Primjackers Trash LL’s Digital Rights Management
Writing by Green Guy on Tuesday, 26 of February , 2008 at 10:32 pm
Copy “protected” prim hair, motorcycles now easy to copy -
In-world economy threatened?
by d3adlyc0d3c, ex griefer
>>>>
video demonstrating use of a prim replicator for potential customers on onrez
Recently it came to our attention that certain devices have begun to circulate inside Second Life that allow object owners to circumvent Linden Lab’s digital rights management/permissions system. These new products are simply LSL scripts that are able to copy themselves into every prim in a linkset, and then they use the llGetPrimitiveParams function to detect prim shapes and position within a linkset.
Once the target prims have been “enhanced” by the addition of the prim copy script, they can communicate the prim’s size and position information to another object which then rezzes a number of cubes that automatically change shape, adopting the shapes and colors of the original prims and position and link themselves — making exact copies of linked objects. The only missing elements are the textures and the original scripts, which current prim replicators do not currently steal duplicate.
The accuracy with which these objects copy linksets is astounding. Unlike the original copybot, prim replicators only work on objects that you own and said objects must be set with modify permissions - this includes most sorts of prim hair - an essential avatar accessory and a mainstay of the virtual fashion business.
Why would there be concern over such a device for content creators? The answer is simple - using a prim replicator one could purchase a no transfer/no copy object with modify permissions (many products are set with these exact permissions), then use the replicator to produce an exact copy that would then have full permissions.
This presents a serious threat to builders as their products can be easily copied and resold by crooks throughout SL. What recourse do we have as residents? Curently prim replicators are not in violation of the TOS as they only may copy prims owned by whoever is using them, even though using such a device provides an extremely easy way to circumvent permissions.
Observers speculate that the Linden game gods will suggest that concerned content creators either set their works to no-modify permissions or pursue the DMCA copyright infringement takedown route. Meanwhile, we have been tracking four such products that are currently in wide circulation and wondering - do prim replicators have any legitimate use?
Category: Main
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