BEWARE: Stolen Textures In Second Life!!!!!

Mind you, all i can give is just one person's opinion on what _could_ be useful, and how. If someone actually decides to start such kind of program, they're more than likely to do about it in their own way.


No, it's just certification that this particular skin is no rip-off of skin made by some other member of the 'guild'. Nothing more, since actual 'quality' can be very subjective matter, and besides when you think of it the fact skin is less likely to be a rip-off for some is part of 'quality' itself.


Indeed. this is because such 'genuine skins' program is intented to tackle strictly one issue -- the possibility of skin being a rip-off of someone else's work. Just like these safety tests i mentioned don't verify if abilities of the car _other than safety_ meet advertised numbers, nor if the customer care of the car maker is satisfactory, etc. It's a specialized solution for particular issue, and as such can well co-exist with either number of such small specialized programs dealing with other areas, or full-scale BBB if someone ever started such thing.


I see few people discussing quality issues in this thread, but i don't think this has actually much to do with what i originally suggested... it's just another sub-thread, not really related to this 'guild' thing ^^

In fact, the very possibility of such organization becoming a clique is why i'd prefer it to focus on as little area as possible. Because the larger area if covers, the more ground there is for manipulation and abuse. Chip addressed that in his post a few pages back.

I'm not going to bother to go back and pull some of your so called constructive opinions, to endulge your addiction to argue just because you are bored.
it is a waste of my time since you don't read what is going on.
Serving to improve or advance; helpful: constructive criticism




again you can not be objective when you don't understand the facts. To understand the facts clearly you must have experience in this subject.

So now that you are done attacking other people and moved on to me you can keep moving on to the next person because I am done replying to someone who is ignorant to the process it takes to even make a skin. Have a nice day

Katy, I think you would feel different if this happened to you . Its still going on because its a serious problem that didnt begin with this incident,and wont end after this incident has been resolved (wich has'nt been as of yet).

Noone here has trashed another member beyond reason ,with the exception of those who really could careless and are just trashing to trash anyone for the sake of an arguement. Honestly,I dont understand why anyone that is not a designer of some sort would even post here .

But really Katy, if you feel that Raquel has been run through the wringer unfairly, then post the reasons why you believe this to be true . But,please read every post from start to finish and make an informed decesion on that . If the thread just bothers you because of the length and you really have no interest in whats being said here then just dont open it .

I am not defending the act or the actor, I think the method used to address the wrong is unacceptable. I object to a forum feeding frenzy directed at any member for any reason and I have consistently spoken out against it and have had nastiness directed at me too for voicing that opinion,

All those attacking this member have torn her a new one and enough is enough.

Lets have a reality check. In life, whether its your real first life or a virtual play life, when you are damaged financially you seek recourse following the system set into place to accomplish that. A public thrashing of another member is never justified as a good solution for your personal financial loss.

When skin texture loss and subsequent theft happened to another member Jake and I handled it for her legally. We followed the system set into place with the DMCA and by Linden Lab, and acted in our real life capacity as lawyers. Yes real letters on real letterhead with real legal notice and all.

We offered that same free legal service to all members right here on the forum, a service which would otherwise cost a significant amount of real cash dollars for a member to pursue.

We may not like the system set in place for resolution of private disputes in SL. In addition, there are serious issues concerning the lack of response by LL to comply with the DMCA. Despite our legal compliance Linden Lab failed to remove the skin textures that we notifed them were stolen from the database.

The system does provide further recourse in the real life courts had our client member wished to proceed, but since that ends our pro bono involvement the matter was concluded without a satisfactory outcome.

For your information my textures have been stolen and sold in SL. One content creator who is very well known sells my drapes and rugs even to this day and my direct contact with him showed him to be a nasty assed bastard. What should I have done, posted on the forum in order to publicly humiliate him and insult him...what would that accomplish.

Lets say hypothetically that Lost had his own agenda and made this whole thing up because of a personal dispute with the one he accused. Another member is vicitimized and torn to shreds by his accusations and no other member reading his accusations is in a position to know with certainty if he is making this up or not.

The individuals who can ascertain the facts, or who are a postion to address these matters, are the Linden Lab employees and official representatives. A public humilation and feeding frenzy conducted against another member is not the way to proceed.

Wow... there you go again... trying to shut people up... unbelieveable...

Lost - After going thru this whole thread about your skins being riped off-

Just know you are one of the FINEST skin designers in SL and anyone who knows better will continue to come to you for your work. When other players see my AV and tell me how great I look and ask me where i got the skin - I always drop them a LM to ND. The rip offs aren't any where as good as your stuff.

I hope you continue making the excellent work you have done so far - I will always go to ND for my skin needs.

Ctarr Huszar

She directed that at the people who just seem to want to make this thread their own personal stomping ground, not at Katy.

There you go again, trying to fan the flames...unbelievable.

Why does someone have to be a designer yto have interest in a thread.. makes no sense...and Katy wasn't stomping on anything and if she wasn't firecting it towards Katy, perhaps she should not have quoted her?

I understand completley where you are coming from Katy . It would be nice if this situation could be solved in more orderly sound manner but the fact is as you have just stated yourself ..that doesnt work, and your an attorney to boot .It didnt work for somone you were kind enough to defend either.

Yes, you are right in some instances people could use this for a personal dispute and make-up things that arent true ,trash somone based on lies . This really isnt the case here and anyone who has read this thread fully can see that . The evidence proves this is definatley a case of theft . If this were a real court of law , I believe that a buyer of stolen goods is as responsible as the seller ..atleast thats the way I understand the law. Also ,if the buyer chose not divulge the source of the goods they purchased I do believe they serve the time or take the punishment .It is not uncommon for humiliation to be used as a form of justice ...Ive seen where people have worn signs around their necks displaying them in public places as "theif" and thats in the US . This however is not a court of law ,this is infact an internet game where real money is involved . There is no set justice system in place nor form of goverment.

We have the right to to take whatever measurements we can to protect ourselves as long as it does not violate the TOS .If we have violated the TOS ..that would be up to Linden labs to decide .So , while I respect your opinions and understand what your saying I also feel that we still have the right to do this our own way ...wether you believe it works or not .

In your situation yes I do believe you should have posted the issue in the forums .Atleast we would know not to buy from this person any longer and be abe to support you as a fellow creator .We would also be able to check this persons shop for our own things as well ..just incase he or she was brave enough to sell other designers things as well as yours. Sensual should have also posted who stole from her (if you did , im sry but I missed it ). As long as you have solid evidence to back your claim i believe its totally acceptable .
Not posting is really an injustice in this community as you are leaving other designers open to the same fate from the same person that stole from you . Atleast give us the opportunity to also be able to check for our items as well .

I haven't posted in this thread but have been watching it because I am a consumer and want to be aware of things like this that way I know where not to shop. I don't want to support people who go around SL stealing others work and selling it as their own. But I had to write now because of this statement. Why shouldn't we as consumers respond to a thread like this. I didn't know there was a "You must be a designer to respond in this thread" disclaimer on the first post. A statement such as yours makes me think you think you are better than others because you are a creator, just like a certain land baron has dubbed certain residents as only 'tourists' because they don't create and sell virtual items. Maybe I'm reading your statement wrong but it seems a little high on the horse. I think everyone should have a voice regardless of what they do in SL. I am a creator and a consumer, but even if I didn't sell or buy anything in SL, I should be able to voice an opinion.

Moving on. I'm really sorry this happened to Lost, I've never tried to make a skin or clothing myself (I stick with troublesome prims hehe) but it doesn't look as if it is an easy thing to do. Just don't stop what you do because it will only hurt your customers and wouldn't be fair to those who are loyal to you. I know my Sis would be very upset if you quit making skins hehe.

Are you serious? Ambyance quoted Katy to address some of the issues she had brought up. But honestly, the portion of her reply that you quoted was directed at people who post these sorts of replies, which bring no relevant information in regards to the original topic. To have interest in a thread is one thing. To contribute relevant and substantial information to it is helpful.

In either case, you posted a retort when comments weren't even directed at you by either Ambyance or katy. So how about you let them be grown-ups and debate the issues without commentary? The problem with opinions and observations is that you seem to have a never ending supply of them. They're big girls, I'm sure they can handle their own debates without your commentary.

Im sry , I think that statement came across wrong . You do have the right to post here ,sensual even as rough as I believe her to be has the right to post .I just think that people that really have no intrest in either Raquel or Lost and just want to fight with somone should be kind enough to not do that here . There are tons of places in this forum where they can create a huge debate over things they feel no real passion about just for the sake of arguing .

I do feel passion about honesty, fairness and justice. However, there is a little too much "passion" in this thread and not enough cold reason.

I'm sorry, but a lynch mob is still a lynch mob, even if the person is guilty.

OMG! Ok so now you know how Ambyance text is "supposed" to come across... geez so many people in this thread speaking for one another... and if I don't like something Ambyance or anyone else says, I have a right to comment on it, I don't care who it is directed at...

I do a feel a great deal passion about texture theft, I do NOT feel a good passion about lynch mobs,if you didn't want a debate and don't want anyone else to post thier thoughts, perhaps you should have handled this privately? And it is ok for you to belittle Raquel in this thread as much as you want, but it is not ok for someone to say , enough is enough, or now you look as bad as she does... or whatever the case may be...

Caydence , I really really appreciate you trying to explain and seeing whats happening here but really hun ..this person wont change the way she does things . She is all over the forums with the same kind of things and has been since I can remember . It doesnt matter how nice you are or how much sense you make she is just plain bitter .

Sensual, Maybe my text doesnt come across right ...I apologize for that . Unfortunatley ,grammer and punctuation arent my major strengths in life and honestly I have much more to worry about .Im tired of debating with you , i respect your opinions ...please respect mine .

No, the difference between you and I is that I can seemingly read without bias. :rollseyes: And, based on Ambyance's follow up responses, I did indeed correctly read her statements.

You don't stop and think things through before you open your mouth. You've got this never-ending font of opinions, as does everyone, but some of us have a bit more tact and class than to let them spill from our mouth's like we have a bad case of verbal diahrea.

Says the poster who once tried to fire up a lynch mob against Ulrika for supposedly stealing an animation!

hmm apparantly I am not the only one that feels this way, as there are others that are saying the same thing I am... Also that felt Ambyance's post ('s) a bit rude and wrong... Sorry but you can't shut everyone up that disagrees with you =/

And you cannot insert words into people's mouths. I have never said "shut up". But if you're going to post, at least make them intelligent and well thought out. You sound like a little girl when you say "I'm gonna say what I want and there's nothing you can do about it. Neener-neener-neener!"

Not to mention you make yourself look like a hypocrite for other's standing up for themselves and speaking out against wrong's done to them in much the same way you have in the past. Thank you Nolan, for that example.

*grabs popcorn and cool beverage for the show*

I think you need to do a little reasearch before you start judging me and determining what I have "done in the past"... oo you are Ullala's alt.. and here are thought there were 2 people that.. well nm.. ok ..

That's it!?!? *sighs* Well, that was anti-climactic. I thought you were actually going to post something relevant. I'm debating whether to take your advice and start researching all of your past forums exploits. I'm almost certain I'll find more evidence of hypocrisy, yet your posts in this thread have provided enough evidence of that. Yeah, I'll have to decline. I just lack the motivation to waste time.

Katy,

Your last post opened up a couple of questions for me. You said that even after complying with the legal requirements, LL still did not remove the textures in question. Did they give a reason for this? We have been told time and again that is the process you must go through, and that they will honor it. If that is not the case, that is a serious problem.

Also, on the topic of this original thread, Lost did not name the person in his post. She chose to reveal herself later on in the thread, something she did not have to do and was her own choice.

There was value to this thread, in spite of the many different turns it has taken. Most designers remain oblivious to the serious threat that exists to their work, so they are blindsided when this kind of thing happens. They mistakenly assume that the permissions system in SL functions as advertised, and that Linden Lab has taken reasonable security measures to protect content. Neither case is true.

Knowledge is power. While I don't advocate publishing the exact methods of how this content is stolen, it is important to know that it is occuring, and what you can do if it in fact happens to you. If your business relies on the sale of textures (including clothing), you need to operate under the conditions that complete theft and resale of your work is trivially possible.

It does not mean you cannot successfully operate a business - a successful business is about brand, image, quality, customer service, and many other things that a cheap knockoff thief lacks. Additionally, taking some measures to uniquely identify your work, whether through watermarks, unique elements that only you could produce (IE - Lost's tongue on his skin), or whatever other methods you use to mark your work is important, as is keeping the original work product if it does come down to a dispute.

She accused Ulrika of using an animation she "found on the web" by means of starting a flamefest thread about it. Ulrika went to great lengths to prove otherwise - she even showed LL her files, and though I am unsure exactly what data was used to verify that it was Ulrika's original work - LL decided that it was. Sensual then ate crow.

Yet here she is, chiding people for a "lynch mob mentality", when her own past behavior was just as bad, if not worse. Funny thing is, that anim she was screaming about - she didn't even claim it was her own work being stolen, but rather that of someone on the web, so she really had no personal stake in it - other than to cause drama. Now we have her being sarcastic towards people who actually do have a personal stake, and those who would defend them - and we even have the culprit admitting that the work was stolen by her "friend", and then removing the items from the market. All this, from a live helper, who is supposed to help people with issues like this.