OpenSim and copy protection

I attended heated debate about copyright protection in OpenSim due OpenSimulator Community Conference and I would like to write down some notes as a creator, open minded and pragmatic person, who prefers common sense instead of long sneaky lawyer speeches.

My first explanation is for pirates, the ones who are making copies and distribute them or sell them. Creators are the same guys like you. Imagine yourself, or your dad or mom, if you are not grown adult, as a programmer. You work for a month programming something for your boss, after this month your boss is excited by this work, he really likes it. And he says: “Well done, I like it very much and I will use it in our company, it will be huge help. I took the copy of your work, so I will not pay you anything this month, because I do not need your work, the copy of it is good enough for me.”
He is killing you. Literally, I mean killing, because if you will not eat for a month and will sleep in freezy wet gutter, you will die.
Plenty of people in Second Life, who making virtual stuff for living, are handicapped. They spent all the time laying or sitting in bed, they are using wheelchairs, they need other people to take care of them, because they was not so happy to be born healthy. It is not storytelling, it is the fact. Try to be a friend of at least 10 successful creators in SL, and let me know, how much of them are “normal” healthy people.
If you are steal 20 items and distribute them to others, you will kill one guy. Maybe it is not 20, maybe it is 10 items. Or maybe 50, hard to say.
So, pirates, you are not shaving Apple, Warner Bros or some Hollywood celebrities. You are shaving normal average guys like you, fathers and mothers, handicapped people. You are killing people and you killing them slowly. Can you live with this, pirates?
Maybe tomorrow somebody will invent the way how to copy your work, work of your spouse, your parents. There will be no more money for you, your partner, your parents… you know the end. You cannot live with it, pirates, you will die of it.

You can say: if everything can be copied, everything can be free. So, it does not work.
I was born in communistic country, and I have lived there long enough to find it does not work. If everything belongs to everyobody, nobody makes nothing. Or, in virtual language, people make freebies, good enough to let them for free to anybody.
That is the reason why OpenSim grids look like they look. Do not get me wrong, I got big respect to free stuff, to people like Linda Kellie and many many others.
But you really want your world or grid looks like that? Do you like 5 years old second hand stuff which people are feeling sorry to throw into dumpster? If it is good enough for you, it is ok, it is your choice. But please, do not push anybody else to live your life and make your choices.
As I can see plenty of people desire to use eyecandy stuff in OpenSim. They do not live in 2007 anymore…

As a creator I would like to offer possibility to download my items and use them on OpenSim grids. With no restriction of grid, once you bought it, I am expecting you can use it for all your avatars and all your grid. There is nothing different from selling in Second Life. I am selling my stuff with copy permission, I guess it is much “cheaper” for me then neverending customer support “I lost my no copy item, please resend me new one.” And I am aware every buyer can use it bazillion times at SL. It does not make much sense for fashion, but even my landscaping items are full modify, so people can set them for group or anybody to move and all the Second Life can play with this toy:)
There is no difference in this for OpenSim grids. I will sell it to you, you can play with it on all your playgrounds.
But… there are more buts:)

Downloading copies is not illegal in my country. Even if you know it is illegal copy, you can download it for personal use, it is legal. Uploading or sharing the copy, that is illegal.
You can disagree, but there is one good thing. People are not prosecuted when they download something and believe it is from legal source.
There are more countries with the same law, as a creator you have to count on it.

From this point of view the biggest problem is sharing of copies. If you download copy of my item for your closed personal grid, I will never know. I do not like it, if everybody will do it, it is killing me in the same way like distributing copies for free. But there is nothing to do with it.

I cannot protect my items by myself. Maybe you will be zealous fan of pants with my logo, but what about trees with branding on leaves or terrain textures with watermark on every tenth meter? I guess it is not much exciting offer:)

Developers of OpenSimulator or Viewers cannot protect me too. Every DRM, every code they will make for protecting content will be hacked and redeveloped. It is annoying for users, it is more work for developers and it is not efective against pirates.

As a creator I need to protect myself from Gods. From providers and owners of grids and their assets servers.
Unlike all the internet, in OpenSim there are better possibilities to delete copies, if grid admins want to do it. There are not millions of providers with thousands of different systems.
Like all the internet, server providers can delete the copies. Of course creators still have much work to prove their rights, but if they can, it is grid admins round to do what needs to be done.

A can make my own e-shop for OpenSim grids, it is not big deal with tons of WordPress or Drupal plugins. Every creator can have independent online shop and deliver to many grids.
There are some e-shops for some closed grids, and there will be more even with possibilites to export items to hypergrided grids. It is amazing, I like it and I want to use it.

But with the first big case of distributing illegal copies through grids and no actions on the side of grid admins it will be the same situation, maybe worst, then in Second Life. Plenty of upset creators, lawsuits, more rules for residents….

I am not a lawyer, but I believe in every civilized country there is a law for providers, server and webpage owners. If you know your users are distributing the illegal content via your technology, it was proved according to your guidelines or the law, you have to delete it and do everything you can to stop distributing it.
If you help knowingly to distribute illegal content, you are guilty too.
If you are admin of any community page or forum, you know that and you are responsible.

Are the grid owners and land providers ready for it? Do they realize their responsibility? Do they realize how much their actions (or inactions) affect the creators and the future of content at their grids?

By the way, do you know the broken windows theory?:)
It is more easy to fix one broken windows, then be lazy, do nothing, because it looks easier at the start… and at the end you find you have to demolish the building and start to build the new one from scratch.

I know, there are plenty of technical difficulties in OpenSim. There are different laws in different countries. (But do we need them? We are the first online generation, we are early adopters, we are changing the world:)
I am trying to find the main principles.
I can help you, I can improve your grid, I can deliver my content.
But I cannot do it without you, if you are grid owner. I need to be sure you will help me.

15 Responses to "OpenSim and copy protection"

Vanish says:

9.9.2013 at 22.05

Hi Zuza,

thank you for your thoughts. I’m one of the panelists on that panel, and probably the one you had in mind. I’ve put down my thoughts on this debate in a longer post which may adress some of your thoughts and questions: http://v.tgib.co.uk/2013/09/09/re-the-copyright-panel/

Be good,
V

Reply
Zuza Ritt says:

9.9.2013 at 23.05

hi Vanish, I did not mean you particulary, I do not know you and I have absolutely no idea, if you are really the person who makes copies, if you are distributor of copies or if you do anything else.
There are my common thoughts for this topic.
Thanks for link, I will read it and let you know:)

Reply
Lani Global says:

10.9.2013 at 0.04

I believe there are a lot of misconceptions about IP (Intellectual Property) Rights regarding virtual worlds, and the rest of the internet.

You have IP Rights. But, these rights are not given to you on a silver platter. IP law simply forms a basis of a legitimate platform for YOU to put out the energy to project civil protection of your property.

In the modern internet, of which virtual worlds are a part, there are many technological and traditional ways to implement various degrees of protection. These include proactive preventative measures, as well as public methods, private methods, and reactive settlement or litigation.

Nobody is going to protect your IP for you. If you want it, you have to go out and actively get it for yourself.

Reply
1. Zuza Ritt says:
  
  10.9.2013 at 0.47
  
  Lani, there is probably basic missunderstanding about the topic. I have never used the “IP Rights” for purpose. I do not discuss the law, simply because I am not lawyer, and I am expecting most of creators are not lawyers.
  
  Please, can you explain me your point of view? Specifically, I believe if I am creator, author of something, there is my right, only MY right, not anybody elses right, to decide what is can or cannot be done with my creation. Forever, in every cases, even in cases which are not known yet.
  
  Is it what you mean, I need to “deserve” my ownership of something, which I own? In this case, I do not agree and I am afraid law systems in many countries disagree too.
  
  In my post above I am explaining in which conditions I am willing to change my “license”, change the way how to dispose of my objects, and spread my stuff into OpenSim. If grid owners are not interested, or they want to own my objects and deny my authorship, that is their choice. My choice in this case is clear, I am not interested.
  
  Reply
  1. Lani Global says:
    
    10.9.2013 at 2.11
    
    Zuza, the Real World is not a walled garden.
    
    Walled garden proprietary entities, such as online gaming companies or Second Life, have internal methods they use to enforce their TOS within their game or virtual world on the servers they control. If some other player does TOS evil to you in the walled garden, you can cry to the Game Nanny and they might provide you with relief.
    
    In the Real World, there is no Game Nanny to universally enforce your Intellectual Property protection requests for you. In the Real World, if you have a patented invention, a trademark, copyrighted work, or trade secret — and someone infringes it — nobody cares! It is up to you to seek relief through private or public methods, and this relief takes energy on your part. It is not automatic.
    
    In the cyberspace of the OpenSim metaverse, the Intellectual Property “rules of engagement” are more similar to the Web. It is a patchwork of warning (license notices), proactive (preventative techniques), and reactive (takedown) methods.
    
    Your viewer’s “Permissions” settings for content are only one small indicator. These permissions settings are illusory for creators (and copyright owners) to use, and should not be relied upon for exerting Intellectual Property protection in the wide world cyberspace of OpenSim.
    
    Reply
    1. Zuza Ritt says:
      
      10.9.2013 at 11.07
      
      Lani, thanks for explaining.
      Now I got this part of “work.” I hope every sane person knows he or she is responsible for finding infringements and to be active for solving every issue. And I am aware it is the difficult part too, because of different jurisdictions etc…
      
      Walled garden is very nice simile:) OpenSim grid administration is walled garden for me, I cannot do anything inside the garden, it is reserved for grid owners and admins. Creators needs to know how the grid owners will respond for creators requirements for deleting copies.
      There are closed grids, including SL, where the rules are written in some form and the second part is how willing is support to communicate and how quick and exact they will be in problems solving.
      And there are open, hypergrided grids, where there is no contact, or nobody answers your questions about this kind of situation.
      Why would creators let spread their stuff into grids, where nobody want to answer, nobody care about them?
      
      This is the current situation – there is some content in closed grids, because grid owners are responsible, in some way.
      If residents in open grid without rules want better content, they got no chance. They have to go ask grid owners and make them responsible. The first round is on grid owners, not on the creators.
      
      That is my point of view and my suggestion for discussion – we have to be a community, we have to discuss together, if we want to advance it.
      
      Reply
Lani Global says:

11.9.2013 at 0.15

Hi Zuza,

Second Life is a Walled Garden.
It is like a fuzzy cocoon with a feel-good Nanny for your content, and lulls you to sleep. But there is a Dark Side. Second Life owns your content! Your SL avatar and everything you upload or create on Linden Lab’s grid belongs to Dictator Linden, forever.

OpenSim is like the Web.
On the web, you can run your own website on your own server, or rent a server. You can create content, images, and sell products on the web. It is exactly the same for OpenSim. You can run your own OpenSim region sim on your own server or rent a sim server. There is no “Nanny Web” and there is no “Nanny OpenSim” to sing an Intellectual Property lullaby for you. On the bright side, there is no “Dictator OpenSim” either.

OpenSim: Your content. Your freedom. Your responsibility.

Reply
1. Zuza Ritt says:
  
  11.9.2013 at 11.56
  
  So, I guess you are an admin of some Opensim grid? You let me enter inside to your administration and let me delete all the stolen copies of my own things in your grid, which I have never meant to give to people as a freebie?
  I am glad you are so responsible and you will guarantee my freedom for me and my property.
  
  Reply
  1. Lani Global says:
    
    11.9.2013 at 12.22
    
    Don’t shoot the messenger.
    
    Hey, I’m just a content creator, like you.
    
    By the way, some public OpenSim grids will do a DMCA take-down for you if you send one to them.
    
    Reply
  2. Lani Global says:
    
    14.9.2013 at 2.34
    
    Zuza Ritt said “I am glad you are so responsible and you will guarantee my freedom for me and my property.”
    
    Do you think you are entitled to free protection? No one else is going to guarantee your freedom for you and your property.
    You must pay for it, or do it yourself.
    There is no free lunch.
    
    Reply
    1. Zuza Ritt says:
      
      14.9.2013 at 15.14
      
      Do you guarantee safety of my children in your school during the time when my children will be in your school? No? So you never will see my children in your school, byebye, dont call again.
      
      I think now you are the one who do not understand, how this world works:)
      
      I guees you are not entitled to dictate how business relationship between subject has to work. If I want something based on the law (like deleting copies after I can prove there are copies of my work) and somebody else is willing to oblige his side will do that in some particlar rules, we can arrange our business relationship.
      
      If you need more rules for you and your creations, like “I will pay you, if you remove illegal copies, no matter it is against law if you will not do that,” please, make your arrangements for yourself:)
      
      I am here for finding the easiest way acceptable for both creators and grid owners.
      
      Reply
      1. Lani Global says:
        
        17.9.2013 at 2.34
        
        Look at it this way.
        You put an image on your website.
        Someone copies your image and puts it for sale on their website.
        What do you do?
Zuza Ritt says:

11.9.2013 at 12.57

Lani I am not trying to shoot you, sorry if it looks like I do.
I love my freedom and I respect freedom of other people. But people are different and so the idea of freedom.
I am trying to find what is acceptable for every parts – for creators, users, grid owners. I think people are not paying attention to others very often, they are not willing even think about walking in other people’s shoes… And this is start for missunderstanding and fighting…

Reply
Maria Korolov says:

10.10.2013 at 21.07

My suggestion to content creators:

1. Monitor the big public online marketplaces. They are the easiest to get to — you’re not going to be wandering around 100-plus grids looking for freebie stores, right? — and the easiest for shoppers to get to, as well. Shoppers want convenience just as much as the next guy. Sure, some of them will wander around looking for that one particular item they need for weeks, as a matter of principle, to avoid paying for it – but those guys aren’t your target customer, anyway. Your target customer is someone with money, who is willing to buy stuff. Hackers who distribute their stuff through tiny hole-in-the-wall freebie stores aren’t going to be getting much traffic.

2. Make it easy for people to tell you about illegal distributors of your content. If it shows up in a freebie store somewhere, make it easy for people to tell you about it. Have your contact info everywhere. And reward them with a coupon, or a unique gift, or something like that.

3. Follow up with grid owners, and provide specifics. This particular item, was seen in this particular store, on this particular region. Pretty much every grid of any size has a DMCA policy posted, or its functional equivalent if they’re in a foreign country. If they refuse to comply, they open themselves up to the possibility of content infringement lawsuits, or having their servers shut down by their hosting companies. Even China is cracking down. It’s getting harder and harder for the bad guys to hide. If they refuse to comply, email me: maria@hypergridbusiness.com. I’ll follow up. This stuff is important to me, because it hurts business.

4. Make it easy for customers to buy legal copies. Pick a marketplace, or set up a website, and distribute through there. Total Avatar Shop is a great model — http://www.totalavatarshop.com/. The Kitely Market is shaping up nicely, as well, and plans to offer delivery to multiple grids. Or do both. Have a Kitely listing, and include a link to your web shop for folks who want to buy directly.

Good luck!

Reply
1. Zuza Ritt says:
  
  10.10.2013 at 21.47
  
  Maria, thank you very much for your positive comment. Your suggestion is very reasonable and not hard to implement for anybody who considers himself a serious merchant.
  
  Reply

Leave a Reply to Lani Global Cancel reply