[sldev] Viewer-side scripting and 3rd-Party Viewer Policy?

[Paul Oppenheim (Poppy Linden)]

I don't think you're ever going to hear something dissimilar to this from a Linden on sldev regarding legal issues:

https://lists.secondlife.com/pipermail/sldev/2007-April/001528.html

+ poppy

Rob Nelson wrote:
> Hello sldev.
> 
> I realize that I've asked this in IRC already, but the only answer I got
> was from a non-Linden and I want to hear it from the horse's mouth
> before continuing on my current path of feature additions.
> 
> I'm working on a viewer that will be adding viewer-side embedded
> scripting (Lua, if anyone is curious, see http://lua.org) in order to
> allow content creators to extend the abilities of the content they
> create.  However, during development, a beta tester brought up a few
> potential issues with the ToS and 3rd Party Viewer Policy (henceforth
> known as the 3PVP).
> 
> The Lua implementation I'm adding is highly event-driven, so whenever,
> for example, a sound is played in the sim, the following event is
> triggered with the corresponding arguments:
> 
> 	OnAttachedSound (object_id,audio_uuid,owner_id,gain,flags)
> 
> Notice that the UUID of the sound is passed to the Lua script hooking
> into the event.  This is so I can, for example, produce an automatic
> mute function by checking the UUID of the sound being played against a
> list of known-bad sound UUIDs.
> 
> 	if isInTable(gAutoMuteSounds,audio_uuid) then
> 		muteAvatar(owner_id)
> 
> However, it doesn't take any stretch of the mind to see how a user could
> abuse this system by simply printing or logging the sound UUIDs.
> Similar issues exist with particles and object textures.
> 
> What I would like to know from any LL employee willing to answer is:
> 
> 1.  If I provide a reasonable level of permissions checking and
> anti-content theft functions, and discourage such ToS/3PVP-breakage (and
> moderate user-posted scripts in accordance with such policies), will the
> viewer I am working on still violate the 3PVP/ToS for simply making
> those UUIDs available to user scripts?
> 
> 2.  What minimum restrictions must I apply to comply with LL policies?
> Keep in mind that I cannot check Attached Soundsystems since the
> permissions to that sound are not made available.  There will also be no
> llGiveMoney-type function, nor will the messaging system be made
> available to allow a workaround.  Login-related events will not be made
> in order to prevent password theft. Alienating or exposing users is not
> my intent, only to give them the ability to bend their viewer to their
> will.
> 
> 3.  What sort of policies would LL like to apply to viewer-side scripts
> and their creators?  What should I have my users and content creators
> read, aside from the SL ToS, community standards, and 3PVP?
> 
> The most ideal regulation structure for me and my users and developers
> would be similar to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act safe-harbour
> provision:  As long as the development and moderation staff make a
> reasonable effort to mitigate content theft and content distribution in
> accordance with SL rules and regulations, and add in
> permissions-checking where necessary, the viewer itself would meet 3PVP
> standards and would not be banned from SL.  LL would define what a
> "reasonable effort" is, and I would have to conform to that definition
> or risk losing safe-harbor status.
> 
> I appreciate your consideration of this matter.  As I've said, I do not
> wish to break too many eggs here, just give my users the ability to do
> what they like with their viewer while still conforming to SL's
> regulations and LL's wishes.
> 
> Fred Rookstown
> FlexLife Lead Developer
> 
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