Quote:
Originally Posted by Gigs  Yeah WTF was that?
Coco: my point is, by the words you chose, you implied that all copying that contravened the permissions system was infringing on copyright. That is not the case. |
OK, I'm glad we're clear on that now. Using copybot or some similar mechanism to copy without authorization is considered against the TOS, and that is the letter of the law we must follow in
SL.
TOS supercedes any other law, insofar as actions in
SL are concerned; unless it can be shown that a law in the TOS itself is illegal in the greater world.
For example: You might go to a costume party, and people are practically unrecognizable. There's a Big Piece of Cheese there who is the life of the party, but nothing shows but his beady little eyes!
Your friend points to the Big Piece of Cheese and says, hey, who's that? And you say, "Well, he wanted to keep it a secret, but that's Joe Blow, the one who lives above the delicatessan on 4th Street. His number's in the phone book, if you'd like to get ahold of him."
Now, while Big Piece of Cheese might never speak to you again for blowing his cover, you have broken no real life law.
In
SL, though, if you divulge the real-life name, address and phone number of another resident, you have broken TOS and can find yourself kicked out of
SL.
That is an example of how additional rules of TOS can exist that don't exist in real life. Baring being illegal themselves, the expectations provided by TOS are what govern us.
So, the fact is, it is currently against TOS to use copybot or some other mechanism to make copies of other peoples' things without permission.
Given that, there's not much need to go into the special circumstances that might be termed "consumer's rights," but I want to anyway, and I'll get around to the first of those you mentioned in a little while.
coco