You're out of your mind if you recommend people spend their spare time working on something under no more protection than "good faith". LL has lawyered themselves up nicely; who's legal advice are you taking?
SCO was unable to destroy linux because Novell got their rights written down quite clearly and unambiguously. Even then, with the weight of evidence so *clearly* in Novell's favor, the fight itself has cost Novell millions and literally destroyed SCO. And that's the sort of liability you want individuals to bear? Get bent. Seriously. I look forward to you establishing a legal defense fund for TPV developers. Until then... On Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 10:51 PM, Dirk Moerenhout <bla...@gmail.com> wrote: > Any written words can be read with good or bad faith. Obviously > several of you want to find the most damning interpretation of the TPV > regardless of whether it's actually plausible or not that any court > would accept such an interpretation. If you look at it that way > there'll never be a good way of wording it, all words can be twisted > and misinterpreted. > > Let's take one of the most used examples: > "You assume all risks, expenses, and defects of any Third-Party > Viewers that you use, develop, or distribute. Linden Lab shall not be > responsible or liable for any Third-Party Viewers." > > According to many this supposedly implies that you are responsible for > what people do with your viewer even in extreme conditions. > > First off I'm a bit disappointed by the fact that some quote only the > first sentence and not the second. It should be clear that they are a > union regardless of the dot inbetween. The goal is clear: LL wants to > assure they are not liable for the Third-Party Viewers. Now let's go > on and see how you can "fix" the issues you see. > > For starters if we go back to the first sentence it already states > that you are responsible for the third-party viewers you use. So > you're freed already (as a developer) from any risks, expenses and > defects that impact the use of your third-party viewer by others. It's > literally there, isn't it? > > Furthermore the fact that you assume the risks, expenses and defects > and accept LL is not liable does not restrict you in passing it on. As > we've already seen it's clearly in the TPV that the user assumes all > risks, expenses and defects when he's using the client anyway. So if > you want to be really sure you just have to refer the user to the TPV > and make clear he understands he has assumed all risks, expenses and > defects as a user. > > So to get back to a recent example. Ron states: > "Also if some black hat alters for example Imprudence's or Emerald's > Import/Export feature to ignore ownership the developer team can be > held legally responsible because even though the Import/Export feature > was altered, it was still their code at the core and by the TPVP > agreed to take on that liability." > > I fail to see where you got that: > - You did not develop it as the code in its original form is ok > - You did not distribute it > - You did not use it > > Even in the far fetched situation somebody would try to push for > misinterpretation you must realise that the TPV supports the correct > interpretation by discussing the prohibited features and > functionalities. In that part of the TPV they detail clear enough how > an export function can work without breaking any rules. As such if you > do follow those rules there's little reason to believe that you face > liabilities as you can easily prove that your functionality was > considered to be fine for the TPV. > > I think some of you would've had great careers back when witch hunting > was a popular sport ... > > Best Regards, > > Dirk > _______________________________________________ > 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 > _______________________________________________ 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
