Copybot protesters..

Whilst flying around recently, I noticed a very large gathering of people in one sim and went to check it out. What I saw was fantastic, a very large group of protesters with huge signs saying "down with copybot" etc. Good on you guys for standing up for your beliefs that copying objects will destroy secondlife and your hard work.

However... just out of interest, why arent any of you protesting on the plot of land not 100 meters away from where you are currently standing, selling Van Gogh paintings? Isnt that the very type of theft that you guys are trying to stop? Isnt it equally as important that Real life Artists do not have their content ripped off by thieves?

(Interesting that a protest against the sale of something was the very thing that attracted me to the place where those objects were being sold...lol)

Vincent van Gogh died in 1890. Copyrights generally expire ~70-95 years after death of author.

Giger's still alive

True, but there's a lot of content on SL that's based on copyrighted works.

Also, those photographs of the paintings were probably scanned from a book... and the copies in that book are protected by other copyrights, including at the very least a compilation copyright.

Perhaps they could go protest in front of a video store.


As far as I know, there are NO legal Quicktime feeds for any of the recent Hollywood films that these stores are renting.

Perhaps they could go protest at a dance club, where people are using pirated MP3's to DJ 24 hour parties.

Perhaps they could go protest at the auto dealers where people are making cars that are exact replicas of real world automobiles, but with the logos ripped off and replaced with similar, but different names.

IP theft is happening all over in SL, but people only get upset when it happens to them. What they're really saying is not "I'm mad that people are stealing IP". They're saying "I'm mad that someone could potentially steal my IP!"

So nevermind van gogh, what about all the other copyright infringement happening in SL? I essentially forced one friend to stop using Looney Tunes pics on his products and now he uses vacation pics instead. go him

Are you saying those protesting are responsible for policing the trademarks and copyrights of other people's work? Or are you saying they are the ones infinging other people's work? Or are you saying two wrongs make a right?

They suck. Does it mean it's all fine to go ahead and make it even easier to steal other people's work? Especially when justification is based on presumptions and painting with a *really* broad brush of "surely everyone steals"?

And last i checked "Your honour, my victim is a thief themselves" doesn't really fly too well in court as valid defense, either...

The point of this all is copybot, that's where all this is emerging from, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DE-RAIL THE SITUATION! Many of us are losing or at risk of losing plenty of content. I for one am GLAD, THRILLED ACTUALLY that we the people are coming together, just tell me where and when and I WILL BE THERE! Reminds me to start making Anti-Copybot T-shirts, that's one item I sure dont mind distributing freely, hell you can even change the creator so long as the message is clear and amplified.



DOWN WITH COPYBOT!!!!!!!!

Was that I was a little miffed that copyright infringement is everywhere in secondlife and that is seems to me a little hypocritical to be standing less than 100m away from an obvious copyright infringement, protesting about an object that could, in the hands of wrongdoers, potentially infringe copyright. It seems to me that people are not up in arms about objects being copied...just about THEIR objects being copied.

That was the point of all this... not copybot.

Also, I dont believe that anyone is trying to derail the situation or deter from the enormity of peoples concerns, just people trying to have a civilised discussion showing both sides and thoughts. I do think we need to try and remain calm and discuss things with an open mind.. there ARE valid reasons and points to the copybot..there ARE fears and concerns. Lets hear it ALL and make sure we dont judge one another for what we believe. I think it would be a much greater injustice to judge and berate peoples thoughts and opinions than any theft of any object anywhere... in any world.