All the heated discussion about the new third-party viewer policy sent me scurrying in terror to find a nice rock to hide under, but unfortunately there is a question I need to ask, so I must now peek out and speak up:
LL defines "third-party viewers" only in terms of "third-party software clients" (Policy section 9.c, which also provides some examples for elaboration). I am not a lawyer and do not play one in SL, but I gather that the "first party" in such a case is LL, and that the "second party" would be whoever is actually using the viewer to access SL. But what if there is no "third party"? What if I develop a modified version of the SL viewer all by myself, and use it to log in to the SL servers, but do not distribute either source or binary for it? Since there is no additional, "third" party involved in the creation and use of this viewer, it would appear that nothing in the "Linden Lab Policy on Third-Party Viewers" applies to it or to me. My viewer might more properly be described as a "second-party" viewer. (I of course must comply with other LL terms of service and abide by many other legal, moral and ethical considerations.) This is a real issue for me, not an attempt to pick nits: I do have a personal, slightly modified version of the SL viewer that I use occasionally, for a hobby project, and I have no intention of distributing it in any form. (And I indeed believe that I am in full compliance with the LL terms of service, et cetera. My project is not malicious: I will be happy to tell LL or anyone else about it, but it is off-topic for this group and this thread, so send me private EMail if you wish.) What I need to know is whether I can ignore the present "Linden Lab Policy on Third-Party Viewers" and keep fussing with my own "second-party" viewer as I have been, or whether I need to take steps to comply with a policy which probably was not developed with folks like me in mind. Sorry to put another log on the pyre, er, fire ... :-) -- Jay Reynolds Freeman (CeeJay Tigerpaw in Second Life) --------------------- jay_reynolds_free...@mac.com http://web.mac.com/jay_reynolds_freeman (personal web site) _______________________________________________ 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
