{"id":4113,"date":"2014-07-16T23:58:58","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T22:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?p=4113"},"modified":"2014-07-17T00:01:53","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T23:01:53","slug":"second-life-terms-of-service-updated-but-has-anything-really-changed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sl.governormarley.com\/?p=4113","title":{"rendered":"Second Life Terms Of Service Updated But Has Anything Really Changed?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Linden Lab today blogged :\u00a0Updates to Section 2.3 of the Terms of Service<\/a>. I’ll come to the changes shortly. The terms of service also include changes to section 3.3 of the terms of service. Previously this dealt with age verification for adult and mature content. They’ve now merged Skill Gaming terms in there too, which is sensible to be fair.<\/p>\n

However I’ll be honest, I’m not really sure what has changed with regards to section 2.3 in reality. I can see some words have changed and there’s mention of Second Life but when it’s read as a whole it still looks very unfriendly to content creators.<\/p>\n

Old TOS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Except as otherwise described in any Additional Terms (such as a contest\u2019s 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.” <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

New TOS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Except as otherwise described in any Additional Terms (such as a contest\u2019s 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, modify, display, publicly perform, transmit, publish, broadcast, translate, make derivative works of, and sell, re-sell or sublicense (through multiple levels)(with respect to Second Life, Inworld or otherwise on the Service as permitted by you through your interactions with the Service<\/strong>), 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.” <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The part I’ve bolded under the new TOS is the change, that appears to be it. This also only seems to apply to the terms prior to the statement about this being with respect to Second Life. The part after that still seems to give Linden Lab permission to do anything they like with user generated content and seems to contradict the limitation.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I am in agreement with Inara Pey<\/a>\u00a0when she says :<\/p>\n

While this may be an attempt to clarify the meaning and intent of the ToS, I cannot help but question it\u2019s overall effectiveness \u2013 although I do so with the clear statement that I am not a lawyer, so this is simply unqualified opinion.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, the revised wording does apparently set out limitations, but the context in which this is achieved seems to be confusing.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like Inara I’m not a lawyer but the wording seems to be confusing with regards to context and if the part after the limitation still means Linden Lab can exploit content in any manner whatsover, without limitation, then we’re really not much further forward here at all.<\/p>\n

The Linden Lab blog post said :<\/p>\n

First, the modified version limits our rights with respect to user-created content in Second Life by restricting our use \u201cinworld or otherwise on the Service.\u201d Additionally, it limits our right to \u201csell, re-sell or sublicense (through multiple levels)\u201d your Second Life creations by requiring some affirmative action on your part in order for us to do so. This language mirrors the corresponding User Content License currently in Section 2.4, which has been part of the Terms of Service for years. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The part of the TOS about limitations to the Second Life service is in the middle of the paragraph, does it continue to apply to the rest of the paragraph? If it doesn’t, then really, nothing substantial has changed here.<\/p>\n

The new TOS still contains extremely content creator unfriendly terms such as :<\/p>\n

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<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To put this in context, the old old terms of service<\/a> used to say :<\/p>\n

You agree that by uploading, publishing, or submitting any Content to or through the Servers, Websites, or other areas of the Service, you hereby automatically grant Linden Lab a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sublicenseable, and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the Content solely for the purposes of providing and promoting the Service.<\/em><\/p>\n

You understand that this license enables Linden Lab to display, distribute, promote, and improve the Service. 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 7.2 is referred to as the “Service Content License.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now that is a lot more friendly to content creators, clearly points out that these permissions are required by Linden Lab for providing the service and has clear limitations. Alas the same cannot be said for the new terms of service.<\/p>\n

Whereas the Ebbe Altberg era has heralded greater transparency, better communication and in many ways a feelgood factor, the TOS issue has been the one area where Linden Lab have not been very forthcoming and have not been open to sensible discussion. Linden Lab have not once attempted to explain why they need such a content creator unfriendly terms of service and I find this a tad disappointing.<\/p>\n

I’ve long said that I believe Linden Lab when they say they have no ill will regarding content and have no plans to do anything untoward, but from where I’m sat, the new terms of service still doesn’t reflect that intent, which is a great shame because when I saw this blog post had been posted earlier this evening I had great hope that the matter would largely be resolved, unfortunately it still seems that the waters are very muddy.<\/p>\n

I’ll be more than happy for someone to point out that I’m reading this wrong.<\/p>\n

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