deeply understand before you set
> this thing loose.  Like, seriously, if you are placing the onus on every
> grid operator out there to contact you if they want to opt out, then I hope
> you have a very good attorney and a lot of money to pay him or her, because
> you are going to need it.
>
>
> Third, I manage both a personal research grid and a grid for my
> university, and my initial reaction is that even if the tool is "opt in"
> I'd maybe enable access on FleepGrid, but I would be extremely wary of
> doing so on the university grid.  As I said, I'm not an attorney either,
> but it certainly seems that liability for grid operators includes not just
> the license of the content being exported, but also what's being imported.
>  Without having any way to ensure that users on the university grid are
> only importing legally licensed content, I think that would be an
> unacceptable risk for an institutional grid - even if I'd be willing to
> take the risk on my personal grid, and despite my personal desire to
> support legally licensed content portability.  I think many grids would
> find themselves in this position.
>
> Ideally, your tool would provide enough granular control that a grid
> operator could "opt in" to allow export or allow import or both or neither.
>  I might be 100% comfortable allowing content from my grid to be exported
> but not willing to allow imports because of the murky provenance of outside
> content.
>
>
> Those are my first thoughts, anyway.  I agree it's a brave thing to
> consider offering a service like this and I'd hate to see someone scared
> away by the intensity and complexity of the IP debate, but at the same
> time, there's a reason why these services don't already exist - because
> most people with even a shallow understanding of the legal issues _are_
> scared away, and with good reason.  The legal landscape around these issues
> is so darned muddy, most sane people don't want to get mired in it even if
> they personally hold a philosophically permissive position, as I do.
>
> Legal issues aside,

> Look forward to hearing others' thoughts as well.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> - Chris/Fleep
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 4:44 AM, Snowcrash Short <
> snowcrash.short at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> I've been working on a client side tool for decentralizing user
>> inventories, which I will release as an open source tool in two weeks, some
>> of the features may be relevant to grid operators.
>>
>> The basic premise of the tool is that the inventory and the backing
>> assets of the inventory items really should be controlled by the user. The
>> tool is born out of a frustration of having visited a number of grids. Each
>> visit to a new grid presents me with an empty inventory, and I can then
>> spend time searching for suitable item, clothing, attachments and
>> other accessories.
>>
>> For this purpose I have created a tool which will allow me to backup my
>> inventory to a local cache and then upload the contents to another grid.
>>
>> If my tool becomes popular, both the upload and download mechanisms may
>> have some impact on the grid-operators, hence this email to serve as a
>> notice.
>>
>> The basic architecture is pretty simple, consisting of a number of import
>> agents, which can import the users inventory and backing assets to a local
>> database, and a number of upload agents which can upload inventory content
>> to a specific account.
>>
>> Backup/Import
>> There are two import agents, one which will import .iar files and one
>> which works very much like I believe "Stored Inventory" works, which can
>> backup the inventory of an avatars inventory. Avatar backup/Import is
>> governed by a policy. Currently there are two policies, one complying with
>> a very restrictive interpretation of the Linden Labs policy on backups, and
>> a completely unrestricted policy, where anything that can be downloaded
>> will be downloaded.
>>
>> When a new account is registered in MyInventory it checks if the account
>> is for a Linden Lab grid and limits the choices of policies to policies
>> suitable for LL's TOS, I cannot and do not know if other grids have similar
>> policies, I can well imagine that Avination has a similar restrictions, and
>> would like similar logic implemented to restrict the download. Any grid
>> operator which would like to have backup governed by a more restrictive
>> policy are invited to notify me and I will attempt to implement the policy
>> prior to the first release of the source code. or supply patches at a later
>> time.
>>
>> Upload/Export
>> MyInventory supports two mechanisms for uploading inventory
>> content, traditional upload using UDP/CAPS and direct access to the
>> inventory and asset web-services.
>> Due to limitations in the UDP/CAPS protocol each upload will create new
>> assets, and as of my latest read of the Open Simulator code the asset store
>> does not support "single instance assets", i.e. it does not use a checksum
>> to verify if the asset already exists, for this reason MyInventory prefers
>> to upload using direct access to asset and inventory web-services.
>>
>> I would propose that the grids which chooses to support MyInventory
>> augment their "GridInfoService" entries with the url's for the asset and
>> inventory web-services, e.g.
>>
>> [GridInfoService]
>>     assets = http://assets.osgrid.org
>>     inventory = http://inventory.osgrid.org
>>
>> Best regards
>> Snowcrash
>>
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>
>
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