Bogus DMCA Claims Fit Right In With Bogus Numbers In Second Life

from the join-the-smaller-than-you-might-think-party dept

A little over a month ago, there was a press release that came out of a couple who ran a "design studio" inside Second Life, claiming that they were the first Second Life millionaires -- which was only true if you were really, really bad at understanding both economics and math. Following that announcement, the character took part in an interview in the world where some other people decided to interrupt by sending, well, flying penises into the middle of the interview. If that wasn't ridiculous enough, it seems that the folks behind the not-really-a-millionaire then went about sending completely bogus DMCA takedown notices to YouTube and some other sites that hosted video or images of the "attack." We've already pointed out why Second Life made a bad decision in trying to bring real world laws into their virtual world, but this is a case where it's not just a problem of the law being used in the virtual world, but the law being misused. This is, honestly, no different than the case from a few months ago where the EFF sued some guy for using the DMCA to force sites to remove a photo of himself on Fox News. The guy didn't own the image of his likeness, and this couple doesn't own images of their virtual likeness in the "public" areas of Second Life. It was a news event in a public place, and they have no control over the matter whatsoever. Instead, as with other cases of trying to illegally remove something, this only calls that much more attention to it. Perhaps, though, now that the number of users in Second Life has been cut down to size, it's all part of the new marketing strategy.
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  1. identicon
    Bob3000, 8 Jan 2007 @ 5:59am

    link to youtube video of disruption?

    :-)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    TopSpeed, 8 Jan 2007 @ 6:35am

    What's next...

    Murder of on-line characters become punishable by the death penalty in real life?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Fletcher, 8 Jan 2007 @ 6:39am

    a word that immediately comes to mind here.. OWNED

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    citizenj, 8 Jan 2007 @ 7:17am

    flying wha?

    and if you're so inclined, you can see some stills and the video of said 'attack' here: http://www.somethingawful.com/index.php?a=4336&p=3 if html works for my post, try clickee

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Jan 2007 @ 8:06am

    more like pwned

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    misanthropic humanist, 8 Jan 2007 @ 8:34am

    so funny

    That's so funny I almost shat myself.

    It's precisely what makes VR fun.

    The "game" or whatever it is looks like a joke though. A badly made room with awful misaligned textures that looks like a Quake 1 map I made circa 1995 full of twunty avatars tying to look cool and serious , and then there is a 10 foot tall one eyed panda sitting amongst them! That's priceless.

    The flying cocks are just icing.

    I have the greatest respect for whoever instigated this hack knowing fullwell that the stuck-up little bitch would throw her toys out of the pram. For her to show just how much it really got her by screaming like a little baby and throwing fake takedown notices around only raises it from childish stunt to a legend.

    And presumably the "avatars" are just animated models that anyone can bring to life in any way they want. How about a Paris Hilton style video with Ashlee Chun getting poked by the one eyed panda? Anyone?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    PhysicsGuy, 8 Jan 2007 @ 8:34am

    lol

    that video was great. talk about full penetration on their conference. and it's pwnd. :P

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Michael TheZorch Haney, 8 Jan 2007 @ 9:37am

    Re: so funny

    SL is built off an older version of the Havoc Engine. its not designed to have the graphics of FEAR, WoW or Guild Wars. The content in SL is built by the people who own land in the virtual world. They are the ones responsible for the misalligned textures and bad design. There are planty of places in SL where good design can be seen.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    rax, 8 Jan 2007 @ 9:41am

    VR fun

    Unlimited object creation possibilities and these guys attack with giant penises. Who says sophomoric humor is dead.

    Had the admins been on their toes they could unleashed a thousand sword wielding ninjas to avert the attack. Now that would have been truly gruesome to watch. As misanthropic said, this is what makes VR fun.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    PhysicsGuy, 8 Jan 2007 @ 9:46am

    Re: Re: so funny

    that still doesn't mean SL isn't a joke of a game...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Levi, 8 Jan 2007 @ 10:46am

    YouTube Link

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Smoky Stover, 8 Jan 2007 @ 10:54am

    However, 2nd Life has one of the largest Buzz Surg

    Just a quick note on what's happening according to the folks at Buzz Analytics; the folks who track and forecast Internet opinions and trends. See http://www.BuzzAnalytics.com

    I was at one of their all day presentations where they said that Second Life was growing exponentially in terms of Internet Buzz. The reason thay claim is the open architecture that let's everyone add to the experience; almost, but not quite, like the open source movement or Ebay.

    It's like a building and expanding tidal wave among the college student and young adult crowd.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    citizenj, 8 Jan 2007 @ 2:16pm

    Re: However, 2nd Life has one of the largest Buzz

    BWA HA HA HA HA HA
    (ok, hold on a sec...)

    nope.

    BWA HA HA HA HA HA

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Rihahn, 9 Jan 2007 @ 10:04am

    SecondLife

    Well, for what ammounts to the world's thickest chat client, it's not *bad*... I mean, really, every polly on the screen could move dynamically at any time, and this can take quite a toll on both client and server.

    What I don't like about it is the lack of structure. Sure, it's all "25th century common good and everyone is an artist"... But the problem is not everyone is on board with that philosophy.

    A great man (Robert Anton Wilson) once said that humanity, removed from the rigors of work, can only smoke so much dope and have so much sex before they start to get creative and begin making things... The problem is humanity isn't there yet and SL demonstrates this like nothing else can.

    Millions of dollars in research and development went into a virtual world simulator that is based on user desinged primitive modelling and streaming media technology - so that 12 year olds can have rocket propelled penis launchers, folks from FurryMUCK can have tinysex in glorious 3D, and the latest in ball gags and restraints can be modeled in stunning detail.

    But, hey, the Internet is for porn right? :)

    link to this | view in thread ]


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