{"id":2074,"date":"2012-06-17T10:52:42","date_gmt":"2012-06-17T09:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?p=2074"},"modified":"2012-06-17T10:52:42","modified_gmt":"2012-06-17T09:52:42","slug":"flickr-pickle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?p=2074","title":{"rendered":"Flickr Pickle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Linden Lab have recently found themselves in a user permissions pickle over their use of pictures for their pic of the day blog posts<\/a>. Wizard Gynoid pointed this out to me in a recent comment, whereby Whiskey Monday surprisingly found that her picture had been used<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The main issue is a lack of communication, nobody from Linden Lab told Whiskey that her picture had been selected. Photos submitted to the Second Life group pool on flickr<\/a> were being used on sites such as Facebook, Tumblr and Google +, no matter which rights had been selected by the author on flickr. There are two problems here, one is ignoring permissions but probably the larger issue is not informing the author. Most people would be happy to allow Linden Lab to use their photos for promotional purposes, as long as there’s attribution and communication.<\/p>\n

However in this case, Linden Lab have decided to make some changes, as Whiskey Monday outlines here<\/a> and create a new Flickr Group<\/a>, with new terms and conditions.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The new terms and conditions read:<\/p>\n

Submit your Second Life images for a chance at Second Life Pic of the Day as well as share your Second Life images and photos with other Second Life communities.<\/em><\/p>\n

By submitting your photos or other materials to our Flickr feed you acknowledge and agree to the following terms:<\/em><\/p>\n

By submitting my photos or other materials to the Flickr feed of Linden Research, Inc. (the “Company”) I agree to participate in the Photo of The Day program (the “Program”). As a participant of the Program I hereby grant a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to the Company to the images, snapshots, screenshots, photos and other materials I submit to the Program. Further, I understand that I have no right to any royalties or other compensation in connection with the rights granted above and waive any and all claims based on any such rights.<\/em><\/p>\n

I have read the above release and waiver and fully understand the content thereof.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you would like your photo(s) to be considered for use as a \u201cPhoto of the Day,\u201d please select the “Attribution” or “Share Alike” license in Flickr menu then submit the photo to the Second Life Official Flickr feed.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you do not agree to the terms above, please do not submit your photos to our feed.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now these terms are probably pretty standard, it gives Linden Lab permission to use pictures submitted to the group as they see fit but it seems a little over the top. I guess one good thing about the new Group pool is that people can still happily submit their photos to the older and more popular group pool on Flickr. In some ways this hoo-ha has ironed out some issues, but really, Linden Lab should inform someone that their picture is on pic of the day, even if they submit the pic to this new group pool, it doesn’t take long to add a link to a comment on someone’s pic.<\/p>\n

There is however one issue with the new official group pool, it’s an 18+ pool, meaning that minors who can legally enter Second Life, aren’t allowed to submit their pictures to the pool for consideration of pic of the day. The rules for pictures are safe level, but the group itself is set as 18+. I don’t know if this is an oversight or if it’s due to legal reasons.<\/p>\n

This whole episode reeks to me of oversight, rather than Linden Lab being underhanded, I would imagine the pictures were being used in the right spirit, but it was ultimately an oversight not to respect permissions and it was certainly a little off not to at the very least, inform an author. I hope they will now consider informing authors that their pictures are being use, not least because it also gives the author the opportunity to promote the picture and therefore Second Life itself.<\/p>\n

Pic of the day is a good idea, however Linden Lab may want to look at how World Of Warcraft do these things, they have a media section on their website<\/a> whereby you will find Videos, Comics, Fan Art, Screenshots, Wallpaper etc. There are a lot of resources out their promoting Second Life, Linden Lab should be trying to harness them.<\/p>\n

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