nothing heard, nothing said, can't even speak about it

To whom it may concern,

We have recently received a complaint regarding the following file(s), which you have been sharing through your Box.net account, and infringe on a previously-held copyright:

All Files/creepy songs/06 Pick up the Bones Alice Cooper.mp3

We have deleted the above file(s) from your account. Please delete any other files from your account that may infringe on any previously-held copyrights, as these go against the Box.net Terms of Service. Be aware that further infractions may result in account termination.

Sincerely,
The Box.net team

So...all of them, you mean?

On the one hand, I understand. Someone--likely, considering it's an Alice Cooper song, from a large corporate legal department--did some casual searches, turning up my account and who knows how many others, and blustered. And Box.net sent out these little missives.

Are they wrong? No. I don't have the right to share this music, even for educational purposes, as they've been sitting there since the last creepy-music post, oh, two years ago, now. (I think a case could be made for making a post, and having music that then expired, and I may be doing that in future. But not through Box.net.)

Am I disappointed? Yes. Box.net is trying to protect their interests; Alive Entertainment and/or Bigger Picture Group is trying to protect their interests. I'm the one actionable in this, I know that. And, had they really been jerks about it, it would have been a court filing, not a cease-and-desist order. Hells, it's not even an official order; it's just a warning.

But it was a depressing start to the day, deleting everything on Box.net.

There's now a tinfoil hat theory for Linden Labs and Second Life! Part one, part two, part three and part four in all their glory. Enjoy.

And I'm not entirely sure she's wrong...

I'm running in an oddly unmotivated space. It's somewhat bizarre. I know there were things I wanted to get done--finishing the Hunt for the Living Dead, the Tainted Hunt, the Fall into Madness Hunt, and Octoberville...and I ran out of month to do it in.

It's just...Maybe I'm just tired. I don't know, but it never seemed to be a priority with everything else. I wanted to...or at least I felt I have a social obligation to...finish these things, because at one point I had great interest in them. But whatever interest level they had been at, has ebbed nearly completely at this point.

Getting back to the Box.net thing...as my account slowly empties...they just last week announced new policies on Box.net that would have made my life--several peoples' lives--much easier. Personal (free) accounts (what I have, currently) were going up to five GB from one GB; and the lowest level of paid account, I believe, was going from five GB to fifty. Those are big leaps. More file storage--more music storage--save for now I'm going to have five potential gigs of...air. Whee.

I may put up a temporary file folder, and just cycle things in and out on a weekly basis. But that's draining, too. And even that is not exempt from copyright issues, because even putting files up for educational reasons (critique, commentary, analysis) may mean they'll run into further issues.

Speaking to disappointment, in general...former Linden Robin Harper had a short but pointed entry on the whole Digg situation. In short, for those who don't know, Digg made a lot of changes recently, most of them wrong ones according to the community who uses Digg; the new CEO heard the bitching; and he's pledging to do better. Gosh, doesn't sound familiar, does it?

Second Life is sinking. It remains to be seen if the Labs will find a way to patch the holes and save the passengers, or turn the gun they've been using for rounds of Russian roulette...and shoot more holes in the boat.

Me, I'm a pessimist. I'm fairly sure that before 2011, someone's going to pull out a rocket launcher. But in this--as in other things--I sincerely, deeply, hope I'm wrong.

But--because I'm a pessimist--my section of Caledon Morgaine is still for sale.

And that's about all the depression I can take for once, I'm off to play Minecraft. Or to sew something to something else. Or both.