Ciaran Laval

October 22, 2013

TOS Debate – It’s A Cyn

The TOS debate goes on, there’s an epic three hour (TLDL) video of a legal panel meeting inworld, which you can view here: http://youtu.be/jifM2n4ttSE. Now if that’s too daunting for you, Bixyl Shuftan comes to the rescue with a summary of the meeting (although Bixyl does point out that the video really helps to understand the details).

Personally I feel that the TOS oversteps the mark and really, Linden Lab should explain to their users where this is headed because the new TOS makes very uncomfortable reading. However when concerns like this are raised others see opportunities. Kitely have already done this with a blog post explaining their more friendly sounding TOS when it comes to content creators.

Now into the fray comes Cloud Party. Hamlet Au over at New World Notes posts information regarding a blog post from Cloud Party’s Cyn Skyberg. Cyn Skyberg used to go by the name of Cyn Linden and parade around Second Life as a pirate with a peg leg whilst being a fearless leader of the support team, she also had a taste for eels …… oh wait, that was the band, The Eels! I’m not making this up! More of that later, for now, the blog post from Cyn states:

“In short, our TOS states “Cloud Party does not claim any ownership right in any Member content”.

Photos, textures, materials, objects, models, scripts and all other content uploaded to our platform are owned solely by the user. We do reserve the right to use them for shameless promotion of the platform via marketing, but the content you create is, and always will be, yours. In fact, there is a “download original” button for everything you put into the service, so you can grab it whenever you like.”

The devil of course is in the detail and below the cut I’ll go into more detail about the detail, unless you’re already below the cut, then the detail will be right below this sentence!

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October 22, 2013

Second Life For Mobile Devices In Beta Testing

Second Life is not dead, it’s far from dead and development is not decreasing. I received an email today inviting me to apply to be part of a beta testing version of Second Life for Mobile Devices …. not quite sure why I’ve got this considering recent events but hopefully some of you will be able to participate in what could be an interesting development.

I won’t post the email in full as it contains links as part of the beta application process and I imagine that initially LL wanted a limited number of applicants but here’s part of that email:

“Hi Ciaran Laval,

We’re looking for enthusiastic beta testers to evaluate a version of Second Life designed for mobile devices.

Sound interesting? Then simply…(follow the secret steps I’ve excluded).

We’ll email those selected when the program begins and check in periodically over the next couple of months to get their feedback.

This is your opportunity to be among the first to try a new mobile version of Second Life, and we hope you’ll help us to make it a great product with your input.

Thank you for your consideration!

Linden Lab”

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October 19, 2013

Out Of SL

Former Linden Qarl (Mesh Deformer) Linden has announced he is leaving Second Life due to the updated TOS. I’m also leaving Second Life but for entirely different reasons, although I do agree that the new TOS oversteps the mark. I am leaving because I fell behind on my tier payments.

I have to say that during this troublesome period, Linden Lab provided me with some fantastic support, in particular from TJ Linden and Izzy Linden, who were very understanding but ultimately they can only be sympathetic for a limited period of time.

I’ve had a blast with Second Life, a very expensive blast but a blast none the less. I’m still hoping that I can resolve my account issues at some point but that doesn’t look like it will happen in the short term.

Now as for this blog, I will keep it going for a while at least. Reporting on Second Life is going to be painful, but not impossible. I may also report on other virtual worlds or experiences. There’s a whole heap of issues to blog about and now I have more time on my hands I may be able to look at a wider range of angles.

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September 28, 2013September 28, 2013

New TOS Needs To Be Rectified

Regrets, I have a few, but then again, too few to mention. I’m not in a good place with my Second Life right now, entirely my own fault and Linden Lab have been extremely wonderful. However, one area where I cannot praise Linden Lab is with regards to the new TOS.

Many of you will have seen it, many of you will have heard about it, many of you will be in fear of it:

“Except as otherwise described in any Additional Terms (such as a contest’s official rules) which will govern the submission of your User Content, you hereby grant to Linden Lab, and you agree to grant to Linden Lab, the non-exclusive, unrestricted, unconditional, unlimited, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, and cost-free right and license to use, copy, record, distribute, reproduce, disclose, sell, re-sell, sublicense (through multiple levels), modify, display, publicly perform, transmit, publish, broadcast, translate, make derivative works of, and otherwise exploit in any manner whatsoever, all or any portion of your User Content (and derivative works thereof), for any purpose whatsoever in all formats, on or through any media, software, formula, or medium now known or hereafter developed, and with any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed, and to advertise, market, and promote the same. You agree that the license includes the right to copy, analyze and use any of your Content as Linden Lab may deem necessary or desirable for purposes of debugging, testing, or providing support or development services in connection with the Service and future improvements to the Service. The license granted in this Section 2.3 is referred to as the “Service Content License.”

I’ve bolded some of the problem, but the simple fact of the matter is that this one size fits all TOS change goes way too far and is quite simply offensive to any content creator within or outside of Second Life. I have no idea what Linden Lab are playing at here.

Third party sites are quite rightly, running in fear.

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