(Delurking here just to throw in my $L2; standard IANAL disclaimer) Joe, most of the TPV Policy *is* reasonable and nobody(except obviously malicious viewer creators) is disputing that requiring reasonable, common sense responsibilities to keep viewers honest is bad at all, it's simply that Section 7(d) can open a can of worms for third-party viewer devs by not clearly stating something along the lines of "You assume all risks, expenses, and defects of any Third-Party Viewers that you use, develop, or distribute* in the context of the broader sections of this Policy*. Linden Lab shall not be responsible or liable for any Third-Party Viewers". Without a clarification such as that, as an example, a third-party viewer user who believes the viewer is causing harm to his/her SL experience(supposing the "harm" is merely a glitch or bug that occurs in normal development, or even if it's not the viewer but the user thinks it is), that user can point to specifically that section of the TPV Policy and claim "By this, you *are* legally liable for my problems, I can actually sue you". The Lab's own ToS completely disclaims responsibility for the official viewer and has pretty much protected the Lab against such actions in a majority of cases. It's what has kept the development cycle in the Lab from becoming a legal minefield, I'm sure you agree. What the third-party devs are asking is that that legal threat shouldn't be thrust on them via the TPV Policy and it be made clear and unambiguous if they're to continue developing for the benefit of the SL grid without fear of nagging lawsuits. That's not an unreasonable request, is it?
(*going back to lurking*) On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 10:57 PM, Joe Linden <j...@lindenlab.com> wrote: > Let me take just one more crack at explaining the situation here, then I'll > let the TPV Policy document stand on it's own. > > First, the Linden Lab viewer source code is being made available to all > under the terms of the GPLv2 License. Nothing has changed that, and the > policy doesn't modify, enhance, or limit your rights or obligations under > the GPL. > > The TPV Policy is designed to set access conditions and terms for > developers and users of viewer binaries that connect to the Second Life > grid, whether produced from code licensed under the GPL or not. Note that > the definition of TPV in that document stipulates that these are viewers > that actually connect to the SL grid, not those that may be capable of it > but are never used to log in. > > If a developer of a TPV never uses it to connect to SL, there is nothing in > that document that applies to them. Period. By the same token, if that > viewer is designed and intended to be used to access the Second Life grid(s) > there are responsibilities that follow, both for users of those viewers and > for developers. > > Surely no one here is making an argument that a viewer that is designed to > transmit user passwords (encrypted or otherwise) back to the author or the > author's proxies should be allowed to the connect to the SL grid at will and > without responsibility on the part of the author? Or that Linden Lab should > just allow unbridled use of viewers that are designed to bring down > simulators through dos vectors, expressly designed to crash viewers > repeatedly, or bypass the intent and purpose of the in-world permission > system? Those aren't rhetorical questions. > > There is no "catch 22" here. No "overstepping", and no rocket science. > The terms of the GPL are clear and well understood. The arguments around > clauses 11 and 12 of the GPL are completely baseless. > > I've seen some very dramatic "exits" from the SL open source program here > in this thread by people who have never contributed. We're making a number > of changes to the practice and policy of what we will permit to connect to > our grid so we can invest in a richer conversation with the contributors who > are interested in innovating in this space with us. The decision to work > with us as we redouble our efforts to create a more meaningful program is > one each contributor will have to make. But, we're committed to moving > forward with those who are willing to accept a reasonable level of > responsibility for what they create. That's what the TPV Policy and Viewer > Directory programs are about. > > The code is licensed under GPLv2 and that isn't going to change. > > This thread has become a zero sum game for all participants, so I look > forward to more generative conversation with those of you who are sticking > around for the next one. > > -- joe > > p.s. I have a suspicion this reply will be parsed to the same degree all > other responses have been, but I'm not going to recurse on the subject, and > I'm not going to make excuses. Please keep the conversation here civil for > everyone. >
_______________________________________________ Policies and (un)subscribe information available here: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/OpenSource-Dev Please read the policies before posting to keep unmoderated posting privileges
