Alphaville Herald

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Op/Ed: The Positive Feminist

by Meleth Oakleaf

This isn't an article about a role-play sim, this is an article in which one reporter tackles a delicate topic and probably pisses off a few readers. Hopefully, beyond just pissing off a few people, I can make people think about an often underrepresented feminist view.

I spoke to Pixeleen today about beginning another article series, in which I interview a number of people in SL about the job they hold. I'm excited about this topic, because just like role-playing sims there are a wide variety of professions available in SL and a lot of them are unique things you'd never really think about in your day to day explorations of SL. The other side of the coin is, just like role-playing sims, a lot of SL professions have a sexual component.

In my covering of role-playing sims, I've elected not to cover sex dominated sims. There are many reasons that contribute to this decision and I may re-evaluate it later, but the largest reason for this decision is that my goal in this article series is to expose opportunities for role-play in SL that you might not otherwise be aware of, and sex-based role-playing in SL is easier to find than a virgin in a Star Trek convention.

Emerald Developers Publish Naughty SL Client Catalog

Onyx project goes public with copybot client reviews

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

The Emerald developers have gone public with Onyx - a previously secret project to catalog and potentially fix exploits in various unofficial Second Life viewers.

In a blog post at the ModularSystems web site, Mr. Fractured Crystal states  "These viewers generally remain private, closely guarded and shared either with close friends or for a significant fee, the reason being that exploits are quickly identified and neutralized when released in a public manner. The result of this is that nobody can be sure of the capabilities of these viewers, information posted on blogs and forums is woefully inaccurate at the best of times, and even more often misinformation spread by those who want the public to remain in the dark."

It Has To Be Said: Stop Calling it a Game

by Jessica Holyoke

Second Life is like the Internet in many respects; its on the computer, no one knows that you are a fairy tale blind mouse and there is a heavy text and graphical basis for our interactions.  And it looks like a video game; you can fly, you can be in space, you can be underwater without SCUBA gear,  and you can have sex with strange creatures that shouldn't be reproducing with humans.  But combine the video game looks with the Internet aspects and suddenly people take it as an excuse for being a dick or bitch. 

"Oh, I stole all your spacebucks?  Too bad its a game!" 

"Oh I said I would be your boyfriend and I'm having fake sex with aliens?  Its in my game rules." 

"I want to spend time with you, sure, right after  I am done spending time in Zindra gambling your spacebucks away." 

These are typical things that are said to me.  Especially by my dick ex-boyfriend Steve*. Jerk.

Now granted, there are aspects of SL that are games, role playing sims and actual video games like Dark Life.  And on role playing sims, you are expected to play a character.  But on those sims, if you 'role play a dick or bitch,' then you are treated like a dick or bitch AND they understand that you are playing a character.  People present know the difference between In-Character or Out Of Character. 

Planet Thyferra – May the Force Not Shove You Off a Bridge!

by Meleth Oakleaf

I teleported into the sim and was greeted by the now familiar note card of information and vendor market. Though this time with two distinctions, I was standing in front of a shuttle and the note card included a quick overview of the overall thrust of the role-playing story on Planet Thyferra. In a nutshell, Bacta; Thyferra has it thus the Sith have claimed the planet as their own Bacta ranch. The information was concise and well organized enough to make me overlook the spelling errors that the writer in me normally cannot overcome.

I chose to start my exploration in Thyferra Valley, which lacked the beauty of glowing Pandora, but was refreshingly free of lag. In my wandering through the valley I found only one other person. I would have attempted to make conversation but this person was unconscious and had a menacing red bot standing over them. I also found a cute little android who shot at me. I'm sure it would have hurt if I wasn't just a visitor, but I couldn't help but be impressed and think the little guy was kinda cute. After a quick run around the mostly empty valley I wandered back to the ship to travel to a hopefully more populated area.

Game Over: There.com Virtual World Ends March 9, 2010

Players point to pedo and paintball moderation as possible causes

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

The PG-oriented virtual world There.com is to be closed March 9, a victim of hard economic times, according to There CEO Michael Wilson's announcement. An FAQ at the site states that the company is buying back  virtual currency from players with a "Therebucks buyback" program for those who purchased Therebucks in the last month and for developers who made Therebucks by selling developer items. Therebucks collected from Sparkles, Tips, or give trades from other members are not eligible - so virtual escorts and other personal service industry workers appear to be out of luck.

did There.com's paintballer moderation policies hurt the game?

The FAQ hints at significant levels of player dissatisfaction with hard-to-control end-game emergent behavior. Player profiles have been disabled, and the FAQ explains, "So many members were using profiles to post pornographic links and images out C/S staff couldn't keep up. We've temporarily disabled profiles until we can catch up and find a better solution."

Second Life Faction Wars: Woodbury "Raid" or JLU Drama-fest?

Chatlogs from Ahern infohub conflict

by Senban Babii

 

Drunk and disorderly? Kalel Venkman and GreenLantern Excelsior particle spamming  a club in New Grayson Station on January 1, 2010

While the Justice League Unlimited's formerly secret wiki claims that on January 5th 2010 a "Woodbury University raiding party" descended on the Ahern infohub and engaged in "taunting and harassing residents", the truth may not be so clear cut - if a chatlog of the event obtained by the Herald can be believed. While the JLU's incident report paints a picture of superheros fighting griefer harassment, the situation seems to have been escalated by JLU member Maverick Grunfeld with threats, intimidation and boasts.

Our story begins when Woodbury University members Information Core and Robble Rubble ran across Mr. Grunfeld in his famous Batman avatar (which bear a remarkable resemblance to those of the Batman character found in the Arkham Asylum computer game) at the Ahern infohub. Grunfeld was accompanied by Haruhi Thespian, later to be revealed as a mole.
 
The JLU wiki states that Ugly Blokke, Whats Gruppman, Bebbs Frakture, Tizzy Teardrop and Information Core were behind the taunts and harassing behaviour that Maverick Grunfeld felt constituted a "raid", yet the Herald has come into possession of evidence which tells a very different version of events -- evidence that forces us to ask whether Maverick Grunfeld is worthy of wearing the cowl of the Caped Crusader he purports to emulate.
 

False DMCAs Fizzle - Kalel Venkman Fingered !!!

Typepad 'fesses up - some DMCA-disputed images, text have gone missing

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Gregory Eugene Turnbow (Kalel Venkman in Second Life) has been identified as the complainant who submitted a DMCA request to Typepad that resulted in removal of content from six Herald stories covering the Second Life Justice League Unlimited.

Mr. Turnbow's copyright infringement claim was disputed by the Herald on the grounds that the materials were a clear case of fair use for journalism.

After Turnbow failed to file a copyright infringement claim in court within 14 days of the Herald's counter filing, Typepad staff restored parts of the disputed content. However, in correspondence with the Herald, Typepad revealed that they were unable to restore portions of the content which they had removed - all images were missing from their server, as were sections of the disputed text. The Herald staff has restored this content from our backup copies.

---

Jen, Feb 26 05:00 pm (PST):

Dear Mr. McCahill-

The complainant who submitted the DMCA request is:

Gregory Eugene Turnbow
[address elided]
Simi Valley, CA 93065
[email protected]

We have restored the available textual content to the posts but the full chat transcripts and data table were not available, and we are were not able to restore the unavailable content.

Sincerely,
Jen
TypePad One
Six Apart Ltd

Stroker Serpentine & Munchflower Zaius - 2009 Avatars of the Year

Class action complaint against Linden Lab leads to avatar of the year award

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

In 2009, there was no question of which the players had the biggest impact on the metaverse. After lawyering up and heading to the courthouse, virtual sex toy entrepreneur Stroker Serpentine and noted avatar skin and clothing designer Munchflower Zauis alleged, "Linden Lab, with knowing and conscious intent to do so, profits in multiple ways and at multiple stages from the illegal conduct" in a class action complaint against the Lab. 

Unlike the usual in-world player whinging and role play bluster, Serpentine and Zaius augmented their reality by putting the Linden game gods on notice that he Lab's seemingly lassiez-faire approach to copyright and trademark infringement was unacceptable. 

Their complaint detailed the trials and tribulations of Second Life content creators who's virtual goods are routinely copied and resold by those who have sidestepped the Second Life digital rights management controls, and sent the Lab scrambling for legal representation. Although the Linden's first choice lawyer proved to be too expensive, the Lab ultimately found council, and the legal wrangling began in earnest.

Among the telling point made in the complaint are the ineffectual nature of DMCA takedowns in Second Life: "A Second Life pirate who becomes subject to a  DMCA takedown notice will usually not challenge it, but rather will simply create a new free  account and re-upload the content, employing the tried and true whack-a-mole approach.” Herald readers may recall a recent episode involving motorcyle parts which illustrates this issue. 

Avatar of the Year 2009 - 2nd Place: Emerald Viewer Developers

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

The Herald continues our 2009 Avatar of the Year award ceremonies by naming the avatars that had the second greatest impact - for better or worse - on the metaverse: the Emerald Viewer development team.

giving Second Life players exactly what they want in a viewer - Bewbies from Toxic Menges on Vimeo.

While Linden Lab appeared to spend 2009 ignoring the current client while preparing for this week's beta release of the Second Life 2.0 viewer, the Emerald developers' player-oriented feature set shook the foundations of the virtual world with vital virtual world advances such as avatar boob bounce breast physics, private encrypted "off-the-record" IM, and a host of other popular features that the Lab did not see fit to incorporate into the official Linden client.

Despite concerns voiced in some quarters about the reputation of certain Emerald developers, and the possibility that clients derived from the Emerald codebase could be used to create copybot clients, the Herald noted widespread adoption of the Emerald viewer - particularly among experienced players.

Second Life's Pandora Na'vi Roleplay - Breathtaking Beauty and Lag

Multilingual players use Na'vi speaker/translator to bridge language gap

by Meleth Oakleaf

Like many places in the world SL has caught Avatar fervor. While it was my original intention was to review a single Pandoran role-play environment, a combination of lag and frustration led me to explore the two most highly traffic-ed Pandoran roleplay sims, Pandora – Navi' Planet Avatar and  Pandora Magic.

Both of the sims I visited started with a representation of the human settlement, in the case of Pandora this was the ship orbiting above the Pandoran jungle, in Pandoran Magic the human camp . Both of these sims were bilingual; Pandora being predominantly English and French and Pandoran Magic being predominantly German and English. Both sims use the DCS combat system. Both sims include fully stocked vendor areas with everything a budding Na'Vi or evil Human could want. Though it seems to me that these items are comparatively more expensive than items used in other roleplay sims. Finally both did an amazing job of capturing the beauty of the movie that inspired them.

I also noticed similarities among the avatars inhabiting these sims. The Na'vi seemed to outnumber the humans by a factor of ten to one. I saw a great many exact copies of Jake Sully and Neytiri running around, though to be fair this may be because the majority of Na'Vi that I saw were in concentrated in the starting area. I also noted that the number one common role-play interest, other than Avatar, I saw on the profiles of those around me was Star Wars.

Nuts Bakalava -- Post 6 Grrrrrl

A former Post 6 Model contacted me and told me that I should meet Nuts Bakalava.  As I'm always willing to follow the game related advice of oldbies, I did, and as you see, I was impressed. Nuts is as charming and friendly as she is gorgeous, and I hope that you agree she makes a fantastic Post 6 Grrrrl. -Timothy Morpork]

I am really just a character, not a builder or mover or shaker, but I have been here since 2005, the old days when you could fly across SL in an afternoon, or thereabouts.   I got into Gor early, went panther and never really looked back.  Had some great friends and great times.  I had a black skin early, ‘cause well that is who I am RL and I wanted to see me when I logged on. My early one was CMFF (TY for blazing the trail!), with an “ethnic” shape – big butt, which is so NOT me RL.  Anyway, got lots of looks.  Over the years I have been steadily changing and improving, always a proud, strong, dark daughter of Africa and America (but now with a smaller tush).I have tried voice, and really, I wish you boys – and I mean BOYS – would just learn to keep the meanness and the come-ons and the put downs out of it – I now have it off and can’t see using it again.

Avatar of the Year 2009 - 3rd Place: Sion Zauis

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Patrick Davison explains Sion Chickens in 5 minutes

Official presentation of the 2009 Avatar of the Year awards were unavoidably delayed by staff vacations during the holidays followed by a frenetic flood of breaking news in early 2010, but given the outstanding levels of achievement on the part of all this year's participants it would be criminal not to acknowledge their achievements.

And so, without further delay, the Herald is pleased to name the avatars that had the biggest impact - for better or worse - on the metaverse in 2009. Three avatars will join an elite group which includes such luminaries as the garrulous griefer Prokofy Neva, the grid crashing Plastic Duck, the infamous N3x13 and D3adl3yc0d3c, and Tizzers Foxchase of Woodbury University.

In third place for 2009, Sion Zauis and his Sion chickens represent the sort of customer service and ever changing rules of the game that haven endeared Linden Lab to its residents players.

SL Shrink Analyzes DMCA Crazed Caped Crusader

Kalel Venkman suffering from incomplete immersion or over-augmentation?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

In a story titled O Superman the eggheads at SL Shrink analyze Justice League Unlimited leader Kalel Venkman and seem to be asking if the DMCA wielding role play super hero - or super thug? - might be suffering from some sort of toxic immersion in the virtual world he has created for himself.

Kalel Venkman - an avatar dressed as superman (file photo)

Warning Venkman against trading away the gripping narrative he has in Second Life, SL Shrink cautions that "while projection of real-life neuroses into the metaverse may be illuminating, I’m much less convinced that allowing in-world dynamics to leak out and influence one’s external behaviour can be anything other than harmful. This may be a lesson that Kalel Venkman, or at least his mortal alter-ego, is about to learn the hard way."

Mr. Venkman recently endeared himself to the Herald by ignoring the Copyright fair use doctrine to file a series of DMCA takedown requests against the Herald in an attempt to muzzle press coverage of what appear to be significant abuses on the part of the Justice League Unlimited. 

Historic W-Hat Sim For Sale - Goons Go Back to Baku

Estate owner is disgusted with Linden Lab customer service

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

"LL treats their customers too poorly to give them that much money" - Masakazu Kojima

The notorious WHAT sim is for sale to the highest bidder, a surprising development that will send the Something Awful W-Hat goons back to their old mainland base in Baku sim. Estate owner Masakazu Kojima - a resident of Second Life since 2004 - told the Herald that the sale was driven by her recent  suspension and Linden Lab's threat of account termination should more offensive objects appear on the W-Hat estate.

Although the W-Hat goons' notoriety, ironic builds, and reputation for griefing has been eclipsed by other groups of late, something in the recent Haiti-themed build apparently caused one Linden to wipe the sim clean and start swinging the ban hammer. Exactly what was broadly offensive enough to lead to this reaction from the game gods remains a mystery, according to Ms. Kojima. Because Kojima's account was suspended, she was unable to log in to see or deal with the situation.

Earlier this week I asked Kojima about rumors of the WHAT sim closing, and she told me, "there was the whole haiti thing. I got unbanned but they said if it happened again they'd terminate my account so I asked them to clarify whether they were really threatening to ban me next time some random person drops a thing they don't like in my sim and they find out before I do and they haven't responded in like 3 weeks so i'm probably ditching the sim"

Linden Lab holds land "owners" responsible for objects which appear on their land, a policy which neatly transfers risk to those that pay for virtual land. Unless the owner is continuously present to police their  plots, it is possible for someone - or anyone - to create content that is broadly offensive. The risk for anonymous avatars using throwaway account to taunt game gods with transgressive content is effectively nil, and this has not gone unnoticed by the various griefing and Justice League Unlimited superhero vigilante gangs. It would be cruel to point out that the game gods created this situation by opening the door to infinite numbers of unverified anonymous accounts in the pursuit of growth - so we won't mention that.

Pappy Enoch Names Successor in Case of Foul Play

Hard Alley mayoral candidate names Enoch ticket vice mayor

by Journey Yellowlist, Investigative Reporter

Pappy Enoch, a Candidate in the hotly contested Hard Alley Mayoral race, came out of the dumpster hiding to put up a few campaign posters. He had a few words for the media.

Pappy Enoch's vice mayor Uli-Dio Enoch poses for a new campaign sign - and for our children's future!

“This race am hotter'n the inside o' Daisy Duke's panty-loons! I done been attacked by fake superheroes, lost my old truck and my fav'rite hawg--named Daisy, don't  you know--and I now fears for my life!”

Enoch named his adopted son, the two-headed baby Uli-Dio Enoch (“I calls him Ulysses-Diogenes Enoch, for short,” Enoch added) will stand ready as vice-mayor to fill Pappy's shoes…well, spot, if something befalls the Virginia Moonshiner-turned-politico.

Auto-Bans For Copybot Clients - SL Viewer Wars Escalate

Skills Hak's client detection system & ban relay fights copybot-capable clients - Transylvania vampires warn against running griefer clients

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs Desk

Taking Second Life anti-copying software as a service in a new direction, Skills Hak has released a client detection and ban relay system which Hak says "detects all known viewers with copybot/griefing functionality" with no false positives. Hak goes on to claim "So far there hasn't been a single reported false positive. You can trust the system, the technique is not something that can be wrong, it detects harmful viewers with a success rate over 80%".

 

Only L$700 to fight copybots on your land - for the first month

It is unclear from the sales literature at XStreet exactly how one might contest a ban by the system other than to appeal directly to Skills Hak, but Hak apparently is willing to discuss matters with those who feel slighted by his system. This certainly seems like an infinitely scalable approach to justice in the metaverse, assuming Hak prefers to spend his time in Second Life chatting with aggrieved griefers and copybot artists.

The system is currently being sold on XStreet where it currently ranks #10 in sales after reaching a peak rank of #4.

The Gemini Cybernetics CDS system has apparently sucessfully automated the compilation and sharing of banned Second Life residents among Hak's customer base. Accord to the XStreet ad, "In the first 3 beta weeks, the system detected over 1200 people with harmful clients in the few high-traffic test-regions."

Two obvious extensions to the product - automated estate bans and automated abuse reports are a planned for a future release. 

Saints of Hell MC Implicated In Second Life Content Theft - Part 4

BIack Lisle DMCAed & disappeared - Brutus McMahon plays innocent - Saints of Hell enforcer Kran Fireguard clams up

by Coke Supply, Investigative Reporter

[Coke Supply's motorcycle copybot investigation continues - the editrix ]


A few hours after Biack Ghost account disappears,  Saints of Hell cordoned off bike store with police tape.

BIACK LISLE'S ACCOUNT DISAPPEARS AFTER SUCCESSFUL DMCA

On the 25th January, I opened up Biack Lisle's profile and looked at his groups, finding one that had open access. I entered it, and looked through the list to see his last log-in date. However, he was nowhere to be found. Confused, I decided to enter another of the groups found listed in his profile, and found that his name was not listed inside that group either. This is something that I had never seen once in my 3 years of being a Second Life Resident. How could the groups be listed in Biack's profile, when he did not appear to be a member of those groups? I suspected that the Biack account was in suspension pending the outcome of the DMCA investigation, but of course, I had no way of knowing for sure.

On the evening of the 26th January, the Biack account logged back into Second Life after a seven day absence, and was once more visible in the groups he had joined. His avatar stayed online for about 20 minutes before going offline again. A few minutes later I was advised by Motor Loon that Linden Lab had processed his DMCA request, removing the copybotted bikes from inworld and from Biack's inventory, and that the Biack Lisle account had disappeared from search.

It Has To Be Said: What's in a Name?

by Jessica Holyoke

One reason why I am not too worried about people outing my identity is that I have a fairly common real life name.   Pretending my real life name is "Stacey Fox,"  if you Google it, you will find many other people who share my name, some sharing my real life location, some sharing my real life profession.  In fact, Googling that name will not easily reveal my real life identity, you have to dig through many results, and many hypothetical Stacey Foxes, in order to get to the real me.  

On the other hand, there is only one Jessica Holyoke when it comes to editorializing about the virtual worlds we take part in.  There is only one Jessica Holyoke who mentions how the Second Life in-world economy is doing.  

So when people talk about 'fake avatars' on Avatars United, there comes that issue of who is actually fake.

Quick Guide to Intellectual Property

by Jessica Holyoke

With all of the intellectual property stories going through the Herald lately, a quick reference guide is provided to our readers to understand what is going on.  

COPYRIGHT: This is the art major.  Copyright provides protection for works of art and literature, anything that is an expression of an idea.  It provides a limited time monopoly for creators of certain works, such as music, both performed and sheet, books, magazines and programs.  Currently, the lifetime of the author plus 70 years or 95 years if the work is owned by a corporation.  Linden Lab respects your copyrights, even though you give them a license to copy your work throughout the Grid in order for people to be able to see your works.  For the most part, copyrights do not apply to useful objects.  In the U.S., ship hulls are an exception to this rule.   You cannot copyright the idea itself, only how it is expressed.   These are registered with the Copyright office in the U.S. and is the cheapest right to secure.

TRADEMARK:  This is the business major.  This provides identification of goods and services.  It only lasts so long as the mark is used in commerce.  At some point, Glisten will be available again for toothpaste for example.  This includes the name, such as Nike, and specific symbols, such as the swoosh.   It also includes the closely related TRADE DRESS which is the packaging is part of identifying the source of the goods or services in commerce, such as the Coca-Cola bottle.  These are registered with the Trademark office and they start with the filing fees alone, no attorney, at $275 per class of good.

It Has To Be Said: Why does Second Life Need Social Media?

Please define your virtual social graph to help the Lab gain ad revenue

by Jessica Holyoke

When the Lindens talk about expanding residents' presence with Social Media, I have to really ask why?  At my closely guarded age, I use Facebook a good deal.  It helps keep me connected with classmates who have moved great distances and we can share pictures of children and activities easily.  It also provides a simple way to update our friends on what we are doing, with the status update.

On Second Life, we can share our lives through our profiles.  We can form groups so we can send out notices to update our friends.  We can chat anytime, anywhere.  If I want to visit someone, I can just teleport to them - so Social Media makes less sense for the user. 

But it makes great sense for the Lab.  Directed advertising is the new advertising. Facebook gives me hourly ads targeted to my carefully guarded age.  It tells me how people are selling things that would go great with my hobbies.   It tells me which products my friends like.

And that is why the Lab is pushing for social media.  It wants that directed  advertising revenue even though it adds nothing to a resident's Second Life.  Which means that the future Second Life 2.0 will be paid for because I might click on some ad that one of my friends likes for the Black Eyed Peas.

Dianna Llewellyn -- Post 6 Grrrrl

[When I went to Hooters and Shooters to meet last week's Post 6 Grrrl, Savannah Ducatillon, I also met Dianna Llewellyn, who expressed interest in being a Post 6 Grrl, no doubt bringing Hooters and Shooters to the top of the list for SL tour bus stops. I am proud to present the stunning and charming Dianna Llewellyn, Post 6 Grrl. -Timothy Morpork]
 

Hello everyone, I've been in SL for over two years and I still love it. Being here, meeting all sorts of people from all over the world; the best part of SL is the diversity you can meet here!

I am a stripper and I love it, been doing it almost from the start of my time in SL. More recently, I've been a dj for over a year now.  Both are fun to do and I meet great people like Timothy here *smiles*

Saints of Hell MC Implicated In Second Life Content Theft - Part 3

Enforcers at the Saints of Hell Sim, Brutus McMahon inspects a bike, and another theft occurs

by Coke Supply, Investigative Reporter

[Coke Supply's motorcycle copybot investigation continues - the editrix ]

MY VISIT TO THE SAINTS OF HELL SIM

I decided to take Sims up on her offer and hang around the landing point at the Saints of Hell sim in order to catch these alleged griefers. I sat at the table near the landing point and observed. The area was busy, mainly with the Saints of Hell group members. I noticed a new addition to their store front in the form of a sign telling visitors to “kindly go fuck yourself” if they thought the bikes might be stolen, complete with the claim that the bike parts can be “found all over Second Life”, obviously contradicting Sims Rang's initial statement that the Saints of Hell do not use other people's parts in their supposedly copyrighted bikes.

It was not long before I was spoken to by one of their “enforcers”.

Second Life Avatars To Be United With Cross Site Scripting Exploits - Again???

Two apparent security holes found Linden Lab's new social media site in one week

by Pixeleen Mistral and Senban Babii

 

Avatars United security issue reported February 7 is followed by nearly identical hole on February 12

After Alphaville Herald reporter Senban Babii quietly notified the Avatars United web site of a potentially exploitable problem in Linden Lab's new Facebook for avatars social media web site February 7th, the Herald staff was gratified to hear from Fredrik Björk, Co-founder & CTO of Avatars United that the issue had been addressed on February 8th.

If only the story had ended there.

The problem Ms. Babii reported allowed for injection of javascript in Avatars United "shouts" - messages sent between accounts in Avatars United. By permitting javascript to be entered into the text area for "shouts", an entire class of cross site scripting exploits are possible - including automatic redirection of users' web browsers to malicious sites. Rather than immediately running a story, we were happy to give Avatars Unlimited a reasonable chance to close their security hole, and looked forward to a safer social avatar experience for everyone at Avatars United.

We also assumed that after Mr. Björk fixed the immediate problem, he would take a close look at the rest of the AU site for similar exploits. So it came as a surprise to find that the slapt.me forum buzzing today with news of another very similar exploit - this time for the Avatars United blog tool.

Pappy Enoch's Hard Alley Party Party HQ Destroyed!!!

Violence in mayoral race escalates - candidate moved to an undisclosed location

by Journey Yellowlist, Investigative Reporter

 

The race for mayor of the Hard Alley roleplay community was hardly underway when one of the leading candidates, Pappy Enoch, was nearly killed in a frightening terrorist attack. Mr. Enoch barely survived the complete destruction of his trailer campaign headquarters and media center. A group calling itself The Avengers of Purity has taken responsibility for planting a bomb on Mr. Enoch's property, then following up with a coup-de-grace rocket attack. 

This reporter responded to a frantic call from Mr. Enoch, who issued this statement:

"I were dead drun...I means workin' my fingers into bones on my latest campaign promises, when I heared me a sound like bacon fryin' and I got rite hungry. Then I saw a big ol' bum in my headquarters, fuse lit, a-fixin' to blow me to kingdom come!"

Bill Gurley Discovers Virtual World Bean Counting

Why there is a difference between the provider and the consumer

by Jessica Holyoke

Over on  above the crowd blog, Linden Lab board member Bill Gurley talks about a sit-down meeting with Jeff Grabow of Ernst and Young.  Presumably this was in a real office and not in an immersive workspace premium collaboration solution.  In this meeting, Mr. Grabow discussed some accounting principals that should be followed when looking at virtual world providers.  

One thing he pointed to was that virtual currency would not be revenue when sold by the company but a liability, something more like a cash deposit by a customer.  Its not revenue yet. It becomes revenue when it is used to buy a virtual world good or service.  This makes perfect sense with a platform like World of Warcraft or even Island Life, where the goods and services are provided by the platform provider.  When a player buys an outhouse or beach toys with coins they purchased from the provider, then the money used to purchase the coins becomes revenue.  

The problem for Linden Lab is that this accounting method does not apply to Second Life. 

It Has to Be Said: It Has to Be Said

by Jessica Holyoke

Over the months that I have written editorials in the Herald, I have typically labelled the Op/Ed.  Traditionally, Op/Ed means Opposing Editorial.  Someone writes something in opposition to the stated views of the Editorial Board.  However, the Herald does not use an Editorial Board to provide a view point to the community, such as endorsing candidates.  

At the same time, I do news reporting.  And just like Fox News, I am the hottie that lets the news go down so smooth.  And there has to be a way to differentiate my news reporting from my editorializing.  Therefore, It Has to Be Said is a way to set off my news and my editorializing for ease and convenience.  And let me start off with this;

It has to be said that as we are developing as a community, we also have to be developing community mores.

One thing I have noticed is that people go back and forth between how they address people.  The best example is when you find out that the resident you know and love is of the opposite gender.  Suddenly, every one changes their pronouns.  And sometimes that is appropriate when you are talking about a real life law suit and the people involved will not be operating under their avatar names. 

Hard Alley Mayoral Election To Be Held February 20

A new wave of sex sim self governance?

by Senban Babii, political correspondent

In a surprise move, Hard Rust, the owner of the Hard Alley sim has announced elections for the position of Mayor Of Hard Alley.  No stranger to controversy, the Hard Alley sim has not been known as the epicenter of political change in the past.  Is this a change for the better?  The Herald caught up with Hard Rust early this month to ask about these elections.

"Well, we just announced them last night.  We have 5-6 potential candidates, but nothing concrete so far.  I'm looking forward to see what their promises are myself."

While the position of Mayor Of Hard Alley will have a roleplay element to it as one might imagine, Mr Rust was keen to point out that this position would not be merely symbolic. The mayor's position will be "to help generate some fun RP in the sim, and to let people know that Hard Alley is a community and their ideas and opinions are important."

The cynical will no doubt imagine that Mr Rust will still run Hard Alley the way he sees fit but he assured the Herald that while he will retain overall executive power, the Mayor will have an input in the running of the sim and that the role would be taken seriously.

Predator and Prey in the Kingdom of Sand

by Meleth Oakleaf

For the first in a series of articles about the role playing Sims in the Second Life community, I set out to explore the Kingdom of Sand. Immediately after teleporting to a sandy archway, I was directed to acquire an Explorer Tag and provided with the information I needed to fulfill that request. In addition I was given a link that contained information about the Kingdom of Sand. A free environment appropriate clothing was provided near the title and a bazaar provided me the option to purchase a more customized outfit in exchange before journeying into the sim.  

In acquiring my Explorer Tag, I learned that Kingdom of Sand is set in a fantasized version of Middle Eastern culture. Players are allowed to join groups and clans, though the distinction between these two  was not immediately apparent. I explored a few clan leader's profiles and decided that I had gained as much knowledge as I could before exploring the sim. As I made my way back to the door, I encountered Pinto Quissentell a “Knight Predator * Ben kouraish * Law and Order” of Kingdom of Sands, though I was completely unsure what that meant. Pinto agreed to speak with me for a while and I found him to be an amiable companion.

In our conversation I learned that Knight is his class; this determines the combat abilities each player has. Ben kouraish is his group, or organization of people who have similar goals within KoS. Finally Law and Order was his job, giving him the ability to fine people within KoS. Pinto is aged 51, indicating he has played within KoS for 51 days. As our conversation continued I learned that KoS is an intricate world, encompassing the capturing of others, auctions, mental and physical health, morals. Though I have not actively participated in SL sims, Pinto says that KoS is more complex than the handful of sims he has role-played within and that the SGS combat system employed here is more advanced than DCS or CCS. 

Saints of Hell MC Implicated In Second Life Content Theft - Part 2

Alleged thief remains free after multiple DMCA filings, using the same accounts

by Coke Supply, Investigative Reporter

[Coke Supply's motorcycle copybot investigation continues - the editrix ]

ANOTHER THEFT

Investigating further, I soon discovered that this was not the first time that Black/Biack had been caught stealing motorbikes. And it wasn't the first time the Saints of Hell group had covered up for his crimes either. He had also been reported to Linden Lab for copying one of Lincoln Braveheart's motorbikes, the “Wild Injun”.

I decided to speak to Lincoln to find out more. Having told him of my desire to write this story for the Herald, he provided me with the background to this previous theft, along with the transcripts of a few conversations that took place between him and two members of the Saints of Hell group.

===================================

Coke Supply: Hello Lincoln. I'm writing an article for the Herald about a member of the Saints of Hell group stealing other people's bikes to sell in their sim, and I was wondering if you would like to comment?

Lincoln Braveheart: Yes, of course. I had a bike stolen by Black Lisle. I created a bike called the Wild Injun, created from sculpties made by a variety of creators, including Trinity Hunghi. I believe the theft occurred during a show I had entered at Whiskey River. At the same time, my Harley repro was also botted by someone else. The chain guard and rear fender crash bar were both a signature of my Indian, which until that time, had never been shown before anywhere else. I was unaware of the theft until Redtail informed me that one of his bikes had been stolen and was being sold at the Saints of Hell sim.

Coke Supply: As I understand it, Redtail had already filed a DMCA for every bike in the store at this point?

Savannah Ducatillon -- Post 6 Grrrrrl

[Savannah Ducatillon contacted me a few weeks ago and when I finally came back from vacation and got back to her about a shoot, she teleported me into the SL club she manages, and at which she has worked for several years. The place was jumping and fun and it immediately felt like home, and I think Savannah's charm and wit have more than a little to do with that. Without further ado I give you Savannah Ducatillion, this week's Post 6 Grrrl. ~Timothy Morpork]

Hi Everyone!    I really don't have anything profound or inspirational to say so I'll start with a brief introduction to "Sav" as my friends call me.  I am me!    I am just a regular girl, with a multi-faceted personality.   Smart, funny, bold, brash, I am a dreamer. I am sassy, and I am cute; reflective, and introspective, I am  protective, and passionate about the things and people I care about. I am caring and compassionate. I am sympathetic, empathetic, and a good listener - which makes me an awesome friend. I am opinionated. I have been described as "cheeky." I am good, at being bad. I am a B.I.T.C.H. Love me or hate me, I am just me

Saints of Hell MC Implicated In Second Life Content Theft - Part 1

Motorcycle and parts theft copybot outrage!

by Coke Supply, Investigative Reporter

[In this multipart tale of dark dealings in the Second Life motorcycle and parts trade Coke Supply delves into the shady activities of Black Lisle, AKA Biack Lisle, of the Saints of Hell Motorbike Club to reveal an astonishing level of complicity amongst the group's leadership with regards to the apparent theft of the most famous and skilfully crafted  motorbikes ever created in Second Life. - the editrix]

Content creators Redtail Magic, Karyn Vaher, Trinity Hunghi, and Hiiigh Jinx collaborated over a period of four months to create the Lakhota Rocket, arguably the most highly detailed and realistic sculpted bobber motorcycle on the grid. It has won first place in almost every single competition that it has been entered into during 2009, making it one of the most well-known motorbikes ever created in Second Life. The trophies won from these competitions are shown in the image to the left, alongside the real-life version of the bike that it was modeled from.

As you can see from the image below, this motorbike is a true work of art, painstakingly sculpted and textured by its creators over a period of several months to create one of the finest rideable motorbikes that Second Life has to offer.

Pixeleen Mistral Files Legal Response to Venkman's DMCA Abuses

Herald news Idoru pseudonym sacrificed in free speech fight

by Peter Ludlow (aka Urizenus Sklar), Herald Founder

Sometimes we all have to take a stand.  In this case Herald Editrix Pixeleen Mistral, facing an outrageous abuse of the DMCA by Kalel Venkman, has, pursuant to Section 512(c)(1)(C) of the DMCA, filed documents disputing Venkman's claims of copyright infringement on screen shots and snippets of chat from the Justice League Unlimited wiki.  As reported earlier in the Herald, the JLU wiki amassed vast amounts of (often false) information on Second Life denizens, including massive chat logs that were in cases recorded without the consent of the parties involved.  In effect, the JLU was running an enormous surveillance program against Second Life users, and were using the DMCA to try and cover up those abuses to keep the public from understanding the full scope and frightening nature of the abuses.  More troubling still is that much of the material Venkman requested be taken down appeared to implicate the involvement of Linden Lab staff member Plexus Linden in the activities of the JLU.

This can only mean trouble for Venkman.  It is illegal under Title 17, United States Code Section 512(f) to knowingly send faulty DMCA notices, and doing so can result in serious legal liability.  For example, there is already established precedent in the Northern District of California (where YouTube is located) holding that when a company knew or should have known that use of copyrighted material is fair use (and therefore, non-infringing), it is a violation of Section 512(f) and the DMCA.  As a result of that violation, the company responsible paid over $100,000 to the parties affected.

Title 17, Section 107 explicitly says that "the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies... for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright." As I said, Venkman is in trouble.