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Questions about Linden Lab TOS

Questions about the Second Life TOS

Let me just start off by saying, I am not saying goodbye to Second Life! Also, even though this is my Monday Meme post, it’s not really a typical meme or challenge. There has just been so much talk about the new Second Life Terms of Service that were updated on August 15th, that I thought I would take this opportunity to ask a bunch of questions that have been swirling around in my head. I’m curious as to how everyone is reacting to this, what they think about it and what, if any, are their future plans. Will you be saying goodbye to Second Life?

Now, before I start with the questions, let me offer a few links that have a lot of information:

Now that you have taken a look at some of those links and caught up on what’s been going on about the TOS controversy, here are some questions for you to answer:

  1. Do you usually read the TOS thoroughly before you hit accept? No, I usually didn’t before. I’m pretty bad about that but I have been making more of an effort to read now. If I’m in a rush, sometimes I will Google or ask on Twitter about changes before I accept them.
  2. How do you feel about the new LL TOS changes, specially from August 15th and section 2.3. After reading it myself, then reading everyone’s opinions about it and finally listening to the panel a bit; I realize that the TOS changes are not exactly very friendly towards SL residents, specifically those that are creating content inworld.
  3. Do the changes affect you directly? I think they affect me indirectly in a sense since I use SL and even though I am not a content creator, I still purchase content and if content creators decide to leave then there won’t be much for me to purchase. Does it affect me directly? No, I don’t believe it does (I could be wrong?). I don’t own any sims, I don’t have a store. I just login, buy stuff, put together outfits, take pictures, blog and then I go back to my real life. It doesn’t affect me directly because I don’t earn my living on SL and I’m not dependent on it. To me, it’s just a form of entertainment.
  4. What do you think people should do about this new change? I’m not sure to be honest. I’ve been reading a lot about what people think. They believe that Linden Lab doesn’t really care about Second Life and they are just keeping it going because it still makes money and they use that to fund other projects and apps that they are looking to get into. Do I believe that myself? Maybe a little bit. I don’t know what people should do about it though. I do know that when Instagram changed their TOS last year, I was one of the millions of people that closed their accounts. I quickly realized that the majority of these social media companies have similar TOS and can use any of the content that we upload for just about anything. A good example of that would be the recent changes Google has made. I’ve pretty much disabled or closed all of my real life facebook, twitter, instagram and other social media accounts that I had. Now I just use Social Media with my SL pseudonym and try not to share too much real content on any of it. That’s not to say that I’m not protective of my SL content, (my pictures, blog posts, etc..) but I’m willing to accept their TOS when it comes to my SL content.
  5. Are you or have you ever thought about leaving Second Life? What would you do with your time/blogs/career if you ever did? I’ve never actually thought about leaving Second Life because of the LL TOS. I did briefly think about leaving it a while back for personal reasons, but I changed my mind. If I were to leave, or if LL were to shutdown SL, I would probably just find something else to occupy my time with. SL and blogging is my hobby. I can see myself possibly turning this blog into a social media or a RL fashion blog. My career would stay the same as SL does not affect that in any way.

You can answer these questions in the comments or in your own blog post. Since this isn’t really a typical meme or challenge, if you’re not interested in answering them or partaking in this discussion, feel free to do any of my memes/challenges from before.

I’ve been pretty quiet just watching all of this chaos since the TOS changes. I’m not sure what the future holds for Second Life, but I do know that as long as it is there, I’ll probably still be here, blogging about it.

Strawberry

Strawberry has been a Second Life Resident since 2007 and a Linden Lab employee since 2019.

58 thoughts on “Questions about Linden Lab TOS

  • WE should do something to stop the CHANGE Of the terms , and PLEASE don’t make SECOND LIFE extinct!!!

    we still need creators, we need designers, we need photographers, we need popular digital artist here !!!

  • Don’t break my heart, we NEED You !!strawberry to make me Laugh, make me happy , make me adore the imaginative in this digital world <3333

  • THAT’S WHY MY HEART STOPPED. YOU GOT MY HOPES UP, THEN I READ THAT FIRST LINE….

    Damnit.

  • I don’t think Bryn left Second Life. I think she just resigned from the LEA in protest.

  • Awesome meme for the week and a very important topic to be thinking about!

    I do believe Wizzy is right, Bryn hasn’t left SL, she has just resigned from LEA, but will continue to create amazing art in SL. Unless I misread her post! Agh! 🙂

  • Alice

    They’re not “leaving SL”, they’re simply deleting their content. And in some cases, refusing to take place in any “art” sims, that LL asked them to do, in order for LL to make money, all the while making the “artist” feel as if they’ve been given a special service.

    So this means, stores will close down.

    New stuff won’t come out.

    We’re screwed.

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  • You made me think, and worse, you made me go all ‘smartypanty’ on my blog. Me no like. Here’s a mango. http://wp.me/s3Fa2M-tosmeme

    On a serious note though…I’m just a regular user and I don’t create content per se. I am confident that LL won’t want to use stuff I will be creating anyway, unless all of you wants to start buying badly made mesh I’ve been experimenting with. Anyone wants a…I don’t know what to call it. Mesh blob? Untextured in all it’s dimply glory. LL will be the next Pixar from my creations! So, in a way, I am not overly concerned about it. But I am always curious when it comes to legalese.

  • Dee Wells

    From what I understood about Bryn’s comments, she felt uncomfortable introducing people to creating in SL because of the unfortunate wording of the whole Use Content section of the ToS, i.e. sec 2.3. I understand, and struggle with the same concepts, yet I feel that artistic creation is the way to bring mistakes to peoples’ attention. This is when artists might use the power of their creativity to reach people and make everyone think, rather than give up. I’ve seen some amazing things at LEA exhibits, and in general builds all over the grid–things that really made me think, and I’m stuck by what a waste it would be if the resource of freedom to create great 3D art can’t be used in the struggle to save itself. Either way, if a sensible compromise doesn’t surface, the exodus will continue, there is no choice.

    1) I generally always read the Terms of Use for the textures I used before this, and the flickr and Facebook terms, etc, but once I had read the LL ToS the first time, I’ve never read the whole thing again until the Aug 15th change came to light. Now I read everything, everywhere I sign in.

    2) I feel if LL needed room on the doc to stay healthy and continue to grow, they needed to consult with a competent lawyer before moving forward with what they did. I can think of ways to word the User Content section to give them the needed freedom of movement without the mess that’s now called section 2.3 chasing some very prominent SL residents away and leaving a permanent scar on the trust felt by the SL creative community.

    3) Yes, this has affected me directly. I’ve learned to only use Public Domain images or photographs I’ve made myself to texture my meshes. This has had an effect on the time it takes to make my pieces, and has slowed progress as it takes longer to secure textures for everything. This means that LL makes a bit less off me. I’m also more selective now about what I upload, further limiting the revenue they get from me.

    4) I’m with you on the whole concept of privacy and Terms of Use. I keep creating; building is therapy for me. Letting LL help themselves to my hard work is cheaper than paying a therapist (I would actually be honoured to contribute to SL’s success, but being forced to sign it over to them is just as much an insult to me as it is to everyone else who ever signed into SL). And good luck selling any of my weirdness anyway 😉 I just hope enough people feel that way, or feel like working to straighten out this mess before this type of silliness spreads throughout the 3d and online social network communities, because allowing a product with 30,000,000 registered users to flip-flop and attack the rights that LL has previously always promised to safeguard–whether they survive it or not–will have long-lasting implications throughout many electronic media industries. I’ll keep creating until the party’s over, but I plan to use my creations (with a healthy sprinkle of sarcasm and satire, like the art I love most) to make LL earn whatever I perceive they might get from me. I think everyone should be careful in sourcing 3rd party components of their builds, like textures, but that was always true. Now when we’re looking at licenses we look for CCO or Public Domain, but otherwise carry on. I can deal with LL taking my stuff and trying to sell it, but it’s easy for me to say that; it’s not very likely they’ll sell my goofy stuff. I don’t want to see creative people ripped off (any more than they already are), but I don’t want them to have to stop creating even more.

    5) I’m not leaving until they throw me out (or they go broke from taking short-sighted legal advice). If I do have to leave I’ll take the 3D modeling and texturing skills I’ve learnt and apply them to another field or elsewhere in the 3D community, in advertising maybe, or just go all the way to creating 3D art and find another way to publish it. I don’t make enough from SL to come anywhere near paying for my use of it; that was never the idea.
    Whatever happens, I’ve gotten a lot out of SL, a lot of friendships and experiences, seen some amazing inspiring creations, and learnt a ton. I just hope common sense prevails, and it can continue:D

  • Pingback: Questions About Linden Lab’s TOS: Should I Stay Or Should I Go? | Pics by Peep

  • I deleted what I wrote here originally but I wanted to say thank you for the post. I think most of my friends here know what I think about this discussion.

  • Rain Footpad

    I have been in 2nd life going on 9 yrs total. In them 9 yrs I have seen the TOS change so much it is hard to keep up with it. But I have a good friend that used to be a Linden but was fired back when Linden Labs was getting rid of some of their older employees . He told me that Linden labs doesn’t care no more about US the people who made 2nd life so popular anymore. It is all about the all USD$ and how they can make more from us the user. Linden Labs also if you don’t log in once a month can and will deleted your account without notice to you the user. As well as Linden Labs can shut down 2nd life without any notice to us the people who made what 2nd life is about. They don’t care about as I will say it low class people anymore. I also had a friend who sued Linden Labs for copy rights. If you are a old member you might remember his store it was called Strokers Sex Gen. He is the first one that made the Sex Gen Beds in 2nd life. When & still is around the copy bot viewer which was also made by a linden lab person came about . All his stuff was copy bot, since back then there was no questions in the TOS about you can’t sue linden labs. Well he did and won his case. I think the reason linden labs is putting more into the TOS now days is because they are being sued BIG TIME! They are losing all their court battles. But I always said one day no one is going to be able to log into 2nd life. Everything you bought with your real life money is going to be history. Why do you think worldz came about? The lady that owns worldz used to work for Linden Labs. I know this for a fact cause I’m in worldz since it came about she is a very good friend of mine. She told me lots what is about to happen.

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  • I’ll apply the same razor that Inara Pey applies (Hanlon’s Razor). As I’ve explained in my posts on the ToS changes, LL does not claim to “own” something you create in-world or upload to Second Life.

    However, the new ToS make SL less attractive for artists, because they are now deprived of the option to strike exclusive deals to content they present in-world first. Also, certain stock content providers might choose to disallow use of their materials in SL, claiming a conflict of SL’s ToS with their EULAs. Keep in mind, though, that some of these stock content providers have always had EULAs that by default did NOT permit usage of their materials in SL and OpenSim grids in the first place.

    Another, perhaps more adverse, aspect of the new ToS Section 2.3 is that LL can now co-opt on stuff you say in-world (in local chat, group chat, IM or in notecards). Considering that this stuff can be creative ideas, item building instructions or even business ideas, it becomes obvious that the “for any purpose whatsoever…” bit needs to be replaced with wording that limits the licence you provide to LL.

    Now, as for the “perpetual” and “irrevocable” bits, I’m not fussed either way. As I’ve explained in my posts, these are necessary for certain parts of the service. I happen to have a few items from people who have left Second Life at some point or another. With the “perpetual” and “irrevocable” licence, these items are still in my inventory and I can wear them (if they’re garments or wearable attachments) as parts of outfits; I can incorporate them in my own builds (if they’re textures, scripts, sculpt maps etc); I can use them during the building process (if they’re building aids that are still relevant). If their licence ended with their creators’ departure from SL, my inventory would suffer breakage. Think of it this way: You make a bookcase in RL. And one day you die (remember, death and taxes are unavoidable). The bookcase stays put. It doesn’t disappear after your death. The “perpetual” and “irrevocable” part of the ToS is the equivalent of this situation exactly.

  • My apologies for misunderstanding Bryn Oh’s post. I have edited my post now. Thank you for pointing it out! Also thank you to those that have shared their views about this topic so far, really appreciate your participation!

  • Noemi Azambuja

    MHM.
    I am not doing the Meme now, because i have to run for Rl in a bit.
    But i wanted to share my thoughts.

    I think LL shoudl rethink their TOS.
    I was finally super pissed after they shut down the Linden-RL Curency via third-party pages like virwox and so on. I know one is able to exchange RL money into Linden, but i want my lindens ( that i am working for ) to exchange in RL money for little rewards. I know i could exchange via Lindex, but the rate is horrible and i DONT want to place payment infos because that MY RL and i really dont want them to fuck around with their TOS the next time et voila, there is my Bank account for theri uses XD ( okay thats a hard example, but hey everything is possoble with Linden lab.)

    I would wonder if another thing would work Like SL for this company. Because many of my friends told me, that LL was working on many other games and everything flopped so badly, that you dont even know the names of the projects.

    I thoght about leaving, but i am a roleplayer and i really like the Rp community within Sl. So i would leave but i would maybe stop to create.
    Another thing that i really dislike is how the exchange rate dropped. the people who exchange lindens geting maybe 305 linden, when they got 410 4 years ago. Thats drops the market and makes the pricedumper with bad quality big and the small shops with higher quality and ( slightly bigger) prices to the “greedy” people.

  • Also, last time I put my thoughts here about this issue and stop hogging your comment box, Berry. Advance apologies!

    To Rain Footpad: this happens with anything that needs to improve. SL in 2013 does not look the same as SL in 2007. Heck, it didn’t even look the same in 2010. All these improvements are not free. Resources are needed for it, these resources are paid for in real world hard cash.

    LL is a business, SL is a product, we are the consumers. In order for a business to run, the product must keep improving to keep selling. Of course it will be about the USD sooner or later. You don’t really believe that Inworldz is exclusively created ‘just for fun’, do you, even if one of the founder is one of your ‘friends’?

    Alright, I’m done being an opinionated avatar today. Sorry Berry. My bimbo virtual is scheduled to be on for the rest of the week.

  • A golden rule of any enterprise that wishes to be successful on these insane crazy days where China rules and usa and Europe are slowly but steadily drowning!
    Keep your customers happy!
    Sl community is a World wide one, RL is not making easy to most to be on Sl as they wish, LL does not help either and incipient competition can become serious one suddenly!
    I do not leave SL, cause none that i do love i can do, yet, on other virtual Worlds but i made already a safe port, more then a year and half ago in Osgrid and ported a Pg version to Kitely!

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  • Hi, Berry and everyone!

    Thank you for this meme – on a very important topic of the day. I posted about it (several places, as it turns out), but one is at our blog at http://cesoirarts.com. I’ll post more directly from the meme later today, but I just wanted to say that I think the ToS language needs to be revised AND LL needs to be more communicative about what it really all means. Recent meetings and discussions are exploring the issues (including this meme), and that’s very important.
    I create little original content in SL (perhaps a bit more now than in previous times), but hope that I honour those creators whose lovely works I employ in creating environments and experiences in SL to share. I won’t be leaving SL over this – at least not now, based on my present understanding. However, I am watching and learning. Thank you for being part of that learning, Berry!

  • Pingback: Strawberry Singh’s Monday Meme: ToS Changes | Ce Soir Arts

  • Just another thought – unilateral ToS changes like this, that are conditioned upon acceptance in order to continue to log in, are challengeable in court. Just because they change something in the ToS doesn’t mean you can’t sue over the change. At the time that you created your content the ToS didn’t say that, so that would have been your agreement with them at that time. For that matter, anything in the ToS you don’t agree with can be challenged in court.

  • It does effect you directly actually if any of your pics are inworld. They own your art. Great meme Berry! 😀

  • Cisop Sixpence

    I just use Social Media with my SL pseudonym. I do this with almost all online accounts. Maybe I’m old school (online back in the 80s), but back when I first started getting online, you didn’t use your real name, you went by a nick name or a handle. This seems to be excellent advice as it helps keep the stalkers away and those who might try to steal your identity.

  • /me waves @Crap … love your pic! Can you explain why you interpret “text in chat” among assets licensed to LL under new TOS? I too participate in a writers’ group in world and am trying to determine if text chat is covered by the new TOS. Surely if LL were to be claiming a license to text chat, this would raise privacy issues that would have us up in arms even more than we are now?

  • @Bay – I go through the argument here:
    http://oneadayuntilthedayidie.com/?page_id=10

    In short, Linden Lab defines content in ToS 1.1 as anything that is hosted or transmitted through their service, defines the service as the software and networks used to run it, and then throws as many verbs at it as they can to claim a right to thoroughly exploit that content.

    -ls/cm

  • I have read the new TOS and I will not be leaving or ceasing creating content for the SL platform for a number of reasons, several of which Mona touched on earlier in the comments, but essentially it comes down to the following:

    As a freelance 3D content creator, there are a number of platforms I can sell my creations on. Almost all of them with the exception of SL have restrictions on where they can be sold – they all want exclusive content. Almost all of them, with the exception of SL, take a massive percentage of the sales price for themselves (generally 50%). Almost all of them due to the nature of the sales platform require selling .dae files plus texture files which would allow my creations to be used on any platform or resold without my knowledge. For my time and effort, LL provides me with the safest sales platform with the most amount of control and the best pricing scheme while not placing undue restrictions on my own IP and where else it could be sold.

    Additionally, I’ve been doing content creation in SL since 2005. In the last 8 years, I couldn’t list to you all the changes that LL has instituted that have resulted in a subset of users claiming that its impossible to make money now, or the restrictions too onerous, or everyone else will be leaving and the platform is dead and we’re all screwed. And through it all, SL the platform has continued chugging along, because the vast, vast majority of users don’t pay attention to the rule change drama du jour of the week. LL has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to allowing content creators free reign with their creations and I don’t think a legalese change in the TOS that could be interpreted one way necessarily means they’re suddenly changing their entire decade-long M.O. If people want to stop making content in SL that’s entirely their choice, but from a business standpoint its the only guaranteed move that will result in them losing out on sales and exposure. Business is about calculated risk, and at this point its still far more profitable for me to continue to create content for the SL Marketplace, because an assessment of the actual risk and profit potential pretty much results in the same dynamic for creators that has always existed. If LL does start to utilize the TOS changes in ways that would financially harm me or my sales, then I’ll re-assess – but until then, its jumping the gun in yet another scenario where users have been jumping the gun and assuming the sky is falling for years.

  • Thank you Cory Edo!
    I was waiting for a comment from one of the big time creators. You showed me another side I did not know of (the other platforms taking way more etc). As you I will not be leaving or ceasing creating content for the SL platform, simply because this is my creative outlet. And I am sure I can find it in something else but being here for several years and slowly building up my brand is not something I would give up easily. So until they actually sell the content I created I will stay.
    And thank you Strawberry for bringing this to your meme’s 🙂

  • Yes, Bryn just resigned from the LEA. But losing artists like her from the LEA is still a very big downfall for Second Life in my opinion. With User Created content being kind of the fuel for Second Life it’s understandable why some believe that Second Life will come to an end in the near future. Humble really “screwed the pooch”.

  • long comment…sorry all

    There is for certain a lot of interest (and a fair bit of outrage) around this issue. I read the ToS when they are changed, and usually run a comparison of the previous terms with the new to highlight what has actually changed. The recent change was indeed quite in depth and complex. I think that the changes in 2.3 are overly broad and restricting them to the needs of implementing the service of SL they could shore them up. I do think that LL will make this change, but it will not be a quick turn around. Most of the issue seems to come from the section:

    “Except as otherwise described in any Additional Terms (such as a contest’s official rules) which will govern the submission of your User Content, you hereby grant to Linden Lab, and you agree to grant to Linden Lab, the non-exclusive, unrestricted, unconditional, unlimited, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, and cost-free right and license to use, copy, record, distribute, reproduce, disclose, sell, re-sell, sublicense (through multiple levels), modify, display, publicly perform, transmit, publish, broadcast, translate, make derivative works of, and otherwise exploit in any manner whatsoever, all or any portion of your User Content (and derivative works thereof), for any purpose whatsoever in all formats, on or through any media, software, formula, or medium now known or hereafter developed, and with any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed, and to advertise, market, and promote the same.”

    And really the fuss seems to be centered around the decision to use the words “…for any purpose whatsoever…”. The old wording was “…solely for the purpose of providing and promoting the service…”. This old wording was in section 7.2 of the old terms. I believe that if LL were to change the new wording to match the old there would be far less grounds for fussing, and as I said I think they will make this change at least in regard to Second Life.

    As for if this affects me, I would have said I don’t know until this thread. I say that because a) I am a big time consumer in SL. I don’t create I buy. b) I have not seen any of my regular designers/sellers pack up or comment in anyway, until, c) Cory Edo did here. I simply do not see what I will refer to as the “big name” content designers leaving. The people that make the clothes and the trees and the houses and the sofas we all use. The people that manage to pack in a new release for 88, and Fameshed and a dozen other monthly events. When Arcade Gacha decides they cannot go on because of this change, we will be in trouble. I don’t think this change has a major affect on in world economics.

    I think people should start by reading the changes. It is always amazing to me that anyone is finding out about this change now. We all accepted it to login. I think some of the in world discussions on the topic are good for education. Once you are educated, write a letter or email to LL directly expressing your concern and how you would like to see it changed specifically. I think the last part is vital.

    I have not considered leaving.

  • Re Bryn: from here blog –

    “However I have a terrible building itch and a new idea that I have been waiting to try out for ages now. “

  • And another note from me. The lawyers at the Rose theater meeting did NOT agree with Mona Eberhardt’s take on the TOS and many other blog and popular and often quoted forum posts. So folks really should listen to that VERY long and not terribly exciting but still worthwhile video.

    Don’t just read what other folks say :D.

  • I will try to fit listening to the lawyer discussion this week, but to be honest, I’m really only interested in what a lawyer says when I’m retaining them and they know my business (and I know they’re a lawyer licensed to give legal advice in my state). Past that, its a collection of people who might have legal backgrounds or even work as lawyers, but under the rather strict rules of their profession a generalized public conversation about terms in a TOS should not be presented by them as legal advice to the audience or anyone else.

    I’ve read a few more responding blog posts to get a better idea of the general objections, and I’m still siding on the side of Occam’s Razor. Do I really think LL has a vested financial interest in being able to take my stuff and sell it themselves, or use it in a different platform? No, absolutely not – why do they want to completely upend their current financial model which works perfectly well (taking a percentage of MP sales and renting inworld land), destroying everything they’ve worked on for the last decade in the process, for a bunch of couches or concept ideas in a notecard – the sheer volume of which would take dedicated crews of staff years to sift through? Considering I just got a beta invite to test out a new SL mobile app LL is developing, I also don’t think that LL is going to be dumping SL anytime soon.

    Does it make much more sense that their legal team – which, like all companies, operates at an arm’s length from PR/support/management – decided to pre-emptively address a potential legal conflict which could happen under current use or eventual expansion of the platform, and which may not even have a realistically strong chance of occurring, but legally speaking makes sense to have covered in the TOS, because legal teams are by definition risk-adverse? I certainly think so – I think this scenario is a lot more possible than LL suddenly deciding that they’re going to write in access to all of our creations and words in the TOS so they can do nefarious things with it. If they do, then they get a golf clap because its some truly Doctor Evil-level preparation, lead time, and execution to put it so boldly in the TOS for everyone to read.

    The only thing that genuinely concerned me at the outset of this current uproar was the notices on Renderosity and a few other texture sites – and to be frank, I’m surprised they didn’t have these notices up before, because their stuff has been being ripped off and resold in SL for years. There’s a reason that SL has a bad reputation for stolen content, and its not LL doing the stealing, folks. We have a lot of fantastic and underrated 100% original creators in here doing fabulous work, but we also have a massive undercurrent of people that rip off textures (and now mesh) and resell them. None of the new notices say anything about being unable to use the textures in a modified state for say a custom UV map, which is generally what you use for mesh work. If you upload the original texture into SL, its now free and able to be distributed anonymously to the entire grid with no way for the original website to track it back to you – and that’s what causes them harm, and the new TOS just gives people that have never been in SL to realize this a better excuse to latch on to.

    Another long post from me, so in conclusion I’ll just say some of the third-party reaction was a long time coming, that LL’s legal team doesn’t strike me as being that different from any other legal team (they think more about legal ramifications of every possibility than how end users will interpret it through a realistic lens) and that up until it makes sense that LL would do the things that people are freaking out that they’ll do, its still one of the better games in town for a content creator.

  • One thing I will add here is that if you take some of the parts of paragraph 5 in section 2.3 of the terms and Google the you will find many, many other sites using the exact or exceedingly similar language. I think it likely that these terms come more from a copy and paste of terms from other services then they do from some malicious plot or scheme on behalf of the lab to get access to content. And I also received the beta invite for the mobile app….exciting!

  • Sean – good catch and exactly what I mean by having the simplest explanation that makes sense be the most likely one. Others have also mentioned that this may be an attempt to consolidate LL’s now-several TOS/EULA into one overarching document without the intent of having the worst-case interpretation unilaterally apply. They are, after all, a group of lawyers whose sole job is protecting the company they work for from any potential legal threat or liability – they’re going to get as much blood from a stone as possible, and like it or not, that’s the nature of the beast.

    The single situation that could potentially arise out of the new TOS language that I would absolutely not be ok with is also the single situation that seems to be the most far-fetched. Past that, if LL wants to use my creations to advertise, fine, go for it. Exploit all you want, I’m exploiting your platform to pay my rent, so we’re even. Sell and re-sell? If LL ever gets to the point that they need to re-sell my content to keep the lights on, SL is probably already doomed and the discussion is moot.

  • vickforcella

    We should all panic and run around like headless chickens. It’s obvious it’s a conspiracy made up by MS to take over LL so that the NSA and Google can peek into our perverted lives and blackmail us with e-mails written in Chinese characters and we have to pay the Nigerians while satellites eat up the last drop of sphagnum that is left in this world before we are forced to move to Mars and surrounding planets where we will have to life in depraved slavery for the rest of our lives.

    The parts of the TOS that upset me is not what is written, it is what is not written. And that, that effects us all.

    SL is doomed, film at eleven.

  • My view (although a little late) is that the sky is possibly falling in and as a content creator since 2007 I think that things have become harder for creators not easier. The changes to TOS are just another thing that has created confusion, mistrust and uncertainty, which is a shame. But as Strawberry has recently posted there are other virtual worlds available, so it would be foolish not to have a look! My favourites are inworldz and Kitely.

    http://mocoscribe.com/2013/10/22/black-basalt-beach-burn2-baubles/

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  • Thank you so much everyone for all your input. I understand the TOS a bit better now that you’ve all shared your opinions on it. I also hear Linden Lab looking to revise the TOS a bit so it doesn’t sound as scary as it really is. I’m hoping this revision rumor is true.

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