CopyBot case needs more than a slap on the wrist

It took me an hour and a half to wade through all the blog posts after Cory Linden finally recanted Robin Linden's stance that CopyBot was OK, and stated clearly that CopyBot use is a TOS Violation. Clearly there are a LOT of people still upset about this.

Saying that use of CopyBot to make ‘unauthorized copies’ is a TOS violation that MAY cause someone to be banned is a weak solution, and far too late. This mess is killing Second Life, rapidly. Content creators and sim owners are still locking up shops, selling out, and leaving. Why? BECAUSE THE DAMNED THING IS STILL LOOSE! And because as far as anyone knows, the people responsible for releasing this bit of malware are still free to roam SL, and have not been punished at all.

There are several things LL could do to restore the confidence of content creators:

1: BAN FOR LIFE the person(s) who were selling or distributing CopyBot. They are in violation of DMCA, for distributing a tool whose SOLE FUNCTION is to violate copyright permissions.

2: BAN FOR LIFE any person who is caught using CopyBot to duplicate and keep a copy of ANY item that they did not create. Use of CopyBot AT ALL, on ANY content that you did not create, alters the copy permissions and creator information for that item, and MUST be an INSTANT BAN FOR LIFE OFFENSE. Period! It is NOT an ‘innocent tool that could be misused’. IT ALTERS OBJECT PERMISSIONS AND CREATOR ATTRIBUTION. There is NO legitimate, valid purpose for that. Not for backups of copy-protected content, or any other so-called legitimate use. It is IP THEFT MADE IDIOT SIMPLE. Possession of stolen goods is a crime, even if they are virtual goods. I would allow an exception only for someone who tested it to see how bad it was, then deleted all offending copies after their test.

3: Any Lindens who have participated in LibSecondlife must RESIGN from libsecondlife and CEASE ALL ASSOCIATION with it, or face termination of employment. Those Lindens should also be disciplined for being an accessory to the worst hacking incident to harm SL in its history.

4: Ban all members of libsecondlife from further access to SL. Reverse engineering the client is EXPLICITLY a TOS violation, and it makes NO sense that this group gets to do it without penalty.

5: Robin Linden should be severely disciplined for essentially causing a ‘bank panic’ with her insensitive and blind statements that triggered all those store closures, because her statements indicated that LL would do NOTHING to stop distribution and use of CopyBot. She did more harm to LL’s relations with the content creation community than any employee that I am aware of.

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Personally, I am in ‘wait and see mode’. I’ve cashed out my L$ balance. I’m ready to cancel all my store leases as soon as they expire, and to close my stores. I’m still not spending a single L$ until I see PROOF that LL is going to do more than say “Naughty children! You shouldn’t have done that!” to the creators and distributors of CopyBot. If all they get is a slap on the wrist, and CopyBot remains available and its use unpunished, then I’ll be leaving SL. If LL actually ENFORCES their own TOS and BANS these hackers, I *may* feel safe enough to remain, and to make more content.

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My direct questions:

WILL LL PUNISH THE PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR COPYBOT?

WILL CONTENT CREATED WITH COPYBOT BE REMOVED FROM SL? IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?

In response to your questions...

To the first, please consider Cory's comments regarding LibSL:

Please recognize that using the Terms of Service is not a permanent solution. Nor is it shift in Linden Lab’s support of libsecondlife (who have removed CopyBot from their Subversion repository)...I continue to feel that libsecondlife is an incredibly important part of Second Life’s development and community.

As such, I am not aware of any plans to punish libSL members.

And to the second, I do not believe that there is any way to track and remove every possible copied item inworld. As such it's important that you file abuse reports where you believe your copyright has been infringed upon so that LL make take action on your behalf.