Team America:Disaster Capitalists

Copyright and Research Methods in Second Life: An Exploration in Social Norms

American Blackburn, Smiley Clawtooth, Christian Fall, Louie Pausch

Survey:

• Comprised of 3 Dependent Variables-– Whether or not the used had successfully

copied a non-copy object;– Whether or not the user would copy a non-

copy object; and– Whether or not the user would report another

user whom they knew was copying non-copy obects

Survey Cont…

• 3 Dependent Variables tested against 6 Dependent Variables– RL Age;– RL Gender;– How long the user had been using SL;– Whether or not the user was from the United

States;– Whether or not the user was a student; and– Whether or not the user had used P2P

software.

Difficulties of Surveying

• Noticed that broader social norms prevented successful surveying of social norms pertaining to copyright

• Original survey was too long and topic-specific

• Difficult to hold person’s attention long enough to conduct survey

• Difficult to blend in and interact in SL in general

Observations

• Had to engage in conversation about popular SL topics to get person’s attention

• Many users discussed reasons for retreat to SL

• Avatar appearance and association with RL

• Relationships in SL

• Social “cliques” in SL

Points of Commonality

• Vast majority of population identified themselves as Liberal/Independent

• Pro Gay Rights and Pro-Choice• Credited SL for having created close

relationships on the Grid• Prefer higher level of tolerance and social

acceptance that SL provides over RL

Dewey and SL

• SL population fits Dewey’s definition of a “Public”– High amount of shared commonalities– Desire to escape RL social pressures – SL as a form of communication – Political awareness in SL– Exception: SL social norms (sex culture)

might be acting as a distraction from culture

Dewey and SL cont…

• RL public(s) acting on SL public(s)– RL public(s) social norms causing an exodus

of SL public(s) to a place where their norms are accepted

– Clash of social norms between the RL and SL

VS

Dewey and SL cont…

– Private(s) in SL exert negative externalities on Public(s) in SL

Lessig and Property Sharing in SL

• Four Types of Property Sharing– Type A

– Type B

– Type C

– Type D IS BAD

Creativity and Control: Permission Culture Within

Second Life

Why do people join SL?

Social Connections Economic Opportunities

Cultural benefits

An art museum in Amsterdam

Science Friday in SL

Out with the old, in with the bigger and “better”

Self-dissatisfaction

Those unhappy with their real lives more likely to use Second Life as an escape

Connection to Berry

• Consumers are dependent by nature

• Those dissatisfied with life are more easily exploited by capitalistic society

Economic Statistics

• Total L$ Supply (L$) — 4,834,877,212

• Linden dollar exchange rate — $1 dollar of U.S. money equals about $183 in Linden money

• Total Customers Spending Money In-World — 348,772 out of 13,328,935

Bottom Line: People are making and spending money

Intellectual Property

• All creations in SL are intellectual property, blurring the line of what should be protected and how

• Modalities of constraint are being used in SL to protect intellectual property

Copyright as Protection

• Entrepreneurs use SL to supplement real life income

• Copybot scare in 2006 had business owners worried

• Avatars must use DMCA in RL when seeking compensation for copyright infringements in SL

• Business leaders want Linden Labs to offer more protection for the working avatar

SL: A Creative Sandbox in Decline

• Linden Labs describes Second life as a world that “has a fully-integrated economy architected to reward risk, innovation, and craftsmanship.”

• Second Life is slowly starting to resemble real life – Business owners increasingly wary of people stealing their

creations. – General public is looking for ways to circumvent imposed

copyright laws that come with enhanced technology.

Tying it back to Lessig

• Objects become increasingly “read only” instead of modifiable objects that can be used to create something new.

“Free cultures are cultures that leave a great deal open for others to build upon; unfree, or permission,

cultures leave much less. Ours was a free culture. It is becoming much less so” (Lessig 30).

Second Life as a Privately owned Public Sphere

“When indirect consequences are recognized and there are efforts to regulate them, something of a state comes into existence.”

John Dewey The Public and Its Problems

Second Life Community Standards• Intolerance

Combating intolerance is a cornerstone of Second Life's Community Standards. Actions that marginalize, belittle, or defame individuals or groups inhibit the satisfying exchange of ideas and diminish the Second Life community as whole. The use of derogatory or demeaning language or images in reference to another Resident's race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation is never allowed in Second Life.

• HarassmentGiven the myriad capabilities of Second Life, harassment can take many forms. Communicating or behaving in a manner which is offensively coarse, intimidating or threatening, constitutes unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favors, or is otherwise likely to cause annoyance or alarm is Harassment.

• AssaultMost areas in Second Life are identified as Safe. Assault in Second Life means: shooting, pushing, or shoving another Resident in a Safe Area (see Global Standards below); creating or using scripted objects which singularly or persistently target another Resident in a manner which prevents their enjoyment of Second Life.

• DisclosureResidents are entitled to a reasonable level of privacy with regard to their Second Life experience. Sharing personal information about a fellow Resident --including gender, religion, age, marital status, race, sexual preference, and real-world location beyond what is provided by the Resident in the First Life page of their Resident profile is a violation of that Resident's privacy. Remotely monitoring conversations, posting conversation logs, or sharing conversation logs without consent are all prohibited in Second Life and on the Second Life Forums.

• IndecencySecond Life is an adult community, but Mature material is not necessarily appropriate in all areas (see Global Standards below). Content, communication, or behavior which involves intense language or expletives, nudity or sexual content, the depiction of sex or violence, or anything else broadly offensive must be contained within private land in areas rated Mature (M). Names of Residents, objects, places and groups are broadly viewable in Second Life directories and on the Second Life website, and must adhere to PG guidelines.

• Disturbing the PeaceEvery Resident has a right to live their Second Life. Disrupting scheduled events, repeated transmission of undesired advertising content, the use of repetitive sounds, following or self-spawning items, or other objects that intentionally slow server performance or inhibit another Resident's ability to enjoy Second Life are examples of Disturbing the Peace.

The Public

• Total Residents: 13,334,893

• *Note: does not account for concurrent accounts

• Total L$ supply: 4,834,877,212

Perverse Incentives in Second Life• Second Life Brand Center

– Naming Guidelines. Your SL Associated Name must use "SL" or "inSL" (but not both) in combination with your own word mark (for example, Dell® or Toyota®, if you own those word marks), or in combination with a name that uses at least two generic nouns. A "generic noun" is a common noun and not a proper noun, trademark or brand name. Your SL Associated Name must not include any Linden Lab trademark other than "SL" or "inSL" or anything confusingly similar to a Linden Lab trademark. For example:

This is OK:Dell SLDell inSLSL Budget Shopping GuideChic Clothing Boutique inSLSL Architectural Design Services Inc.SL Chinese Residents Association

This is NOT OK:Dell Second Life (can't use "Second Life")Dell 2nd Life (can't use abbreviation of "Second Life") SL Shopping (must use at least two generic nouns with "SL")Clothing inSL (must use at least two generic nouns with "inSL")SL Design (only one generic noun; must use at least two with "SL")China SL ("China" is a proper noun; need at least two generic nouns)SL Linden Dollar Service (can't use "Linden")

Piracy in Second Life?

•Copybots-DRM strippers of Second Life user-generated content

•Copybot Scare-users afraid that their content will be copied and sold

•User Generated content in SL protected under the DMCA

•Copybots are technically not illegal

The Society in Second Life

• Balance of public and private– Seems to be a privatized bias to everything in

Second Life– Initial Tendency is to protect material first– Lack of cultural transmission

• Free culture or permission culture?

Equations and Interpretations

Conclusions:

•Studentship, p2p use, and whether or not a user resided in the United States correlated to views about copyright.

•Gender correlated in all 3 equations, but had no consistency and was rejected as a correlating factor for views on copyright.

•Age and Time using Second Life had no correlation about users views on copyright

Why Location?•DMCA exists in United States, but has been fought in other countries

•Lessig explains how shutting down segments of “cultural transmission” leads to changed social norms.

•“Permission Culture” is taking hold in the United States, while “Free Culture” still has a foothold elsewhere

Why p2p?

•Most intuitive example

•Users who download from p2p networks legally or illegally are more likely to hold more progressive views on copyright because they are already utilizing modes of “cultural transmission” that are somewhat dangerous from a legal standpoint

Why Studentship?•Campus’ and Universities have been the forefront of the copyright and DMCA wars in the past years

•It is obvious from our research that students are reacting negatively to the RIAA’s and MPAA’s tactics—instead of lessening their propensity to copy, studentship actually increases likelihood that a user would copy a non-copy object