Quote:
Originally Posted by Gigs  I absolutely don't.
The current system misleads the uninitiated into thinking it's possible to control the copying and transfer of downloadable assets through technical means. It is not.
There are no technical means.
Yeah just ask Richie how big I am on socialism. |
But the reason you give - in the second paragraph there - isn't sufficient enough reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
The permission system *is* a technical means. Not a perfect or foolproof means, but then, what is?
Coupled with rules by the powers that be that copying other people's items without their permission is against the TOS, it serves quite well. It does control the copying and transfer of things without the maker's permission.
So you would get rid of the technical means of preventing wholesale copying (the permission system), just so a few people wouldn't be "fooled" for a time, thinking their things couldn't possibly be copied by rogues? Then you would have even less control, for very little benefit.
To show you what I mean, I'll put it all in purely hypothetical numerical percentages.
(I'm totally making these percentages up.)
(1) People in
SL at any given time who are "uninitiated" (i.e., who don't realize Copybot and the like exists): 40%.
Merchants in
SL at any given time who don't realize Copybot and the like exists: 10%.
(2) People in
SL who look at the permissions and surmise that copying a no-copy item would be illegal: 99.99%.
People who look at the "no-copy" and think it would still be perfectly legal to copy it anyway, once they find a means: .01%.
(3) People in
SL who use Copybot programs to copy other people's things: 1%.
People in
SL who might just take a copy of something if there were no permission system preventing it, even if the maker had a paper they were supposed to honor, and even if it were illegal: Probably a whole lot more than 1%.
So . . . using my totally made-up figures here, you can see that whereas now we have 1% copying going on, if you removed the permission system (the copy part, I believe you are discussing), we would have rampant copying.
And what for? Who would you be "protecting" by removing the permissions system? Certainly not the merchants. The only benefit of getting rid the available technical means of preventing wholesale copying (the permission system), would be just so a few people, mostly incoming new players, wouldn't be "fooled" for a time, thinking nothing could ever be copied by rogues.
I don't think people need such protecting, particularly not at the expense of all the merchants. Most people realize there are hacks and cheats galore in every online game or environment. That doesn't mean that you should remove what protection exists. If you did, most people would no longer make stuff to sell in
SL.
I can sit here and tell you that people are idiots if they think locks on doors will prevent all theft forevermore. Because locks absolutely will NOT prevent theft, if the thief is skilled and determined enough. They will, though, prevent most theft, for most people.
Not being foolproof isn't a good reason for throwing the locks out with the bathwater.
And doing it simply to spare the feelings of the naive is an even less compelling reason.
By your line of reasoning, perhaps we should get rid of everything else on the Internet designed to provide security, because hardly anything provides total security. But then - I don't think people would do much on the Internet at all.
So, I don't think your reason is good enough.
coco