And now for something completely different*

*with apologies to Monty Python

~~~~~~~

New Terms of Service? What do they mean to artists? Does anyone really know? No. Does anyone have a clue? Yes.

The new Second Life TOS (Terms of Service), to be effective 30 April 2010, were discussed at length by Robert Bloomfield and Joshua Fairfield (legal expert and virtual world analyst) on the 100th episode of Metanomics (14 April 2010). If you have any creative investment and future plans at all in Second Life®, it's well worth the time it takes to listen to them talk on the archived stream (about an hour). Snapshots and machinima are addressed roughly 1/3 of the way through (about 17:00 into the video) and on page 5 of the transcript.

Watch video: link

View transcript: link

Roland Legrand succinctly summarizes the show on MixedRealities: link

"The internet is not a typewriter and you will be a licensee rather than an owner."

Arahan Claveau has posted the new TOS in its entirety here: link

The Official Second Life® Blog does not seem to address the new TOS, but it can be found on their corporate page here, along with links to other policies and guidelines: link

Update: Mab couldn't find it but Ina Centaur has provided the location where M Linden summarizes the new TOS in the Community Blog, with links to the FAQ and the Discussion Thread (warning- it's like a sausage factory): link

(crossposted)