[sldev] The criminalization of open source

[John Hurliman]

Jason Giglio wrote:
> I was very disappointed with the Linden Lab response to VWR-1919.  For 
> background, James has committed code to remove the ability to get 
> texture UUIDs from the client UI.
>
> This caving to the ignorant is tantamount to Firefox removing "Save 
> Image As..." in order to "discourage infringement".
>
> It also serves to make open source less legitimate.  No open source 
> viewer build is going to cripple this functionality the way Linden Lab 
> has.
>
> My point is made by this comment on the bug: "And here is a prime 
> example of why open sourcing the client was a noble failure and 
> exactly why secondlife needs to be closed to unauthorized clients".
>
> If Linden Lab is going to cater to the "we want a false sense of 
> security" crowd, it damages the open source community.
>
> This is only the tip of the iceberg:
>
> 1. Hiding sculptie textures on the UI.
> 2. Hiding media URLs in the about land box.
> 3. Having "permissions" on textures in the first place.
>
>
> All these do is create an expectation of protection and a false sense 
> of security.  It turns "open source" into the "evil tool of hackers 
> and scammers".
>
> The problem here isn't a technical one, it's that Linden Lab seems 
> content allowing the expectation of the users to be unreasonable, and 
> even going as far as supporting their fantasy world by hiding the 
> truth from them.
>
> It was this same mismanagement of perceptions and false sense of 
> security that lead to the big copybot outcry.  Linden Lab could learn 
> a lesson from that and stop creating these unreasonable expectations. 
> Instead, from the resolution of VWR-1919, it's obvious that nothing 
> was learned.
>
> -Jason 

Remember to vote on http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-3835

John