LagNMoor: A victim of content theft. Image Credit - Sakura Sands.
No surprise there, really. For all the talk about a roadmap to protect the merchants of Second Life and clamping down on Third Party Viewers, my own blog (and a few others) were bombarded by somebody spreading spam of a new copybot client they’re selling. But that’s hardly the Lab’s fault..
What is the Lab’s fault is the closure of Maxwell Graf’s gorgeous LagNMoor sim which he deleted over the weekend.
The frustration of SL designers continues, and Linden Lab’s lack of effort to help the community is throttling the artistic movement at the neck as sim owners wise up to the Lab’s overinflated prices.
After Filing a DMCA, waiting for 6 days, I was sent the response that “LL has sucessfully and expeditiously removed the content listed from those locations and the inventory of the avatars.” Excellent, right? Not so:
Within an hour of getting this email, I went to all of the locations listed and the items have NOT been removed. 4 sims of my content still sits there, being sold and distributed through vendors, rez boxes, etc. Hundred of pieces of my work – sections form my carriageway house, my garden set, my sculpted prim pack, furniture from my store. One of the houses is even called “maison Rustique.” Nice touch.
So, with some of the removals team members fired recently, it seems they are now limiting the enforcement of the third party viewer policy to merely sending you useless documents to make you feel like they have done something to protect you, when in fact they have not done anything but send you a document saying they have. Im not really up to speed on the legalities of this, but it seems to me that telling me they’ve acted on a DMCA when they haven’t would be against some kind of law. It should be if it isn’t, but then this is typical of the perfect loopholes that exist within the framework of the TOS policy and the DMCA policy that make it next to impossible for you to do business here.
Those avatars still exist in world, despite my filing on them, LL admitting that the persons were found guilty by way of removing the items from them, and despite 2 other people having filed on this person in the past for similar offenses. Just what exactly do you have to do to be removed from second life? I think we all need to ask that question. Supposedly, the 3rd party viewer policy was designed to help them remove people like Skatman and his alts, to give them more authority. From the working end of that policy (which hasn’t stopped any 3rd party viewers from coming to my sim, unlike my CDS which works fine still…) I can say my experience leads me to conclude that it is designed more than anything to make it look like the lab is finally being pro-active about theft. In a word, BOLLOCKS.
~Maxwell Graf
Couldn’t have said it much better myself. The Lab has never and probably will never care much about content theft until it starts hitting them in the bank account. The sacking of several concierge staff makes it even harder for SL users to get any assistance, and in most cases you end up begging an OnTyne to do something.
Join us next time on Metaversally Speaking for more ‘Same Old Shit, Different Day’.
Saffia Widdershins on June 30, 2010
Is someone claiming that the Lab is being proactive about content theft?
*Looks around in surprise*
Must have missed that.
And http://primperfectblog.wordpress.com/2010/06/25/step-up-linden-lab-before-the-creators-step-away/
Tweets that mention Linden Labs Finally Being Proactive About Content Theft is “Bollocks” « Metaversally Speaking.. -- Topsy.com on June 30, 2010
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mal Burns. Mal Burns said: "Linden Labs Finally Being Proactive About Content Theft is “Bollocks”" http://bit.ly/a6W5v7 [...]
kesseret on June 30, 2010
I read Maxwell’s post. It is truly sad. The neglect from the Lab is really taking a toll.
Troy McConaghy on July 1, 2010
If Linden Lab didn’t care, they never would have put the modify/copy/trans permissions system into Second Life in the first place.
If Linden Lab didn’t care, they would have claimed ownership of all intellectual property created in Second Life. In fact, that’s how most game worlds work, and that’s how SL worked until Linden Lab changed their Terms of Service.
The people to complain about, to be mad at, are the people doing the intellectual property infringement. They’re the ones breaking the law.
Even if Linden Lab banned all third-party viewers and managed to keep them from connecting to the SL grid, people would still be able to copy SL content. People were copying SL content before third-party viewers existed.
Here’s what will happen: people will either figure out how to make a living in SL *despite* IP infringement, or they won’t. The ones that don’t will leave SL. The ones that do will stick around and thrive. The law of the jungle operates in SL as well.
Walmart didn’t quit because they couldn’t stop shoplifting. iTunes didn’t shut down because of Pirate Bay. Rolex is still in business despite the fact that you can get cheap imitations on the street. Best Buy still sells lots of DVDs. And SL will continue to exist, even though there are a few criminals running around.
Opensource Obscure on July 1, 2010
thanks Troy, I couldn’t have said it better. That’s the right way to frame the whole thing.
Tweets that mention Linden Labs Finally Being Proactive About Content Theft is “Bollocks” « Metaversally Speaking.. -- Topsy.com on July 1, 2010
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Opensource Obscure. Opensource Obscure said: great comment by @TroyMc re: #LindenLab, UGC, illicit copies in #SL and economy at @pradprathivi http://bit.ly/dwiPwn [...]
Dale Innis on July 1, 2010
While I definitely feel for the person whose IP is being ripped off, becoming upset because things have not been all fixed *six days* after initiating a legal proceeding is unrealistic. In the ideal world everything would be dealt with correctly and instantly; but this isn’t the ideal world. It’s a pain that it takes more than a week to get a decision and action and everything sorted out, but Linden Lab is hardly worse than average on that. Try starting a copyright proceeding against someone ripping off a flickr photo contrary to the license, and see how far you’ve gotten in a week.
A reply like “thank you for your email, but the following ripped items are still present at the following locations” would perhaps have been more effective than leaving in a huff. I hope Mr. Graf finds a venue for his work that has more effective and efficient IP enforcement than SL; unfortunately I think he’s unlikely to…
Prad Prathivi on July 1, 2010
It’s not really that unrealistic when you receive a reply from LL saying the offending items have been removed, when they blatantly haven’t. That’s just a plain lie.
Dale Innis on July 1, 2010
… or perhaps an error, that one could help correct?
Frans Charming on July 1, 2010
I agree with Dale, I suspect a Error, or perhaps a very strict following of the DMCA.
We haven’t seen the notice that was send to LL. To get it all removed every single item would have to be listed in the notice, I think.
Was that done?
Serendipity Seraph on July 7, 2010
Well, I feel this person’s pain and in no way support theft. However, be careful on condemning or limiting 3rd party viewers. As I read the current TOS LL gives no means whatsoever to legally back up content or to even really own content others have built to hire or that the creators want to cede you full rights to because you paid for it or the content is effectively would be Open Source. This is a very serious problem for many people not at all about ripping anyone off. It is a lock in to SL only and it falsifies real ownership and copyright as it precludes full rights to control what one has created.