Cristiano

Ugh, this is getting tiresome. Someone has copied Ozimals new bunnies, which are currently in an open beta test. The rippers have been DMCAed and their store has been taken down, but my question is how the hell did they get the scripts? I thought they were secure, or is the porous permissions system in SL circumvented yet again?

For more info, here is the plurk announcement:

Candy Bunny says FYI, it is true that Ozimals bunnies were ripped and copied, then they took them & copied almost our - #2l610t

I hope the Ozimals team gets everything resolved - they have put a tremendous amount of work into this project, and don't deserve this - no one does.

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Fred Rookstown

Long answer:
According to some friends who know a guy who knows a guy, there are at least a dozen open script theft/asset theft/permissions bypass exploits that LL hasn't fixed or the fixes are still going through QA.

Short answer:
Yes

eku Zhong

oh FFS not the bunnies too...

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Polo

I can imagine that dealing with those exploits is tremendously complex and time (and labor-cost) consuming.

But think of all the killer ideas that people must be reluctant to bring to market, for fear of having knock-offs up for sale the next day...

Wildefire Walcott

That is a shame, really.

But will someone PLEASE copybot those goddam fucking chickens already?

EDIT: From the twitter comments, sounds like that's already sort of happened. Ah... that kind of makes my day at least.

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Nimue Jewell

Well, that's just depressing.

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My Snapzilla

Ann Otoole

been telling them they have to write that TOS right and make accessing the network with counterfeiting viewers unauthorized. Only then can they "outsource" the problem to the taxpayer dollar paid law enforcement people for investigation, prosecution, arrest, conviction, imprisonment, and convict justice.

Heck Congress is finally moving to make identity theft related activities fall under racketeering. (You must buy identity theft monitoring systems or "someone" will steal your identity) When are they going to do the same for malware and viruses?

Basically the nuts and bolts have to be tightened up and the generation of self entitled people stealing everything needs to be "reset". Good luck with that. That "horrid thieves generation" is going to become congress lmao.

Charles_D

LL really needs to examine their bugfix and subsequent QA process. The glacial bug-fix rate is laughable.

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Casper Priestman

This is just sad. Waiting for the Ozimal bunnies was like waiting for Christmas and then finding out Santa was mugged and his workshop trashed. The more this happens the wider the gap spreads between endearing customers and alienating them with whatever methods to prevent or deter copying.

Gigs

I don't know what a "counterfeiting viewer" is.

You don't need a TOS modification to prosecute the unauthorized use of a computer system. It's already unauthorized to use a security exploit on the servers. This isn't some "copybot gray area", where the things are normally sent to the client...

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Ann Otoole

They are not authorized to use clients to circumvent DRM and yes LL says that stuff is DRM as a matter of public record. Therefore circumventing DRM constitutes unauthorized data access and data is downloaded without permission. Go discuss this with the cyber crimes division of the FBI if you don't believe me.

Except it is nothing unless charges are filed. And LL isn't going to turn on their "contributors" anytime soon unless they want to lose all the defect fixers.

Academic really. quid pro quo is necessary to get hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of coding free.

Gigs

Fuck you. I'm sick of your implication that open source people are copying stuff.

Cristiano

Hello overkill - I agree, I think LL blatantly relied upon open source programmers to fix their mistakes for free. It's not an attack on open source.

Siggy

Well, that sucks - and as I stated in other threads on this subject... What totally sucks is that this is the reward for innovation and ideas.

Inch by inch, SL slowly rides into a den of mediocrity... This is exactly why many of the ideas I have rarely see the light of day anymore.

I weigh up the effort, research, and work, against the possibility that whatever I come up with (if its good) will have a lifespan of days.

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And as it was in the beginning, so too shall it be in the end. That bullshit is bullshit, it just goes by different names.

Ann Otoole

Gigs you can stop your automatic attacks now. Just makes you look not smart.

Nothing to do with OS folks copying. Last time I checked probably none of them would need or want to.

What I am saying is that LL cannot go after the entire open source community with ridiculous restrictions and finger pointing or Linden Lab will lose their primary viewer defect correction resource.

Ostracization of a valuable resource is stupid.

The best thing that could happen is LL go after the GPL violators and sue them so their real life identities and addresses would become a matter of public record. Then let nature take it's course. I doubt any of them would ever come near SL again. Problem sorted.

Without open source developers exactly who will ever make a viewer framework that supports MMORPG style skinning with customizable hot bars? Linden Lab? hahahaah never gonna happen. They don't have leadership that thinks that way about SL much less even remotely understands wtf I just said.

Gigs

Read it again.

Purple Hyena

What a shame.

Gigs

This is bullshit backpedaling.

"LL won't turn open source developers over to the FBI for content theft because they don't want to lose the bug fixes." There is NO OTHER WAY TO READ THIS.

Gigs

For some context, this isn't the first time Ann has libelously attacked the open source community, accusing us of "fraud and theft":

She was talking about dsiplaying texture UUIDs in the client here...

Ann Otoole

Hmmm... from a psych perspective your over response is rather interesting. But your interpretation of written word is not accurate. My statement pertains to people using viewers for illicit purposes.

As for "Neil" and his other cohorts that are not even source code contributors well they are the ones that GPL enforcement can deal with. But I do not see LL doing that. If LL was inclined to enforce GPL they would have long ago. And then there is the ramifications of sudden enforcement activities during that lawsuit thing. That might be a problem too.

Just because I say I don't think LL will do something doesn't mean I think the reptilians are in control of Linden Lab or some weird conspiracy theory.

Ann Otoole

How's that display of texture UUIDs you do not have full permissions on going these days?

Gigs

No, your statement was that there was a "quid pro quo" of Linden Lab turning a blind eye to open source developers stealing content in exchange for bug fixes. It's right there in black and white. Stop trying to change what you said after the fact.

Ann Otoole

Your continued insistence everything has to do with potentially criminal activities is disturbing.

quid pro quo in this case means not being assholes generating kneejerk responses the mob is currently yammering for on LL's blog forum.

LL asks for personal registration data to facilitate GPL enforcement instead of banning third party viewers and requiring all code be submitted to Snowglobe and in exchange OS devs agree not to do stuff like post export code on pjira defect report pages and agree to work with LL in respect to the currently impossible requirements that import subsystems restore creator metadata. That is quid pro quo.

Not sure much can be done about the import/export stuff at this point. I once had a project manager that tried to fire me because I refused to write code on a database that did not yet exist and that the PM insisted database creation be placed at step 4 instead of in front of coding to be performed on the platform. The firing did not go well and I was the one who escaped without a scratch. I hope that "read a tech magazine a few times" mentality is not going to run LL.

Gigs

You were the one talking about turning open source contributors over to the FBI and filing criminal charges.

Ann Otoole

Users Gigs. Users. Like the asshole that tried to sell me a counterfeit skin in someone's skin store before realizing he was talking to the devil.

Make it hurt to use the tools in bad ways and the bad ways use will fade away. Did you know Congress is moving to make certain computer crimes relative to identity theft and fraud fall under racketeering? And then there is ACTA. Things are being tightened up.

As for the people like Neil how many times must I state that I do not associate him and his cohorts with Open Source contributors. I don't recall "Neil" or the PN submitting any code to Snowglobe. I instead call for LL to enforce GPL so the real life identities involved will become a matter of public record.