FLOSS community concerns about the Linden Lab policy on third-party viewers

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Revision as of 18:45, 24 February 2010 by Gigs Taggart (talk | contribs) (→‎Preamble: sp)
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Preamble

"any Third-Party Viewer or any third-party software client that logs into our servers"

  • This could read as applicable to any software that has the capability to log into the service.
    • If this is the case, then people who have written clients years ago are suddenly and retroactively covered by this policy.
    • There is no way to create a client that is unable to log into Second Life and yet is compatible with OpenSim
    • Is a disclaimer that a client "should not be used with Linden Lab's service" enough to make someone not subject to this policy? Is a developer responsible for what their users do with the software?
    • This policy becoming "agreed to" by developers through the vicarious actions of end users is probably weaker than the weakest "browse wrap" agreement. There is no meeting of the minds... the developer may not even be aware this policy exists.

1

a

"compatible with the protocol of Linden Lab’s viewers as it is documented in our source code"

  • The obvious problem here is that the source code is constantly changing.

c

"On your software download page or in another location that a user must visit before installing the Third-Party Viewer, you must disclose the following:"

  • As was raised by Robin, this is an onerous requirement for linux package maintainers where installation is largely unattended, and would push Second Life out of the main repos and into "non-free"

h

"The services we provide through our viewers, for example, our Land Store, the LindeX exchange, and the Xstreet SL marketplace, are designed to enhance Residents’ shared experience. We may ask you to make changes to your Third-Party Viewer if it disables certain of our services [...] If we do, you agree to make the changes we request."

  • It was pointed out on the mailing list that text-only clients and many alternative clients should not and will not offer these "shared experiences".

2

b

"You must not use or provide any functionality that Linden Lab’s viewers do not have for exporting content from Second Life unless the functionality verifies that the content to be exported was created by the Second Life user who is using the Third-Party Viewer. [...]" This must be done for all content in Second Life, including content that may be set to “full permissions.”"

  • This is one of the most objectionable requirements.
    • Megaprims are all created by gene replacement, so you can't export them
    • Invisiprims, same deal
    • Can't collaborate with someone on a project and then export it to other grids, since it will fail the creator check
    • Can't build on an alt and then export it on your main... less of an issue since you can export on the alt but still very annoying.
    • Can't use textures uploaded on alt when building on main, and vice versa.
  • Probably effectively bans all CC-SA-By licensed content, since such content forbids the imposition of restrictions on the right to redistribute the content.

7

a

"You are responsible for all uses you make of Third-Party Viewers, and if you are a Developer, you are also responsible for all Third-Party Viewers that you develop or distribute."

  • Developers can't be responsible for what happens with their software. The GPL specifically disclaims liability. You shouldn't try to give it back to the developers.

c

"Violate or promote violation of any law or the rights of any individual or entity"

  • This clause is way way too vague. The laws of which state? Which country? Sharia law? What rights? EU rights? Constitutional rights? Copyrights?

d

"You assume all risks, expenses, and defects of any Third-Party Viewers that you use, develop, or distribute."

  • Again, the GPL allows developers to disclaim liability for defects. No one is going to agree to this.

8

a

"We do not guarantee that Second Life will always be open and accessible to Third-Party Viewers and Developers."

  • Linden Lab always talks about their "commitment to open source". If you feel the need to write things like this, then don't be surprised when people question that commitment.

c

"You acknowledge and agree that we may require you to stop using or distributing a Third-Party Viewer for accessing Second Life if we determine that there is a violation."

  • You can't terminate the developer's right to distribute granted under the GPL in this way.

d

"If we believe that your Third-Party Viewer is not in compliance, we may request that you add, modify, or remove features, functionality, code or content, and you agree to comply with the request within a reasonable timeframe specified by Linden Lab."

  • No developer is going to allow Linden Lab the power to assign them development work that must be completed in a certain timeframe. That's a basically unlimited liability for the developer.

9

c

"By “Third-Party Viewer,” we mean any third-party software client on any device that logs into our servers that support Second Life. Third-Party Viewers include software for viewing Second Life, any chat clients, utilities, bots, and proxies as well as applications that may not be listed in our Viewer Directory."

  • This goes back to the preamble. Apparently just creating software compatible with Second Life makes you liable for this agreement/policy. Keep in mind that the Second Life protocol has been submitted to standards bodies for standardization. The only way to opt-out of this agreement seems to be to somehow break compatibility with the Second Life service.