A bunch of well-known SL shop owners are trying to fight back with a public relations operation to educate Second Life users, as a way to fight back against content theft.
Given that copy bots and efficient hackers keep finding ways to rip off content creators and sell their products as their own, those who spend days working on creations rightfully feel that sales are stolen from them.
While I applaud at the effort to fight back, I wonder if it will produce tangible results for several reasons.
The first one is that awareness itself is very hard to raise in a fragmented world such as Second Life. There is no national media around here. There isn't one source of information or one place that everyone ends up visiting in a short time span. Should the campaign be short-lived for a quick splash, it will meet that obstacle. Should it be present for a long time, it will become part of the landscape and eventually draw less attention.
An additional roadblock could be found at Linden Lab. The people behind the campaign would like to have a dialogue with LL. But the Linden track record on prevention and regulation is poor at best. They either refuse to make a move or wait until it is too late to go ahead with a sweeping ban. Nothing in between.
The third issue is perhaps the most elusive, yet the worst of them all. This is a software world where a good chunk of the user base has feelings of entitlement.
In their minds:
- A L$500 outfit is too expensive even if it took days to create and its cost is barely around US$2.20;
- A L$300 piece of art made with much skill isn't worth its price although it is around US$1.45;
- A L$1000 photo shoot is pricey although it is two hours of professional photo work for US$4.08.
This entitlement and the edge that hackers hold against honest people in a software world makes theft very hard to fight against.
Can this battle be won? I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath.
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