Create organic shapes

The availability of sculpted prims will be a major milestone for Second Life creatives, like the introduction of custom avatar animation in 2004, streaming video support in 2005, and flexible prims in 2006. The fact that “real” 3D tools can be used to export sculpt-textures means that the universe of resident-created items in Second Life will only get better-looking.

Virtual Law blog

Misappropriation of major corporations’ trademarks in-world is now so ubiquitous, so safe, and so immensely profitable, that it has become a wholly transparent part of the Second Life commercial landscape.

Copyright, Trademarks, citing, plagiarism: RL concepts whose time has really come at last?

Podcasts from Second Life

Second Life official Podcasts

 

BLog HUD

3 D Voice

Linden Lab announced early this morning that the Second Life client will soon include voice capabilities, allowing residents to speak to those in close proximity as well as in instant messages if they so choose. One thousand residents will test the program on a beta grid starting March 6, while a First Look viewer will be released at the end of the month.

In an exclusive telephone interview, Joe Miller, Vice President, Platform and Technology Development at Linden Lab, said that there will be three use cases for voice integration. In the first scenario, a resident will be able to simply walk up to another resident and begin speaking. The new addition to the SL client will provide visual cues to indicate when an avatar is speaking. The volume of speech will be modified according to the spatial relationship with other avatars, and up to 100 users can be present in the same audio channel at once

Lindens spent

US Dollars spent in Second Life over last 24 hours
$1,601,864 as of 2:00pm PDT

Tracking crime in SL by The Brussels Court

A very big part of the Second Life community consists of deviant personalities who dress up as ‘furries’ (mostly human-like cats) and interact with each other through all sorts of bizarre virtual sex toys.

Two Belgian newspapers (De Morgen and Het Laatste Nieuws) reported today that the Brussels Court will work together with the Federal Computer Crime Unit to “patrol in Second Life” because of a virtual rape case with a Belgian Second Life user.

Second Life is constantly evolving more into an extension of reality with its economy and apparantly also with its very sexual culture and it seems that we’ll continue to see more legal implications as a result of this in the future.

Monthly Premium account growth

The metrics and statistics realeased by Meta Linden and Zee linden for March 2007

Tthe average user age has dropped from 37 to 30. Second Life is finally starting to attract a younger market.

Copyright and Converging Technologies of Media

Copyright laws will need to address the producers of the content, the medium of distribution and the technology to access the content by the end user. The unauthorized use of copyrighted digital content like audio, video, text, and images which had not been previously anticipated by the law has led to the creation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Copyright grants limited control over the use of content to a copyright owner. So we have the protection of digital media on the one hand, and the freedom of speech and fair use on the other hand. We ought to request permission to use any printed or electronic graphics, photographs, cartoons, musical works, text, etc. Since a set of digits is used to represent all types of digital media, be it audio, video or text, there will soon be a tremendous convergence of technology. According to Fenton the digital computer is a universal machine, it can be programmed to do anything with digital media, if you know how to write the right program.

Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of the internet, a PC and cable connection is uploading, downloading material onto the internet. Young people are very involved in using the internet and mobile media in a variety of ways. They think the material posted there, is theirs for the taking. The recording industry has evidence that they have lost revenue. MGM v Grokster illegal downloading of copyrighted material, music. Grokster provided the software to help download music. The courts said that they were aiding and abetting the users in doing illegal downloading copyrighted material. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents the world’s music companies, the music industry has launched a fresh wave of 8,000 lawsuits against alleged file-sharers around the world (Holton ). This drive is to stamp out online piracy and encourage the use of legal download services in 17 countries, especially Brazil where 1 billion music tacks were downloaded last year. Both criminal and civil suits are aimed at “uploaders” — people who put copyrighted songs onto Internet file-sharing networks to offer to music fans without permission, and at parents whose children had been illegally file-sharing. John Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of IFPI pointed out that the music industry had benefited from its settlement of more than $100 million in July this year with long-time antagonist Kazaa, one of the world’s best known file-sharing networks.

After the popularity of file sharing programs like Napster waned there is new player in the market. You Tube/ Gootube is extremely popular nowadays. It is in the news because folks put up copyrighted videos and songs. Although YouTube has diligently been pulling down such material, it is a law suit waiting to happen for copyright infringement. From a copyright stand point, YouTube has a massive distribution of streaming video sharing market. How do you make money out of other peoples’ content without being sued for copyright infringement of songs and 100 million videos that you tube delivers every day? It is an amazing user generated phenomena. More than 34 million Americans visit YouTube each month. Users add up to 65,000 clips. It is very easy to use, is free, and devoid of advertisements. It accounts for 43% of the online video sharing market, while Google video accounts for 6.5% -10% of online video sharing market. Mark Cuban warns that it can be sued into oblivion. So far there have been no law suits against YouTube, because it isn’t really making any money right now. Besides it has made alliances with music companies like Warner Music. They partnered in September to distribute music on site. All said and done, analysts said that YouTube is in a precarious legal position.

“What would the Internet be without ‘content’? It would be a valueless collection of silent machines with gray screens. It would be the electronic equivalent of a marine desert – lovely elements, nice colors, no life. It would be nothing” (Edgar Bronfman, Jr.,). The internet is a huge stockpile of multimedia material and text. It is our responsibility to avail of this in the proper way. The public needs to be educated of the implications of using unauthorized copyrighted material. More awareness among the younger generation will pave the way to proper use of copyrighted material in the future, and avoid big law suits at the hand of the media moguls. To this end, Boy Scouts will be instructed in the basics of copyright law and learn how to identify five types of copyrighted works and three ways copyrighted materials may be stolen. The program is being introduced to the 52,000 Scouts in the Los Angeles area, with plans to offer it to other California councils early next year. The program will reach Scouts ages 6 to 21(AP). Dan Glickman, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, recently said that, “”Working with the Boy Scouts of Los Angeles, we have a real opportunity to educate a new generation about how movies are made, why they are valuable, and hopefully change attitudes about intellectual property theft.”

Photographs also fall within the realm of copyrighted material. (In accordance with Right of Privacy laws), it requires employees to obtain consent to publish from individuals who are photographed. Right of privacy laws gives an individual the right to control the use of their image by others. Need a release to use the pictures of models. If the subjects are minors, then parents or legal guardians must sign the photo release. Get a release right away. Photo Releases are obtained when consent won’t work, as in the case of a minor, mentally unstable individual, and materially altered pictures.” Educational use is not a protection against copyright infringement. Request permission to use any printed or electronic graphics, photographs, cartoons, musical works, text, etc. The lack of a copyright statement does not preclude protection” (Copyright Regulations). Copyright is fixed at the time a work is created. Registering a copyright is not required for protection, and the owner is not required to display the copyright symbol — ©. An artistic rendering is not a problem. Artists use the likenesses of well-known individuals as a means of expressing messages within the content of their artistic creations. On the other hand unmistakably and readily identifiable pictures or a direct copy is more problematic. The First Amendment to the Constitution assures freedom of speech, and, beyond any question, art is speech. Courts recognize a right of privacy, “to be left alone” the individual’s right to protect their image from use by others. When Tiger Woods complained that a lithograph appropriated his celebrity, (the 2000 lawsuit Tiger Woods brought against the sports artist Rick Rush), he was dismissed by the court on the grounds that it was an artistic rendering and the artist has every right to create the lithograph. It has become primarily the artist’s own expression rather than the celebrity’s likeness. It could be argued that it was a fair use taking.

Fair use takings: “An appropriate exercise of fair use depends on a case-by-case application and balancing of four factors as set forth in a statute enacted by Congress: the purpose or character of the use; the nature of the copyrighted work being used; the amount and substantiality of the work being used; and the effect of the use on the market for or the value of the original. Because of the flexible and interpretive nature of fair use, Congress provided significant protection for educators. Fair use must be determined according to the circumstances of each situation, taking into account the unique burdens, missions, and responsibilities of the academy” (Intellectual Property).

Just as there are copyright infringement cases for music, photographs and motion pictures, people need to be careful about Internet software piracy too. Not too long ago it was reported by Jerry Markon in the Washington Post that, the owner of one the nation’s largest Internet software piracy Web sites was sentenced to 87-months in prison. He was accused of selling products copyrighted by companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc. at a huge discount on his Web site. In addition, he was ordered to pay restitution of more than $5.4 million and to forfeit the proceeds of his scheme, which included homes, cars and a boat (Markon ). Media convergence is bound to happen in the near future where the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behavior of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want.

In conclusion, it cannot be stressed enough on the need to be careful of how and where we access media. Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.”

“Remember: If in doubt, always ask permission.”(Intellectual Property).[1]
Always give credit where it is due in the prescribed format.

References:

Felton, E. (2004). Rip,mix, burn, sue: Technology, politics, and the fight to control digital media. Princeton University President’s Lecture Series, no 1.

Holton, Kate. “Music industry in 8,000 new file-share lawsuits .” Reuters-London Tue Oct 17 8:30aET <http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-10-17T101539Z_01_L17771857_RTRIDST_0_MEDIA-MUSIC-LAWSUITS.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna>.

“Be loyal, kind and don’t steal Movies.” Associated Press Sat Oct 21, 5:00 AM ET 22/10/06 <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061021/ap_on_re_us/scouts_piracy_patch>.

Markon, Jerry. “SOFTWARE PIRACY.” WashingtonPost.com Saturday, September 9, 2006; Page B03 22/10/06 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/08/AR2006090801739.html>.

“Communications and Marketing Resources.” Copyright Law Fair Use and Photos. 04/07/04. University of Missouri Extension. 9 Oct 2006 <http://extension.missouri.edu/staff/marketing/copyright.html>.

“The Curators of the University of Missouri”. “Collected Rules and Regulations .” 100.030 Copyright Regulations Chapter 100: Patent and Copyright Law. 09/27/04. University of Missouri. 9 Oct 2006 <http://www.umsystem.edu/ums/departments/gc/rules/business/100/030.shtml>.

“Intellectual Property.” Copyright Permission Form. 2005. Wesleyan University. 9 Oct 2006 <http://www.wesleyan.edu/ip/forms/Copyright_Permission.doc>.

“Copyright.” Copyright Permission Form. 07/11/06. U.S. Copyright Office. <http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/index.html>.

(Digital Millennium Copyright Act,) http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/pl105-304.pdf

Scott, Brendan. “First Monday, volume 6, number 9 (September 2001),.” Copyright in a Frictionless World: Toward a Rhetoric of Responsibility. 08/17/01. First Monday. 9 Oct 2006 <http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_9/scott/index.html>.

Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Remarks As Prepared For Delivery by Edgar Bronfman, Jr. Real Conference 2000, San Jose, California, 26 May 2000,

http://www.mpaa.org/copyright/EBronfman.htm
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15157075/

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[1] “Intellectual Property.” Copyright Permission Form. 2005. Wesleyan University. 9 Oct 2006 <http://www.wesleyan.edu/ip/forms/Copyright_Permission.doc>.

SLurl

TO directly teleport to SL.