Well of course, the answer to that is no. It’s not.
But there are very few other things in Second Life which unites the grid. You don’t see any mainstream blogs coming out and saying “You know what? I love me some content theft”. You don’t chat with your friends about what you recently ripped from a popular store. The use of Copybot for theft is one of those issues where it pretty much is agreed that it’s a bad thing which we can do without.
Then there’s the active effort made to raise awareness and combat the Copybot. People run campaigns and write blogs. They post comments and chat about it with friends. They report stolen merchandise to storeowners who then file DMCA notices.. or perhaps a class action lawsuit.
The Copybot makes people think about how they can limit its effects. It rouses people to petition Linden Lab to act. It spurs storeowners to band together to support one another if their wares are copied. It convinces coders to work on ways to prevent copybotters from winning.
It encourages the designer community to become more innovate with their products. Constantly coming up with new ways to stay one step ahead of the thieves, the content creators of the grid refuse to give in and work tirelessly to protect themselves.
It brings the SL community as a whole together, as they denounce the Copybot, and help content creators by informing them when they see their stolen products being sold on elsewhere. They send messages of support, and make a point of spending their money at stores which have fallen victim to the Copybot.
So is Copybot a good thing?
It sure as hell isn’t. But it shows us that the SL community can be united, and that we care about one another, and the grid as a whole.
Ordinal Malaprop on October 1, 2009
On the other hand:
* it shows that what community there is is entirely divided, with people saying “I hate copybotting! what, those group freebies were copied, how could I have known” or “you know who’s the problem here? Free accounts / Brazilians / furries! They’re to blame, ban them!”
* the “designer community” still seems to be doing the same thing as ever, to me – not that I think they should necessarily be doing anything different, but it’s not a benefit;
* the amount of ill-informed technical nonsense out there increases tenfold with every event. “Why can’t they just encrypt everything? That would solve it!”
* nothing actually changes in terms of how much copyrighted material is illegitimately copied, though some people feel better about themselves.
Annyka on October 1, 2009
don’t forget its also responsible for no-mod scripted hair
Ordinal Malaprop on October 1, 2009
Annyka: oh lord yes, and all the god-awful no-mod stuff generally. Scripted quite often by morons too.
Isara Beaumont on October 2, 2009
It causes content creators to do silly things to defend themselves. Silly, because it inconveniences honest customers, probably does little to deter professional thieves, and only stops amateurs who would never ever have spent money to buy from that shop anyway.
Just this week I TPed into a shop, only to be greeted by a pop-up telling me that I would be ejected after 15 seconds unless I click a button to confirm that I’m a person and not a (copy-)bot. Needless to say that I would never buy from a shop using such an abomination.
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