SLPD Detention Center, Impact and Coffee, and Men's Health at Health Info Island

 

Despite her injury that's caused her hiatus, Gemma Cleanslate managed to complete an almost finished article using her other hand. In her latest, she writes about a new Detention Center that's part of the SLPD, located at Terrapin. The sim was also home to an art show, Impact and Coffee by Ceakay Ballyhoo. And Health Info Island has a new monthly exhibit, this one for men's health. 

 

Read Gemma's article in Places.

 

China To Restrict Children and Teens' Video Game Time to Three Hours A Week

 

On August 31, it was reported that by order of the national government, Chinese game players under 18 would be limited to playing video games to three hours a week. This time is limited to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, at one hour each day. This law replaces an earlier one that limited game time for minors to 90 minutes a weekday.

The reasons given for this action by the Chinese Communist government depend on who one asks. State media has reported concerns about videogames being "spiritual opium" harmful to the young. But it's widely believed the law is not so much about protecting the young but controlling what they see and hear, as the Chinese government is increasingly concerned about Western influences on children.

In the recent past, some in the gaming industry have gone through great lengths to appease the Communist government, such as when Activision-Blizzard was quick to ban a Hong Kong gamer who made a brief statement in support of protestors.

Sources: BBC News, foreignpolicy.com, Washington Post, 

Image credit: Kotaku

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Minecraft Classified as an Adult Game in South Korea

 *

The highly-popular Minecraft game is known for being a number of things. Among them it's kid-friendly graphics. But according to an article written by PC Gamer's Mollie Taylor, it's been labeled as an adults-only game in South Korea. 

Why designate the child-friendly game as for those 18 and over only? The Republic of Korea has a law banning minors 16 and under from playing games between Midnight and 6AM local time. Instead of going through the expense and hassle of developing an installing a method to keep those gamers in the country from playing their games those hours, Microsoft opted to just limit playing the game there to adults 19 years and older. 

At first the law didn't affect gameplay as Mojang accounts don't need age verification. But that changed in December 2020 as gamers there would need an Xbox Live account to access the game, and in March came a warning that anyone in the country wishing to get the game would need to be 18 or older. The result has been the game having a split age-rating in the country, officially labeled as 12 and up but thanks to Xbox is de-facto limited to those 18 and over. Naturally, the situation has gotten many in South Korea upset, "Korea will become [the only game market] where even Minecraft is reduced to an adult game."

When contacted by PC Gamer, Microsoft responded, "We’re working on a longer term solution for existing and new players under the age of 19 in South Korea and will have more to share on this later this year."

Source: PC Gamer
 

This And That: News in Brief

 There's a lot going on, and only a little time to write about it. So here's a few things that have been going on, but we haven't had the time to write about it in-depth.

With the Pandemic and US Presidential Election in the news lately, something called the CASE Act was almost unnoticed. Tacked onto the Coronovirus relief bill, the act was to "a small claims court-type system within the United States Copyright Office for copyright owners to seek damages under US$30,000 for copyright violations." It got the attention of one SL DJ whom was concerned as it sounded like streaming for public performance would become a felony under the bill.

A residential area, Baja Cove, closed down, "it was a beautiful New Jersey like beach."

Flash is no longer operating for computers, and with it, a number of browser games, and animated files are no longer playing.

We still have yet to write about the Silent Hill "Otherworld" area, an interactive horror area where monsters attack people as they explore an area. For those who can't wait for the article, you can check it out at Chief (42/87/691).

A new kind of breedable pet was recommended  to us to write about. We'll get to it soon.

Second Life's land area grew over the previous year according to Tyche Shepherd, from 24740 regions to 25555, with most of the increase being private sims.

Stay tuned for more on these, and other topics.

"EARN IT" Bill In Congress Could Mean Bad News For Internet Freedom

By Bixyl Shuftan

There's another Internet bill in Congress that could have potentially dire consequences for privacy expectations people online take for granted. Introduced "to establish a National Commission on Online Child Exploitation Prevention, and for other purposes," the "Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of  Interactive Technologies" Act, or EARN IT, "opens the door for the government to require new measures to screen users’ speech and even backdoors to read your private communications."

According to an article in Bloomberg, "The bipartisan measure, ... would affect a wide range of social media companies, cloud service providers, email and text platforms and other technology services. It could put Facebook in the government’s crosshairs for its plans to encrypt all of its messaging apps and undercut Apple’s refusal to create back doors into its devices and services." The article would go on to say, "The Justice Department has tentatively scheduled a Feb. 19 meeting on the future of the immunity known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act ... The provision protects platforms from responsibility for content posted by third parties. Although the measure doesn’t directly mention encryption, it would require that companies work with law enforcement to identify, remove, report and preserve evidence related to child exploitation -- which critics said would be impossible to do for services such as WhatsApp that are encrypted from end-to-end."

Companies would have to "certify that they are following the best practices set by the 15-member commission." If they don't to its satisfaction, "they would lose the legal immunity they currently enjoy under Section 230 relating to child exploitation and abuse laws. That would open the door to lawsuits for 'reckless' violations of those laws ..."

Supporters of the bill insist the ability to read encrypted messages is necessary, saying efforts to protect encryption, “will make it harder to detect -- and stop -- child abuse and similar crimes." Elliot Harmon of the Electronic Frontier Foundation retorted that if the bill became law, "the Attorney General could unilaterally dictate how online platforms and services must operate. If those companies don’t follow the Attorney General’s rules, they could be on the hook for millions of dollars in civil damages and even state criminal penalties. ... It opens the door for the government to require new measures to screen users’ speech and even backdoors to read your private communications.

"EARN IT undermines Section 230, the most important law protecting free speech online. Section 230 enforces the common-sense principle that if you say something illegal online, you should be the one held responsible, not the website or platform where you said it. Section 230 has played a crucial role in creating the modern Internet. Without it, social media as we know it today wouldn’t exist, and neither would the Internet Archive, Wikimedia, and many other essential educational and community resources. And it doesn’t just protect tech platforms either: if you’ve ever forwarded an email, thank Section 230 that you could do that without inviting legal risk on yourself." Harmon would call the bill an attack on Internet Security, entrepreneur innovation, and just plain unnecessary.

Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerburg has stated his company will continue to be “standing up for encryption, against those who say that privacy mostly helps bad people.” Senator Ron Wyden has openly spoken in protest about the bill, "a tired, debunked plan to blow a hole in one of the most important security features protecting digital lives of the American people."

The website fightforthefuture.org/ has a petition calling on Congress to reject the bill. As of the writing of this article, it has over 8660 of the 12,800 signatures it set as a goal.

The Justice Department is currently led by Attorney General William Barr, whom lately has been the target of calls to resign for interfering with the trial of an ally of President Trump.

Sources: Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, Reuters, Bloomberg, Ron Wyden

Bixyl Shuftan

News and Commentary: More on Youtube And COPPA

Youtube has long been a staple on the Internet. It was a place that people could post videos, as long as they weren't porn or graphically violent, for friends and anyone else interested in watching. Over time, there were changes. There were the ads, there was monetization, there were the takedowns of videos that were seen as infringing of copyrights, and others. But one recent change has scared many video makers: the new rules concerning COPPA. Second Life music video maker Nydia Tungsten ended up removing most of her videos as a result, and many others are doing or considering doing the same. So why are they worried? The new rules in question are just too vague to trust.

Read the commentary in Extra.

One SL Music Video Maker's Reaction to COPPA

This week in a number of Second Life and Discord groups, there's been some discussion about a law called COPPA and what it means to Youtube. Called the Child Online Privacy and Protection Act, it recently imposed a huge fine on Youtube, which reacted by announcing a new plan that confused and scared a number of content creators. Among them is Nydia Tungsten, whom has made many music videos in Second Life over the past few years and put them on Youtube. But no more. This week, she announced that no more would be going up on Youtube. I would talk to her about what she thought was the big worry, and what she may do next.

Read the story in Extra.

Tilia Needed For Second Life Accounts Starting August 1

While the Lindens gave some news of their upcoming plans during the "Meet the Lindens" events last week (many of which the Newser was hoping to describe in more detail in the next few days), there was one that wasn't mentioned: Tilia. On the Second Life blog yesterday, the Lab announced it would be part of "Important Changes to your Second Life Account."

Beginning on August 1, 2019, Tilia will take over certain aspects of the Second Life service. Tilia enables Linden Lab to continue the Second Life service in its current form through enhanced regulatory compliance protocols.  To achieve this, Tilia will assume responsibility for managing your USD denominated account, which will be referred to as your "Tilia Account."  After August 1, Tilia will handle process credit requests and payments made from your Tilia Account.

 

Effective August 1, in order to continue using Second Life you will have to agree to Tilia’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.  A Tilia Account associated with your Second Life Account will automatically be created for you and you will not need a separate username or password to access your Tilia Account.  

 

In order to stay in compliance with regulatory requirements, if you wish to process a credit, we will need certain personal information to verify your identity, including your name, address, date of birth, and social security number (or government-issued identification if you are not a U.S. Citizen).  You may be required to provide additional information to complete the transaction. Tilia will securely store this information so that you should only need to provide it once.

 

Additionally, please note that customers under 18 years of age will not be able to process credit after August 1, 2019 until they reach the age of 18. 

 

As always, Second Life remains free to access and enjoy!  However, if your Tilia Account is inactive for a period of 12 months we will charge your Tilia Account a fee to the extent permitted by applicable law.  If you have questions about the inactivity fee, please see Tilia’s Terms of Service.

What is Tilia? Linden Lab bought the company in late 2015. The name had been registered in 2002, but the business, whatever it's purpose, had shut down. When Inara Pey asked Linden Lab what it was for, the response by their Director of Global Communications was " a subsidiary of Linden Lab, focused on payments and the compliance work associated with operating virtual economies, and it will provide services for both Second Life and Project Sansar." It's also the genus name of about thirty species of trees that are sometimes called "linden trees," which may be why Linden Lab was interested in the name.

The response by the residents has been more than a little confusion, on both various Discord servers and the Second Life forums. The "Tilia Takes Over" thread has already reached 18 pages as of the writing of this article. There were a number of questions such as would people be hit with bills for not buying or selling Lindens? Was this Age Verification all over again? And there were no shortage of comments such as "Linden Labs, I am very disappointed in you. ... Some have accused you of a bait and switch over the Linden Homes and they were wrong. But inducing people to re-up for another year and then springing a change in the terms of service a week later is a true bait and switch."

While some expressed worry, others such as Becky Nosferatu stated there wasn't much for most residents to worry about. Some however would be paying more.

This took me nearly 20 minutes to figure this out. For those who are in the know, there is a new law and a new ISSUE now, involving the way Linden Lab works with real-world money.

When you buy or sell Lindens, you have a middle ground where the Lindens goes to. So think of that as your virtual wallet. This money just sits there until you cash out (send to Paypal) or your buy in (convert it to Lindens).

Now, what the above means is if you have 0.00 in that "wallet" let's call it, it will do nothing to you. You won't get any fees, you won't be charged, etc.

For people who DO cash out or in, if you have money IN that wallet, and you LEAVE IT THERE FOR A YEAR, they will count that as being inactive and start hitting you with fees. It will take from your "wallet" until you either cash it out or use it, or until your balance reaches 0.00.

Everyone, unless you are under 18, are required to pony up your valuable info IF you want to use the cash out/buy in feature to get Linden dollars. This is EXPECTED of you. As of August 1. this new system will take effect. They're already making a new account for everyone on SL.

What it also means though, if you are over 18 and want to cash out, you must offer up personal info, including your social. A ton of people are not cool with that concept, but trust me, they wouldn't ask for it if they didn't have to.

Why are they doing this? There is a new law in place that affects US and international citizens. This new law means that if you are working with crypto (virtual) currency, you CAN NOT hoard this currency for "better prices" before you cash out, because that is LAUNDERING and that is a big no-no. It's like if you get word fhe stock market is going to crash, you pullout all your funds from said stock and sell it. That, my friends, can net you prison time.

If you don't ever cash out or buy in? You don't have to worry about this at all. You are completely immune and nothing will come of it for you.

If you're like me, however, you are subject to fees when you cash out; Linden Lab's fees, and whatever Tilia's going to charge as well. Nothing we can really do about it.

Becky cited an article in Coindesk.com, referring to a statement from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

There's plenty of information and more than a little legalese to go through. But it seems Tilia being put into action isn't just for the Lab to put up more hoops for residents to jump through and another fee to pay (and maybe higher tier prices from landlords having to pass down feed imposed on them to break even). It appears Linden Lab is doing this due to wanting to avoid legal trouble from the US Government.

As Second Life has adapted technically to change to fit with the times over the past sixteen years, it seems it has to adapt to changes, or at least greater enforcement of, laws dealing with the Internet and commerce as well.

Source: Modem World, Wikipedia, Coindesk.com

Bixyl Shuftan

Linden Lab Updates Terms of Service, DMCA Process Stricter

Linden Lab recently announced that there will be an update to the Second Life Terms of Service, which will take effect on July 31. One noteworthy change is that concerning DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notices, in Section Twelve, Part Two, at the bottom of the ToS page, or their "Intellectual Property Infringement Notification Policy."

To begin with, the Lab will not respond to any DMCA requests made inworld. Anyone interested has to either fax them, at, (415) 520-9660, or send a "snail mail" letter.

Linden Research, Inc.
945 Battery Street
San Francisco, California 94111
Attention: Intellectual Property Team

Then there was the following:

Please be aware that under 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), you may be liable for any damages, including costs and attorneys' fees incurred by us or our users, if you knowingly materially misrepresent that material or activity is infringing.

Looking up this law, it basically states, "anyone filing a claim they either know is false or unsure whether it's true or not may be taken to court." Or as Hamlet Au not so delicately put it, "If you waste our time with frivolous claims, we may just sue your a**."

Hamlet Au got several responses to his article, all positive. One responded, "This is a good thing. I know two recently who have had DCMA filed against them out of jealousy of (a) better product. " Another commented, "This change has been a long time in coming - many genuine SL merchants do NOT have the finances required to mount a defence on every claim no matter how frivolous, which has been one of the weaknesses of the DMCA with regards to SL. The threat of actual blowback in the event of malicious claims should also cut out some of the adventurism in this regard. It's one thing to write a policy and another to enforce it, though. Let's see how it affects things when it finally goes into effect."

So it seems Linden Lab made a move that, for a change, is getting approval from the residents. As one stated, it remains to be seen how it changes things.

Hat tip: Hamlet Au

Bixyl Shuftan

"Moral And Legal Imperatives For Sentient AI" Discussion Today, Featuring Real-Life Author Zoltan Istvan

The Turning Church online group will be hosting a discussion in Second Life early today about what should be done about artificial intelligence as it becomes smarter and more self aware. It's notable that there will be some people attending whom are known among futurists and transhumanists in real life.


Each year on December 10th, International Human Rights Day, Terasem conducts a Colloquium on the Law of Futuristic Persons. The event seeks to provide the public with informed perspectives regarding the legal rights and obligations of “futuristic persons” via VR events with expert presentations and discussions. Terasem hopes to facilitate development of “a body of law covering the rights and obligations of entities that transcend, and yet encompass, conventional conceptions of humanness.”

There will be some people there whom have made names for themselves among futurists and transhumanists, notably Zoltan Istvan, the author of "The Transhumanist Wager," a "philosophical science-fiction novel." Others include Susan Schneider and John Havens.

The discussion will be held  at Terasem (130, 175, 29), today at 10AM.

Hat Tip: Hamlet Au 

Bixyl Shuftan

Linden Lab Settles Property Rights Lawsuit Out of Court

By Bixyl Shuftan

While the residents of Second Life debate the new Terms of Service in regards to how exclusive are a content creator's rights are to his/her virtual property, a legal website stated Linden Lab has settled out of court a lawsuit in which the plaintiffs sued on the the basis of their rights to their property.

"Top Class Actions" reported that the lawsuit was initially filed in 2010 by four former residents whom were banned from Second Life by Linden Lab, thus being cut off from their cash and items online. In Feb 2012, they filed a second suit with a fifth resident. They accused Linden Lab of "making false representations about the ownership of virtual property and … that the company wrongly confiscated virtual property from them." Both sides agreed to talk, and in March 2012 agreed to settle. The agreement made a number of changes before it was approved by a California superior court judge on October 25.

The settlement covers, “all persons whose assets, including virtual items, virtual land, and/or currency in lindens and/or U.S. dollars, have been deliberately and intentionally converted by Defendant Linden’s suspension or closure of their Second Life accounts on or after April 16, 2008." Under it's terms, the Lab has agreed to repay all US dollar balances in their accounts in addition to the US dollar value of their Lindens, plus compensating them for the virtual property they had, provided a valid claim could be determined on each of the lost items in question.

With this development coming in the middle of Second Life's Terms of Service controversy, it's fair to say some might see some connection.  I happened to catch a little of a conversation in SLCC group chat about the settlement when someont brought it up. One member thought this court case might have something to do with why Linden Lab changing the Terms of Service the way it did. Others felt optimistic in that Linden Lab was willing to settle the case, "means LL can be backed into a corner, they don't want to fight." One commented, "I just think there are some big egos at the top that are out of touch with the SL customer base .... Rodvik is from EA and he is just not used to the fact that his customers are critical value suppliers to his cash cow.  ...  the TOS reflects this. But he is realizing that these content creators can cause a lot of grief to his expansion plans with horrid media PR."

 A hearing for the settlement's final approval is scheduled for Feb 27, 2014.

Source:  Top Class Actions

 Bixyl Shuftan

Legal Pannel of Lawyers to Discuss Second Life's New ToS

As the ToS/ content creator rights controversy continues, the number of opinions on the matter has become legion. But what do those who make their living practicing law think? Vaki Zenovka, a blogger in Second Life whom in real life is an attorney at law, announced that there would be a discussion on the issue with a panel of lawyers knowledgeable on Internet legal matters, "We’ll take a close, detailed look at exactly what the controversial section of the new ToS means, how it affects content creators (and regular users), what changed from the old terms, and why people are so upset. More importantly, we’ll answer your questions and discuss how the Terms of Service affects your rights now and in the future."

The meeting will take place on Saturday Oct 19 at 10AM SL time (1 PM EST) at the Justitia Virtual Legal Resource Village at Justitia (126/120/954)."We will try to record the event, and we hope we will also be able to reprise the panel on a second date if the demand is high enough." The pannel will conduct the discussion in Voice.

Source: "Insert Funny Name"

SOPA Proposal to Declare Unauthorized Streaming a Felony is Back

Some bad news for Second Life radio. About two years since originally being shot down with SOPA, a proposal to make a felony the streaming of copyrighted works without the expressed permission of those holding the copyright is back. According to the Huffington Post, last week the Department of Commerce's Internet Policy Task Force revived the proposal (pdf link). "Such a provision" the Post stated, "if interpreted broadly could apply to people who upload covers of themselves performing songs to YouTube without permission."

The proposal was originally part of the proposed SOPA legislation two years ago, but the bill was soon shelved after much public protest.

Source: Huffington Post

CISPA Passes US House, Stalling in Senate

While the nation's attention has been on the Boston bombers and questions about their links to Islamic terrorism, computer users faced some other worries. On Thursday April 18th, the CISPA Bill passed the US House of Representatives by a vote of 288-127.

CISPA, officially named the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, was introduced supposedly as to help the government "investigate cyber threats and ensure the security of networks against cyberattacks." But it has been heavily criticized for being a threat to the public's right to privacy. This includes permitting authorities to search databases without warrants, and Internet service providers would be banned from making "legally binding" promises to protect users' privacy.

Fortunately for privacy activists, the bill's future is iffy, at least for the short term. The Senate has been preoccupied with other issues such as immigration and the right to buy firearms. The White House has also threatened to veto the bill if concerns about privacy issues were unanswered, "Citizens have a right to know that corporations will be held accountable, and not granted immunity, for failing to safeguard personal information adequately … " This is a similar course to what happened in 2012, and the bill was never taken up by the Senate that year.


Sources: ABC News (Chicago) , CNet, Wikipedia

Bixyl Shuftan

Judge Issues Summary Judgement in Amaretto vs Ozimals Suit

It's been almost two years since Ozimals, the creators of the breedable bunny that was all the rage in Second Life for a time, ended up in court against Amaretto, known for it's horses that remain popular today. For those who don't remember, the trouble began in December 2010 when Ozimals filed a DMCA against Amaretto saying the scripts for Amaretto horses resembled those of Ozimals bunnies, and Amaretto responded with a counter-DMCA and copyright lawsuit. Later, the judge issued a temporary restraining order on Linden Lab against issuing a DMCA on Amaretto. The following month, he “granted an injunction that only applies to Ozimals' sending of takedown notices and makes no reference to restrictions on Second Life.”

The "bunneh versus horsie" lawsuit, which besides being a real life case involving virtual goods had the distinction of being presided by Charles R. Breyer, the brother of a Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (Hamlet Au mused that there's likely to be a few jokes about the case in family conversation over the Holidays). Following the injunction in January 2011, nothing was heard about the case until this month. Tateru Nino reported that on November 5th, Judge Breyer made a summary judgement on the case.


Ozimals lacks standing to pursue its counterclaim, and so the Court GRANTS IN PART Amaretto’s Motion for Summary Judgment as to the counterclaim. Because Amaretto has not established a reasonable likelihood of facing copyright infringement liability, the Court finds that Amaretto lacks standing to pursue its remaining claims; it also finds that the possibility of harm is so speculative that the Court would not exercise its discretion to rule on he declaratory relief claims even if the threshold standing requirements were met. Accordingly, the Court DENIES IN PART Amaretto’s motion for summary judgment as to the declaratory judgment and copyright misuse claims, and DISMISSES those claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.


Amaretto claims the ruling as a victory for them, posting the "ruling vindicates Amaretto and permanently prevents Ozimals from asserting its previously claimed copyright on Amaretto or any other entity." There has been no comment on the Ozimals blog.

Hamlet Au's article on the case got number of comments, including one by Pussycat Catnip, whom remarked, "Summary judgements are ultra rare. They only occur when the situation is so obvious, the court finds there is no need for a trial. That's something Courts normally cannot Constitutionally do. To get one, the other side has to have essentially conceded the floor. ... whatever evidence was put forth, was deemed worthless."

It seems that this case is all but over, Tateru thinking, "it doesn’t look like Judge Breyer is going to have all that much left to rule on to finalize this case. It may drag on a little longer, but not that much longer ..." The general opinion on the Grid seems to have been that Ozimals had started the mess to begin with due to its market crash after months of being wildly popular, and went after the new top breedable pet by trying to use the power of the Lindens.

Hamlet Au thought that this case would establish a precedent for similar cases. Though this was a case in which the evidence was "worthless." One in which the accuser has a more solid claim is likely to go in it's own direction.

Sources: Tateru Nino, Hamlet Au

Bixyl Shuftan

Content Creators’ Conflict Leads to Fundraiser

Grey Lupindo reports on the "One Voice" fundraiser. The event was organized to raise funds for a content creator's legal fees in a copyright dispute, in addition to raising awareness about what DMCA rules can do to a Second Life business. The final day of the event is today.

Read Grey's article in Design.

CISPA Internet Bill Passed in US House

According to Forbes.com, the CISPA Internet bill, which sparked privacy worries among numerous Internet freedom advocates, was passed in Washington. "In an earlier-than-expected vote Thursday evening, the House of Representatives voted 248 to 168 in favor of the bill."

According to writer Andy Greenman, Trevor Timm, a lawyer and activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, felt, "the House’s early vote on CISPA as an attempt by its author, representative Mike Rogers, to squeeze the bill through before its opposition grew any stronger." The bill was also amended before passage, "the House voted to amend the bill to actually allow even more types of private sector information to be shared with government agencies, not merely in matters of cybersecurity or national security, but in the investigation of vaguely defined cybersecurity 'crimes,' 'protection of individuals from the danger of death or serious bodily harm,' and cases that involve the protection of minors from exploitation." It was a move that raised further concerns from opponents. Techdirt.com's Leigh Beadon called it "an absolutely terrible change."

"Somehow, incredibly, this was described as limiting CISPA, but it accomplishes the exact opposite," Beadon wrote, "CISPA is now a completely unsupportable bill that rewrites (and effectively eliminates) all privacy laws for any situation that involves a computer. Far from the defense against malevolent foreign entities that the bill was described as by its authors, it is now an explicit attack on the freedoms of every American."

The bill still has to be passed in the Senate before heading to the White House, which has come out against it recently. Timm saw hope it would be beaten, "We’ve seen an explosion of a variety of groups and congressmen coming out against the bill,” he says. “As the Senate debates this, it’s good that privacy and civil liberties will be front and center.”

Sources: Forbes.com, Techdirt.com

Bixyl Shuftan

SOPA Act Two? CISPA to be Decided in US House as Soon as Today

Remember the mess over SOPA in December and January? This proposed law had the potential for becoming "The Great Firewall of America," possibly meaning the end of favorite places online such as Youtube, Facebook, and Second Life. Despite a Congress seemingly poised to approve it, opposition to it and it's sister bill PIPA grew in numbers. The backers of SOPA eventually shelved it from a vote, and the opponents had seemingly won.

However, a new bill, H.R. 3523,  has made it through committee: the "Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act," or CISPA. Intended to "allow the voluntary sharing of attack and threat information between the U.S. government and security cleared technology and manufacturing companies to ensure the security of networks against patterns of attack," the bill "has been criticized by advocates of Internet privacy and neutrality, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation … because they feel it contains too few limits on how and when the government may monitor private information when it might become collaterally entangled in the process of passing threat information, and too few safeguards with respect to how the data may be used; they fear that such new powers may be used to find and punish file sharers and copyright infringers rather than the stated foreign spies or hackers."

An article in Forbes.com describes opposition to the bill as mounting, "On Monday, a group of more than fifty professors, entrepreneurs and information security professionals published an open letter to Congress calling on lawmakers to oppose CISPA and other overbroad cybersecurity bills like the SECURE IT Act … CISPA has a very different focus from SOPA and PIPA, the much-loathed antipiracy bills killed by a similar groundswell of Internet anger in February. Whereas SOPA and PIPA raised fears of censorship, CISPA’s vague data-sharing statutes are largely seen as a threat to privacy, although some are also interpreting the bill as allowing site blocking. And whereas SOPA pitted Silicon Valley against Hollywood, CISPA seems to have the support of many technology and Web-based companies, including Facebook, Microsoft, Symantec, and IBM."

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Web, spoke last week the bill "is threatening the rights of people in America, and effectively rights everywhere." Senator Ron Paul spoke out against the bill, saying it would make "government spies of Facebook and Google." Eighteen House Representatives signed a letter opposing the bill, at least in its current form. The White House has also come out against CISPA. Avaaz.org has a petition against the bill with three-quarters of a million signatures, with the goal of making it a million. Reddit has a number of "anti-CISPA discussions."

CISPA is expected to be voted on in the House of Represenatives today.


Sources: Wikipedia, Forbes.com, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Avaaz.org, Reddit,

Bixyl Shuftan

Judge Issues Amaretto Temporary Restraining Order Against Linden Lab in Legal Fight With Ozimals

The horses won, at least for now, in their battle with the bunnies.

In late December, Ozimals and Amaretto were heading to court over Ozimals’ claim the scripts for Amaretto’s horses had segments copied from their bunnies. On December 21, the judge over the case issued a temporary restraining order against Linden Lab, saying they could not impose a DMCA on the horse company, at least for now.

“... software copyright protection does not apply to functionality. Thus even if (Ozimals) was the first to come up with a virtual animal that requires ‘food’ to ‘live,’ and copyright it has does not prevent another company from marketing virtual animals with similar traits provided, essentially, that that company did not copy (Ozimals’) programing. Because, among other things, (Amaretto) has submitted declarations supporting the conlusion that it did not copy or otherwise ‘steal’ (Ozimals’) code (and that (Ozimals) knew this to be true when it filed the DMCA takedown notification). ... “

Eric Goldman, a law professor, had a few comments on his blog. He questioned why the ruling was made against Linden Lab and not Ozimals, saying this raised First Amendment issues of the Linden’s ability to edit the Grid. In any event, the restraining order lasts until January 11, when the court holds further hearings on Amaretto’s case.

On another note, Hamlet Au noted the judge in the case, Charles R. Bryer, was an assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, which took part in the case that caused the sole resignation of a US President in it’s entire history, “Wonder how he feels in the twilight of his legal career adjudicating a dispute between virtual bunnies and horsies?“

Sources, New World Notes, Eric Goldman Tech & Market Law Blog

Bixyl Shuftan

Ozimals and Amaretto Ranch Breedables in Legal Fight

Virtual pets have been a part of Second Life for quite some time. Earlier this year, the Ozimals company was noted for their popular breedable bunnies. For a time, their bunnies were all the rage on the Grid, people breeding them for popular colors and putting them up for auction. In October, they made a marketing deal with Linden Lab, which sent out some promotional offers for them. Then Amaretto horses appeared on the scene, with horses that are also breedable, starting off as small foals that soon grow up and can also be ridden by avatars.

Recently, the two companies have been involved in a legal fight. It began when Ozimals demanded Amaretto stop selling the horses in a “cease and desist letter threatening to file a DMCA,” saying parts of the scripts were copies of the code used in the bunnies. Amaretto. Amaretto refused, and Ozimals fled a DMCA notice with Linden Lab. Amaretto soon responded with a counter-DMCA and copyright lawsuit.


Legal demands over Second Life products are nothing new. Just weeks ago, Universal Studios ordered a number of product makers to change the names of “Battlestar Galacitca” products, saying they were infringing on their copyright. A few years ago was the noted case of a sex bed company Strokerz being sued by several individuals led by the Eros company. But it was the company owner taken to court, not the company. The Ozimals and Amaretto fight is probably the first legal dispute in which both plaintiff and defendant are two registered companies whose revenue is made within Second Life.

Both Ozimals and Amaretto say they regret the matter has come to this, Josie Cooperstone of the Amaretto team calling it “a trying time for all of the breedable community.” But no one is backing down.

For Ozimal's statement, Click Here. For Amaretto's position, Click Here.

Sources: Dwell on It, New World Notes,
Pictures from ozimals.com and SL Marketplace

Bixyl Shuftan

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