The discussion on copyright in cyberspace has just gotten a new facet: The use of a script called copybot allows copying of virtual things created in Second Life without the consent of the owner. In a crisis meeting the Sellers guild has pushed Linden Lab to enforce the rights to their creation.
Linden is obviously committed to closing the gap exploited by the script and proposes the use of Creative Commons licenses in Second Life and a system to transparently label goods.
This is for sure an interesting discussion to follow as we can see a digital property system emerge in a virtual space. It is especially interesting to see what consensus will be reached among the Second Life community and how Second Life’s DRM system will finally be calibrated.
3 Responses to “Theft in Second Life?”
- 1 Pingback on Mar 2nd, 2007 at 11:01 am
- 2 Pingback on Mar 14th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Leave a Reply
Search
About
Wolf Richter is a doctoral student at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII). His main focus is the law and economics of intangible goods in the age of the social web
My daughter is a “resident” of second life and had a very upsetting experience on Sunday – she was the subject of a theft of her home – basically a home invasion type situation – 3 people showed up on her property – threatened her – then her “home” was gone. She complained to the landlord – people who threatened her had some connection apparently, but I’m not sure exactly what. She reported it to Linden Labs and their IT – they told her to “get a lawyer”. One of the second life bloggers (she blogged it and they responded) was sympathetic about situation – paid her the lost value of the home. But she wants to know what else she can do – would like to get her home back and make sure something like that can’t happen again.
Any suggestions would be really appreciated.
Thanks so much.
Connie (Canada)