a constant wave of tension on top of broken trust

The first I heard was a message in email from Tigerlily Koi:

Calla Update Group - Tigerlily Koi is owned by Tigerlily Koi.

Delphinium is running around the grid, stolen, with full permissions, labeled: ***CABELO CASTANHO CACHINHOO and cabelo castanho - so far I've only seen it in Chestnut, but it may be out in others.

If you see it, or see anyone wearing it, please see if you can get a LM for me so I can file a DMCA. Reward is offered, as noted in the card.

I was darkly intrigued, so I opened the card she sent. And read the following:

My name is Tigerlily Koi, and I am a content creator here in Second Life. This is my "real" job. This pays my bills, and helps provide for my six children. (Yes, six.) I take my job seriously. I put a lot of time, effort and heart into every product you see. I always do my very best, and never release something that I am not completely happy with.

I am the founder of the Designers in Seclusion group, which is a support network for fellow creators. I am the Membership Officer for the Content Creator's Association. I am involved in the IP Awareness Campaign started by Chez Nabob.

I take theft of my work very seriously. I have had to file DMCA reports several times because my products have been copied and resold without my permission.

To see a first-hand account of what content creators go through when their work is stolen, my own personal feelings included, please go to: http://contentcreatorsassociation.blogspot.com/2008/03/theft-view-from-withinthe-aftermath.html

To combat content theft, I need your help. You as a consumer are more aware of the markets than those of us who create products. Simply put, you see a lot more of the Metaverse than we do. We typically see the same four sky-box walls day after day.

*****~*~*****~*~*****
The reward:
*****~*~*****~*~*****

I am offering a reward to any person who provides enough information for me to file a DMCA. That simply includes the Landmark(s) of the location where the products are. The rest of the information I will be able to obtain from the location.

If you find one of my products being sold or given away in any location, by any person other than myself please send me a notecard or an email with the SLURL or the landmark of the place you found my product.

Once I verify that it is my work, I will send you a complete "I Want Them All" Pack of the item(s) as well as a 2500 L$ store card.

Respectfully,
Tigerlily Koi
Calla Owner & Second Life Content Creator

Uncomfortably enough, she is not the only designer to feel the need to offer rewards for simple decency. Miss paeoti Pomeroy sent out a notecard, as well:

I am sending you a note card to keep you, my customers informed of a few things that I think everyone needs to know.

Some of you may be business owners, and others may be customers but we all need to be aware of the unethical practices so that we can better arm ourselves with the tools to protect our creative expressions.

A few months ago, I filed a DMCA (a legal form thru Linden Lab) to file a formal claim against PEARL BOYINGTON or Pearls Yard sale (now known as Pearls Designs) for using the illegal device COPYBOT and successfully copying my creations for resale at her yard sale. Linden Lab agreed that she was in direct violation against the TOS rules and they removed my belongings from her possession. Yes I realize this is all sounding rather dramatic but you must realize that this affects you as some of you either own business or will own business and you must be made aware of how this system works.

As most of you know, I speak my mind and can be rather blunt about doing so, so I took my own action and added to my profile a photo of Pearl Boyington (who had made her photo public) and made very clear about her unethical practices within the world of SECONDLIFE. I call it as I see it and I hold nothing back. I soon received a notice from LINDEN LAB that I had committed a violation against the TOS rules in posting her photo in my profile when she had not released the information herself. What Linden Lab DIDNT know is that she had just removed her own and then turned me in. Linden Lab then suspends my SECONDLIFE account to investigate the matter, they then forgot to let me back in.

This is a woman who has ripped off designer after designer and refuses to give up. Linden Lab is fully aware of her activities. They continue to remove the stuff but they do nothing to suspend her account or simply kick her off the server. Seeing as how Linden Lab makes money from the products that she rips off, I do not find it shocking that she's still here using others to line her pocketbook.

I’ve returned to SECONDLIFE only to find out that yet there is even more unethical practices against me. A customer contacts me this past week (thank you Sera!) to send me this link: http://uncensored.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=729101.

This is a copy of my DEMETIA set (created approximately 1 year ago, hand drawn and yes I have my PSP files to prove it) being sold by Aura Niven clearly copied, added to, and is selling on SLEXCHANGE.

I am not trying to add to the drama that happens on SECONDLIFE, nor am I a whiner, I am however proactive when it comes to protecting my creations and to the lack of morals and values of others when it hurts myself or someone else. Creators work their asses off only to see some crook benefiting from our hard work. I’m sure most of you feel the same and if you don’t at this time you perhaps soon will.

If any of you happen to see any of my products being copied/sold, etc, please contact me. I will investigate the issue and if I find the matter a true rip off of my products and have to file a DMCA with LINDEN LAB, I will then send the first person who reports the matter to me $1000 linden. Please understand that this ONLY applies if I am able to file a DMCA on the rip off artist.

PLEASE folks, PLEASE take action to report these folks to LINDEN LAB when you see these direct violations take place. Show your butt! Make your voice KNOWN! Right is right and wrong is wrong no matter who you are. I can guarantee you this.... if I were to see some unethical asshole ripping YOU off, selling your hard work only to benefit them and hurt you in the process you can bet your buns I would NOT be buying their product NOR would I be quiet about it.

Excuse me now, I’m off to file yet another DMCA.

Thanks for your time and once again, don't be shy in reporting these people.

Paeoti Pomeray
NYMPHETAMINE BOUTIQUE

Now, regardless of your feelings of like or dislike for Calla hair, or Nymphetamine attire--these are two content creators who've worked very, very hard to be where they are on the grid. That they're being hit now just shows the utter disregard for propriety, ethics, professionalism and common sense that these talentless hacks show, every time they pilfer another design.

I will stand by my portrayal of 'talentless hacks'--I'd point you towards one, in fact, who chortles over his 'success' at reselling someone else's offered freebie. When called on account, Franko Box of Volksland Beach halfway apologized, and not one full month later, this was seen on his land. When that flagrant disregard of Miss Ventura's intellectual property was noticed, and she had complained, he took the box down...only to put it up again with different artwork--but her same checkmarks.

He has no sense of fair play, no comprehension of intellectual property, and from everything I've heard, the sum total intelligence of a small yellow plastic soap dish.

If you do find something that looks like Calla hair being sold outside of Calla, or know enough of Nymphetamine's style sense to recognize their designs beyond their sim, do consider dropping an LM or notecard to the ladies in question. Do it because it's the right thing to do. Think of the potential reward as their way of thanking you, for doing the right thing.