The announced actions against copybotting and content theft could mean very, very dark times for OpenSim; CW: long (over 4,700 characters)
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Brad Oberwager and Philip Rosedale of @
Second Life have announced to take much,
much mor drastic measures against content piracy within as well as originating in Second Life.
Some sources:
Linden Lab may soon act when:
- you have stolen content in Second Life
- you have uploaded stolen Second Life content somewhere
- you offer stolen Second Life content somewhere
- you host stolen Second Life content somewhere
- you tell others how to steal Second Life content
And "act" means:
- they'll terminate your Second Life account
- they'll purge any and all creations from this account from Second Life, including in-world and from other avatars' inventories
- they'll terminate every last one of your alt accounts
- they'll purge any and all creations from your alt accounts from Second Life, including in-world and from other avatars' inventories
- they'll file a DMCA notice against you
- they'll file a Cease & Desist against whatever you've done and wherever you've done it
- they might even start a criminal lawsuit against you, drag you to court and have you convicted
Now, most talk concerning these measures is in Second Life and/or only concerning Second Life. But
OpenSimulator, especially grids connected to the Hypergrid, have been flooded with stolen Second Life content for many years already. My estimation is that over 95% of all sim decoration and at least 99% of all avatar accessories were stolen from Second Life.
Granted, no-one makes any money with this content. And we're talking about over 3,000, maybe over 4,000 individual grids, the vast majority of which are connected to the Hypergrid. But the availability of even premium Second Life content as freebies in OpenSim makes OpenSim more attractive to non-creators than Second Life and gives it an unfair and illegal advantage in the competition between virtual worlds.
If Linden Lab went all the way against OpenSim, the effects would be devastating. Grid by grid would be shut down, either by their admins or by the authorities, and their admins might end up behind bars with a permanent criminal record, just because there's illegal Second Life content on them, maybe even available in freebie stores.
This would not only affect the small grids that are based around young and extremely popular freebie stores that are constantly being supplied with a stream of freshly copybotted content.
OSgrid, the first public grid, the oldest still existing grid, one of the two largest grids with a bigger landmass than Second Life itself and the main testbed for OpenSim's development, would meet its end, and its entire eight-piece grid staff would be convicted for what's on externally attached sims like Agora or Nutella or, in fact,
any sim that isn't 100% squeaky clean. In fact, I dare say it's hardly possible for a grid to be so aseptic that it couldn't possible be a target of such actions. One local avatar with a Second Life body, and a grid could be toast.
Better yet: The Lindens won't even have to go look for illegal content in OpenSim themselves. A new category for Second Life support tickets will be created to report cases of stolen Second Life content. If you think this won't be used with malicious intent, I have a bridge to sell you.
Philip Rosedale said that Linden Lab will take care that this won't be weaponised within Second Life. But neither he nor Brad Oberwager nor anyone else at Linden Lab would even
notice if it's being used as a weapon in wars between grids, communities or single users in OpenSim. In OpenSim, this report feature could be used as a
salted thermonuclear weapon that can not only permanently destroy grids of any size, but all their staff in real life along with them, even those who have never had Second Life avatars.
And believe me when I say that, especially in the German-speaking OpenSim scene, there are enough open conflicts and enough complete nutbars who would "push the button" with glee to get rid of grids and users whom they have a problem with. I think there's only one German grid that couldn't possibly be destroyed this way, and that grid is almost unknown and has spent over a decade under a rock. Our only salvation is how slow the German legal system is, and how digital legislation has yet to arrive in the 21st century.
I've recently posted
a lengthy comment on this.
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