Inara Pey reported last week that there would be an In-world legal presentation on the recent updates to the Lab’s Terms of Service. I’m not breaking any new ground here, this post is about exactly the same thing.
The extremely contentious and ultimately for many of us, disappointing, changes to section 2.3 of the terms of service will be discussed as well as the new skill gaming policy. However as the deadline for that has been put back to September 1st it may not be such a hot topic. Alternatively putting the deadline back to September 1st may make for a healthier and less frenzied discussion.
The SLBA discussion is scheduled for 10:am SLT on August 2nd and will be hosted by Agenda Faromet.
The discussion will take place in the SLBA court room, SLURL : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Justitia/88/125/951
I remain deeply disappointed by the changes to section 2.3 of the TOS and I can’t quite fathom what Linden Lab were hoping to achieve with what appears to be, such a shallow change. Linden Lab really should not need some of the rights they are claiming to run the Second Life service.
From the comments I’ve received it’s authors and those who want to collaborate with real life organisations on writing, poetry and storytelling projects who have the most concern about the TOS because it hinders their abilities to form partnerships, as well as putting the value of their IP at risk.
I’ll be interested in following the discussion at the SLBA.
The SL Bar association have a mission statement of :
Our mission is:
(1) to educate the public and profession concerning legal issues arising from the Second Life virtual world;(2) to study the legal, business, and technical implications of the 3D Internet, including virtual worlds, and the Second Life virtual world in particular;
(3) to offer our members opportunities to meet and discuss the association’s interests with professionals from around the world; and
(4) to promote justice, professional excellence, and the rule of law in Second Life.
The SLBA was founded by Second Life avatar Benjamin Noble, aka Benjamin Duranske who until 2008 blogged at Virtually Blind, a blog about legal issues that impact virtual worlds. The blog still makes for interesting reading. The word on the street is that these days Benjamin works for Facebook.