Hello sldev. I realize that I've asked this in IRC already, but the only answer I got was from a non-Linden and I want to hear it from the horse's mouth before continuing on my current path of feature additions.
I'm working on a viewer that will be adding viewer-side embedded scripting (Lua, if anyone is curious, see http://lua.org) in order to allow content creators to extend the abilities of the content they create. However, during development, a beta tester brought up a few potential issues with the ToS and 3rd Party Viewer Policy (henceforth known as the 3PVP). The Lua implementation I'm adding is highly event-driven, so whenever, for example, a sound is played in the sim, the following event is triggered with the corresponding arguments: OnAttachedSound (object_id,audio_uuid,owner_id,gain,flags) Notice that the UUID of the sound is passed to the Lua script hooking into the event. This is so I can, for example, produce an automatic mute function by checking the UUID of the sound being played against a list of known-bad sound UUIDs. if isInTable(gAutoMuteSounds,audio_uuid) then muteAvatar(owner_id) However, it doesn't take any stretch of the mind to see how a user could abuse this system by simply printing or logging the sound UUIDs. Similar issues exist with particles and object textures. What I would like to know from any LL employee willing to answer is: 1. If I provide a reasonable level of permissions checking and anti-content theft functions, and discourage such ToS/3PVP-breakage (and moderate user-posted scripts in accordance with such policies), will the viewer I am working on still violate the 3PVP/ToS for simply making those UUIDs available to user scripts? 2. What minimum restrictions must I apply to comply with LL policies? Keep in mind that I cannot check Attached Soundsystems since the permissions to that sound are not made available. There will also be no llGiveMoney-type function, nor will the messaging system be made available to allow a workaround. Login-related events will not be made in order to prevent password theft. Alienating or exposing users is not my intent, only to give them the ability to bend their viewer to their will. 3. What sort of policies would LL like to apply to viewer-side scripts and their creators? What should I have my users and content creators read, aside from the SL ToS, community standards, and 3PVP? The most ideal regulation structure for me and my users and developers would be similar to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act safe-harbour provision: As long as the development and moderation staff make a reasonable effort to mitigate content theft and content distribution in accordance with SL rules and regulations, and add in permissions-checking where necessary, the viewer itself would meet 3PVP standards and would not be banned from SL. LL would define what a "reasonable effort" is, and I would have to conform to that definition or risk losing safe-harbor status. I appreciate your consideration of this matter. As I've said, I do not wish to break too many eggs here, just give my users the ability to do what they like with their viewer while still conforming to SL's regulations and LL's wishes. Fred Rookstown FlexLife Lead Developer _______________________________________________ Policies and (un)subscribe information available here: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/SLDev Please read the policies before posting to keep unmoderated posting privileges