Recently a secondlife resident asked who basically owns the copyright of snapshots taken in and around secondlife.
At first I thought well obviously the photographer right? I mean if you take the picture, it’s basically yours to do with as you please. But then I thought well what if you take a snapshot of another secondlife resident, does that same “you took it you own it” rule apply?
For example say jane doe was prancing around her secondlife home completely naked and john doe happens to come along and takes a quick peek into jane’s window and takes a snapshot, then what? does john doe still own full rights to that snapshot? can john doe display it for all the secondlife world to see? Does john doe have an obligation to inform jane of his intentions or ask her permission to use?
Is there such a thing as right to privacy within secondlife? I mean really we have no way to protect ourselves and even tho we build our nice houses with tinted windows and lockable doors it doesn’t help does it?
heres an example and a question
If I was to snapshot say a texture that someone else has taken hours to create, then set about using the texture, thats a breach of someone elses copyright and I would be using that texture without permission which could then lead to DMCA’s and whatever else could be thrown at me right?, If such is the case, why then would it be ok to snapshot somebody else without permission and use it to your hearts content. This makes absolutely no sense to me.
Should the same rules in real life apply to secondlife, for example if I go out and take a picture of an unsuspecting stranger in lets say a compromising situation and then post it all over the internet not only would that be unethical but it would also open me up to some serious legal action.
Whats your take on the whole matter? (abusive comments will be removed)
If you don’t want to post a comment but would still like to share your opinion, feel free to email it to blog@sltruebluedesigns.com
All over the secondlife forums is what appears to be wide spread panic and chaos. Why? The Orphan Works bill currently being drafted (or already drafted, reports I’ve read are conflicted) for consideration in the USA.
What is it? Well as I understand it, it gives a person the right to use any artists work so long as they have tried to find the original copyright holder. This brings up quite a few issues for not only artists around the world but also for artists inside of secondlife.
You would have to register every piece of art wether digitilized or not and even then there is no gurantee that you are protected. Many have said this only affects US residents, No it doesn’t, it affects all of us worldwide, I for one who am in australia can not register my works in the united states and even if I could, How much would I have to pay to register every single texture I have created? Even if I somehow was able to register and pay whatever absurd amount, I still won’t be protected.
A resident from another country may simply say they found my hand created works, tried to locate me and couldn’t, therefore rendering my work an orphan and using/selling it to their hearts content.
What rules are in place? How can one prove they’ve searched extensively for the original copyright holder?
I for one hope this bill never gets passed, it seems to me that a bunch of bigwigs want to use our art (by our art I mean everybodies art) for their own gain without having to worry about paying the creator or worry about being sued for breach of copyright.
This whole thing to me seems like the typical “lets step all over the little guys while our big fat pockets get even fuller”
Have I got the details wrong? Am I not understanding this all properly? what is your view on the whole thing? (abusive comments will be removed)
Don’t want to add a comment but want to share your thoughts? email them blog@sltruebluedesigns.com
How many times have you heard someone say “Well you made it full permissions so I can do whatever I want with it?”
There has been many debates as to what is right and wrong when it comes to full permission items, some believe it is ok others believe it is wrong, The following is my opinion.
As a content creator I sell full permission animations & textures.
Why? I sell them as such for residents to use in their content creation, Not for residents to take my hard work and resell it to make themselves a quick dollar.
If you purchase a full permission item, do you have the permission to “do whatever you want with it?” the answer in my opinion is no. You can modify for use in your own creation, you can then resell your creation but you can not say take a texture bundle it up and resell that bundle.
Recently a petition to help protect content creators from such a thing was started it has so far to date has collected 382 signatures - petition can be viewed here
Linden Lab seems to be taking notice heres what the lindens had to say
Whats your take on full permission items? is it ethical to resell others works if they’ve made it full permissions? (abusive comments will be removed)
If you don’t want to post a comment but would like to share your opinion feel free to email it to blog@sltruebluedesigns.com
I’ve been watching several topics recently between a customer and a business owner and it appears to have gotten quite nasty. This got me thinking about the statement “The Customer Is Always Right”
Is the customer always right?
What recourse do we as merchants have?
Well the customer was rude to me, Can’t I the merchant be rude back?
All these questions can be answered with the following statement “How much do you value your business and or reputation?”
In real life if a customer does not get satisfactory customer service they have other options (different depending on country) here in australia we have consumer of business & affairs where we can lodge complaints aswell as a few other services.
However this is secondlife, Our options are quite different, If a customer doesn’t get satisfactory customer service their options can be quite limited, Here’s a list of options as I see them and my view on each.
1) Send abuse report to linden lab - Of course the chances of anything happening with this option is quite small, They very rarely if ever will step into a matter between secondlife residents.
2) Post to every public secondlife forum about how bad the merchants customer service is/was - Is this option effective? I think yes and no, Yes it informs others but at the sametime it also drives traffic to that merchant, it can also turn into something quite nasty which then does damage to your reputation aswell.
3) Put it down to a bad experience and let it go - Is it effective? Well the effectivness is entirely up to you.
What I do know is this, Loosing your temper and slinging insults isn’t going to get you better customer service.
As for merchants, We provide products, with those products comes product support and yes we do have an obligation to provide it, The only time that this becomes void is if you’ve offered it as a freebie or if for some unfortunate reason a million copies have found its way onto the grid, Then I think you shouldn’t have to provide support.
But for any other product we do have some obligation to provide support, If you can’t or won’t or don’t want to then maybe you should rethink being a merchant.
Do you have to sit there whilst a customer hurls abuse at you? I think not, But you should handle it with as much professionilism as is possible, For example “I’m sorry you are having difficulties and I’m quite happy to help try and rectify the situation, But I would appreciate it if you could calm down and explain what the problem is without insulting me”
Insulting the customer is not going to do your business or your reputation any good.
What kind of experience have you had either as a customer or a merchant? how have you handled it? what advice would you give to others in the same situation? (abusive comments will be removed)
Don’t want to post a comment but would like to share your thoughts? feel free to email them to blog@sltruebluedesigns.com
Hi,
Recently on the official secondlife forums someone started a petition to restrict free members to a 14 day trial, After 14 days a member would then pay $10USD to become a basic member.
* By free members they mean members without payment information on file.
As a premium secondlife member I have come to despise such tactics and the limitations imposed on free members. Why must we be judged by our payment status?
Alot of free members I know contribute greatly to secondlife and the economy some more so then alot of premium members. Should they be punished because of a few bad seeds who want to grief and mess up secondlife? No I don’t think so.
I believe that instead of being judged by payment status we should be judged based on our own personal merits.
I like majority of secondlife users are annoyed by griefers who have nothing better to do then grief the system and I honestly think that tougher penalties should be applied to people who choose to grief. But I do not and will not back any movement that would see free members targeted for doing absolutely nothing wrong.
I was going to post a link to the thread over on the forums but then I remembered that unless you have payment status on file then you can’t access it. Again I dislike this policy.
There are so many useful resources on the secondlife forums, Topics that cover your day to day secondlife along with a vast variety of topics to help create content. Maybe we would have less greifers in secondlife if those people were able to access these resources and learn to use their creativity in a more friendly manner.
Lets look at another limitation of free members. They can be banned/blocked from stores, land and other places purely because they have no payment info on file, How is this fair? What could this possibly accomplish? My thoughts, Nothing, This accomplishes absolutely nothing except making land owners, store owners and such feel like they are superior when they are not. If its any consolation however the person(s) who use this feature are loosing out on your business and such.
What are your thought and opinions on the limitations of free account holders? (abusive comments will be removed)
Don’t want to post a comment but want to share your thoughts? email them to blog@sltruebluedesigns.com
