Copybot

So, now you admit that there is a legitimate use?

is stealing things legitimate use?

And, praytell, what if the Asset servers lose your object from your inventory, and you have one deeded to a group? Are you not allowed to recover said object with CopyBot?

Or, what if, for some reason, the permissions on an object in inventory just change (As they do), even if you created the object? Still not allowed to use CopyBot to fix?

Go back and read the thread, please.

This is an almost direct replay of the arguments when Betamax came out.

Oh yes. Just look at how many people use Maya. What is that $6000USD for a license? How many people actually believe someone bought such an expensive product to sell a few sculpt maps on SL? Considering there are a few free tools that do just as good of a job (in regards to what SL supports vs product features), it would seem like a terrible investment.

I can see you really want to contribute. Instead of whining at creators discussing how to backup their own creations legitimately, just search for "Fairchang" in SL, then TP to "Fairchang Hangout". You'll find plenty of people to report who have unauthorized copies of hair, shoes, skins, etc.

Then, in a week, you can come back and start a new thread about why LL isn't banning them.

What?

Just go stand around there a few minutes and you'll see what I mean.

You're right; I apologize to all the creators who support and use copybot to backup their creations.

However, there is a bright spot on the horizon. As Tierra reports, If you give it enough time, your content will be backed for you by others. And if its worth anything, it will be promoted and resold at through SL.

If you goto xstreet you can buy something to copy and back up your inventory to your hard drive. you can also buy prim replicators and then go and download interceptor to grab your textures. or you can grab em right off a prim. so copybot is is the least of peoples worries.
And if you want to hear something real scary, how about the transfer of non transferable goods exploit. ( i reported it and it went to a jira-sec.

And i use copybot. libsl build to transfer MY inventory to my harddrive to transfer it into my own grid and OG/OL.

copybot does lots of things, but its something that can be done with other tools that existed way before cb.

I don't consider it that big of a deal, just easing you in a more productive direction if you want to make a stand on piracy.

If it wasn't copybot, it would be one of those texture savers that grab stuff as it's sent to the video card, a program to extract it from the cache, etc. It's a small risk versus losing everything I've made due to an account dispute, Linden hardware failure, the freedom to move things between grids, etc.

You are right (although the license is a lot less than $2500) and it would be retarded to purchase Maya simply for that use. That being said there are those in here who are fortunate to have it for other reasons.

Just because you can't imagine a legitimate use doesn't mean there isn't one, and making such statements is completely asinine.


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I was going by prices here:

http://store.autodesk.com/DRHM/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayProductDetailsPage&SiteID=adsk&Locale=en_US&ThemeID=516200&Env=BASE&productID=111080200

If they are getting it with a educational license for a lot cheaper, I think selling the creations from it on SL might be an infraction of the educational agreement since it falls into the realm of commercial usage.

Side Note: Just a couple threads down, there's even people openly recommending using student status to get a cheap copy of Maya when the inquiring poster talks about it basically being for commercial purposes in SL. I'd bet if the guy recommending cheating the Autodesk people was selling stuff in SL for different purpose licenses and saw such a conversation about his stuff, there would be a furious storm of posts about cheating people out of food for their starving children, dogs getting kicked, and how the sky will soon fall.

But yes, I do agree, I've met a few people who had licenses for Maya that were legit as far as I know, but SL definitely wasn't it's only purpose. It's one of those things I only really bring up when people are griping about in-world theft after reading a bunch of "Hay, I just got [insert REALLY expensive tool here] and can't figger it out! LOL" posts in forums.

Unlimited is hugely expensive, complete is slightly less hugely expensive.

http://store.autodesk.com/DRHM/servlet/ControllerServlet?Action=DisplayProductDetailsPage&SiteID=adsk&Locale=en_US&ThemeID=516200&Env=BASE&productID=111078900

An interesting side note to consider on this topic:

There was a time when the production and sale of DVRs, and well as VCR recorders, was being held up by court cases claiming that they should not be permitted to be sold, because they had the POTENTIAL to be used by unethical people to record copyrighted material.

So, while I loathe the idea that there ARE people in the world who will use technology for unethical purposes, the fact remains that I would be extremely concerned if all technology were banned based on the possibility that it had the potential for abuse. Frankly, I don't care for guns either...but there are legitimate uses for them, and the Constitution and Supreme Court have decided that the rewards are worth the risks there as well (not to get off on an argument and discussion of the meaning of the constitution, but the general parallel is there).

Also, to be clear -- it IS possible to easily break the perms on an object you've created, so that you no longer have full perms to it, due to an obnoxious bug in SL...in "DUH" moments I've done it several times on builds that were complex enough that I just didn't have the heart to start over again. (If you've not run into it, the deal is this: if you accidentally link your full perm, self-created object to a SINGLE object which you don't own, the new linked object will inherit the lesser perms. If you unlink the object, the prims you created will maintain the lesser perms even though you are the creator). This means I can have mod rights to the objects but not copy rights, or potentially transfer rights...which would cause me to be very grateful for a script which would re-create my build for me with full perms so I could get on with my project/business/life.

In summary, because someone CAN use a product for unethical purposes, does not necessarily mean that they WILL or that there are no valid reasons for the product to exist. We do not all need to be protected from ourselves, and I would hate to live in a world in which I was. There's also that little thing you may have heard of: "Innocent until proven guilty."

There is something to be said about software companies that charge $2,000-$5,000 USD for a program like Maya.

Someone IM/PM me a link for the educational version please.

the programs that sell for thousands of dollars are typically looking at corporate/business licensing. some of these developers will actually turn a blind eye to individuals running warezed copies of their program at home because they know that those users will then want the same program used in the office. photoshop is a perfect example of this. ignore (possibly even encourage) use of pirated copies at home, allow kids to learn the program, love the product, then they will insist it is used at work. so many people home educated on photoshop helps keep it the de facto standard.
is this true about maya, protools, etc? im not sure, but i suspect it is. it is certainly true of photoshop, there has never been any real attempt by adobe to lock down their software. in fact, i dont even have to install photoshop on my computers, its as easy as dropping the photoshop program directory onto the drive.

we are discussing apples and bannans here.. VCRs being compared to CB.

One is for entertainment purposes (sure you could make a case that you could tape and record a movie to sell to others.. but this process would cost you more in the end than just buying the video tape from a manufacture)

One is for the illegal copying of items in an metaverse that is set to certain permissions which are set in place to protect intellectual rights. Say what you want about the im trying to backup my work.. That is not what copy bot is for..

Ok.. the argument that you can get the same results by circumventing the stream and using a prim duplicating and texture grabing softwear.. but these things are complicated and the average person wont know how to do this. Meaning that of the population in SL that maybe .01% know how or can do this. Copy bot on the other hand is a very simple program that any body who can rez and read a notecard can operate.. Meaning that you can Copy sombodys work in a matter of minutes even if you only have very basic computer/SL experience.

Next argument, Losing entire inventory.. Sure it happens.. and yes I agree 100% it sucks .. but having several alts and just boxing up your creations and sending them to them fixes that entire problem.. I have 3 alts that I routienly backup all of my creations i am working on with.. even to the fact that i send them rough versions first just to make sure that if the build im working on explodes i havent lost a day or two of work. For those of you who didnt think about backing up your inventory this way.. maybe you should..


The ONLY possible legitmate reason i could ever see for this product is say.. you had a staryk sculpture and it was a 1 of kind in SL and you wanted to make sure that you had a backup JIC somthing happened.. (this would be the same as protecting a valuable peice of artwork) somthing that you just wouldnt want to disappear in SL..

This would be the ONLY POSSIBLE reason for use of a copybot program. Backing up your favorite hair or whatever.. that is just stupid.. your costing the people who create money.. and you know what.. sure there will be others to take our place.. but more creaters than I can even mention here.. have quit SL because of the last copybot thing.. why spend 2 weeks creating a masterpeice only to have some scrub take your work.

When VCRs were created, that's EXACTLY the argument that the movie and television industry made. They tried to get VCRs banned, on the grounds that people were buying them to rip them off.

Let me translate this to SL terms and why it's wrong: "There is something to be said about skin designers that charge 2000L-5000L for a pack of skins with only the makeup changed. Someone IM/PM me information on how to obtain a copied version please." -- Not exactly the same, but is the same pattern of thinking.

Anyway, just go to the Autodesk website and click around a few minutes. It's not some hidden page or anything.

Which is exactly why i do not buy a bunch of skins. I buy the one i need and then make it work with my 41 makeups and tattoo's which is perfect for me since i do not keep my skin in world, leaving my tattoo slots free to be used for whatever i choose - like my pre-skin nazi era make-ups.

Way to go, you totally skimmed the thread and missed the discussion. The crux of the topic is not about backing up hair or a crappy kitty tail by another designer, complete inventories, etc. The discussion is about exporting our own creations.

Not everyone is into SL for only the main grid. A number of people want to move THEIR CREATIONS to other grids, build on other grids and import to the main grid, etc. It's our creations and to bluntly be told by someone who chooses a different work flow the 'only' reasons an exporter/importer could be used for is infringing activity only demonstrates the ignorance of thus another SL merchant who is too worried about protectionism and not about the growth and functionality of online worlds.

I am also interested in a partial list of all the people you know who have left SL over these tools. I'd really like to see it. I've read over the LL blogs and saw a lot of screaming by a few, but that was in 2006, and if you click their name they all seem to have stores still in operation. Something tells me the hyperbole over this topic will never end.

At first glance, I saw the nazi thing and thought Godwin's Law smacked us. LOL

I stick with the creative commons skins and tinker with them in Gimp when it's time for a new look. The only time I spent a wad on a commercial skin, people kept saying my butt crack was shaded too dark and looked.. dirty.. No matter how much time I spent on that shower pose ball, it didn't come clean.

Bullshit! You are getting called out on this one> Start naming them.