The Problem Of PG Guidelines

There are a couple of issues doing the rounds at the moment, which initially seem unrelated but at the heart of them there is a link, well I’m going to link them anyway!

The first issue is the Star Trek CBS Copyright infringement thread. The thread has some interesting commentary, in particular on page 4 where KellyO Mayo suggests Linden Lab come to an arrangement with CBS and introduce a system that pays a percentage of sales to a CBS account in return for allowing Star Trek items  to be sold on the grid.

Edie Shoreland gives the idea short shrift and suggests it should be residents who negotiate any such deals.

Both of them make good points, but really, there should be room for both arrangements, the glaring problem for a Linden Lab initiative is that the grid is not PG only and many brands get the heebie jeebies about being associated with any sort of image of a female nipple, although they’re happy as Larry to see their brands being perused on beaches in hotter climates where there are female nipples aplenty. I won’t get into a rant on the silliness of this but it does tie in with another issue, the IHeartSL fashion feed has gone PG according to reports, including a report over at New World Notes by Iris Ophelia.

One of the suggested reasons for the IheartSL change of heart …. oh dear… oh where was I, oh yes, one of the suggested reasons for the change of policy is that IheartSl runs Google Adsense and the guidelines for participating are basically that your site should be PG. Which links in with the issue of whether Linden Lab would be able to gain traction with brand partnerships whilst large parts of the grid are not PG.

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Are CBS Clamping Down On IP Infringements In Second Life?

Over in the merchants forum Steve Atlanta has created a thread claiming that CBS are clamping down on copyright violations within Second Life, the thread can be read here. CBS have every right to do this, being as they own the intellectual property rights along with their partners.

If you’re selling Star Trek material without permission from CBS then you’re treading on very thin ice. Where matters are always a little more complicated, is when you’re producing items for roleplay. Insignias are probably out of bounds and you should have a disclaimer that you’re not official somewhere in your covenant or parcel, but general roleplay is usually good for the franchise and is usually encouraged.

We’ve been here before, Battlestar Galactica roleplayers in Second Life felt the wrath of IP infringement and were then given the green light to carry on as long as they played by the rules. I seem to recall a similar issue with Dune roleplay.

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SOPA Fallout – The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

The fallout from the postponed SOPA legislation has at times got ugly, at times is has shown the bad and there has been a very little bit of good. There are also other external factors that show current legislation has teeth, uncomfortable teeth I should add. Yahoo News Reporting that Megaupload has been shutdown is a little disturbing, although really it’s for the courts to decide exactly what they’re guilty of, a Dutch citizen being arrested in New Zealand and a Hong Kong based website being shutdown suggest there’s not much need for SOPA. Those who had legitimate content on Megaupload are out of luck too, which is one of the problems when actions like these occur.

Then there’s the very disturbing case of British student Richard O’Dwyer as reported by The Daily Mail , who is fighting extradition to the USA to face charges related to running a website that posted links to downloads of copyrighted content. The website was allegedly managed from the UK and hosted in The Netherlands, so quite why he’s fighting extradition to the USA is baffling, if his activities are illegal or a case for the courts, any trial should be happening in the UK.

These issues are happening now, without the need for SOPA or PIPA. Yet Hollywood wants more, the MPAA Twitter account links to articles supporting their stance on SOPA, do they support the extradition of Richard O’Dwyer?

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Beware Of Geeks Bearing Gifts

Controversy continues to surround Stroker Serpentine’s full perm release of his Sexgen V5. There are certainly grey areas when it comes to intellecutal property rights, with three other creators involved, Corsi Mousehold, Briggi Bard and Craig Altman.

Craig Altman has commented over at SLUniverse that he has not granted permission for his animations to be released full perms:

The animations in this item of mine are being used against license, I have no agreement with Stroker for them to be given out in copy and transfer perms.

Corsi Mousehold talked to The Alphaville Herald the other day and suggested his animations shouldn’t be part of the package:

I could DMCA but in SL things can spread like wildfire. I would have to DMCA every single person I find that is giving it away. That’s a nightmare.

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The Stolen Village

As exhibitions go, this one is a little different, Oriolus Oliva has an exhibition at the Cellar Gallery on the Verdigris sim of what they view as content theft of ….. pretty much their whole sim! There is another similar sim and by way of pointing out the glaring similarities Orilous has put out pictures exemplifying their content and what they view as copied content.
The Stolen Village

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