The Secret

Have you ever had the experience of logging in to Second Life to find your favorite item replaced by a prim called IPReplacement?  We have, because we made the mistake of buying mesh from someone who was selling it illegally, and got a DMCA filed on them. This blog will explain why it happened, who is promoting it, and what you can do avoid it.

Recently, a particularly interesting link was posted in this 47 page SL Universe thread about ripped mesh, which makes it crystal clear that some of the most-blogged "creators" are actually thieves who make nothing themselves but just make money off other people's work -- and sell it to unsuspecting customers who lose out in the end. 

This is what the link shows: someone went through the store We’re Closed’s listings and posted pictures of their products, alongside pictures of the original 3d models sold on various 3D model websites, by various 3D artists — on Pinterest. You can see the page here – it is appropriately enough called Interesting Things.

Chair Sold By We're Closed

Exact same chair, resale prohibited

Predictably, after the link to the Pinterest page was posted, those products disappeared from the marketplace but not the inworld store. But many others are left. This is what the Pinterest author says:

Since we’re closed has no shame and only removes items as they are outed, the rest of their items have been reported directly to the original creators to deal with as they see fit. 

Since then, content from other stores has appeared on the Pinterest page  – Le Bistro, for example, who was ejected from the Food Fair for having stolen content, yet does not remove the content from their store.   Look’s didn’t even bother to make his own product pictures.  

Mesh sold by Le Bistro

Exact same mesh, resale prohibited

But that’s not all — as soon as the Pinterest page attracted attention, a lot of other stores took down a lot of content from their marketplace and inworld stores. The Pinterest author says:

Sadly there are many more prominent ‘creators’ who are ‘borrowing’ 3d content, in full, and in parts. You know who you are, some have already cleaned house the past few weeks, others are encouraged to do so in the next few weeks. I will be back.

Unlike when content is stolen from other SL creators, when a DMCA from outside SL is filed, LL deletes the stolen content from the inventories (and land) of those who bought it. So not only do the thieves have an unfair advantage over legitimate creators, but the are ripping off their customers as fast as they can get things uploaded.  

The examples shown in the SL Universe thread are the tip of the iceberg. Second Life is being flooded with ripped content. Legitimate creators, who painstakingly make their own content, are at a severe competitive disadvantage. The thieves can upload dozens of stolen items in the time it takes a real creator to make one. Since everyone can upload the same stolen models, the future of SL may be all about the same User Uploaded Content being seen everywhere, sold by different thieves, and the extinguishing of original content except by those who can afford to create as a hobby. 

The SL Universe thread is the only place we know where anyone shows any interest in the problem. We see stolen merchandise artfully and enthusiastically blogged, but who is blogging about the steady and growing erosion of User Generated Content?  Who is calling the thieves out, as they deserve to be?  Not bloggers -- they are still blogging We're Closed content!

In upcoming posts:  How to protect yourself from buying stolen merchandise by knowing the signs that a seller is not a creator, and how it is that often it is the thieves whose stores get promoted by bloggers.

The more eyes on the problem, the better. If you come across evidence of stolen models, send it to us at SecretsOfSecondLife@gmail.com.