sometimes when I'm sad, I wander the streets, covered with mice

The first poster for Disney's remake of The Wizard of Oz has been released. I have to admit, I like the direction I'm seeing so far.

For Bond fans, some odd, but not entirely unpleasant news: Idris Elba is in talks with the property owners to potentially become the next James Bond.

Now then, in the midst of blog-based reconstruction efforts (and those are still ongoing, I keep wandering the wide, cold world beyond the screen), drama struck with great force.

To wit, the Blogging Elf's coverage of the new and improved copybotters on the grid.

Maybe I should say the "even more underhanded and sleazy" instead of improved, there. Why? Several things. Let's talk about how a search for "Marie2 Cisse" turns up her profile, which then says she's MissFederova Resident, and also Keeley Wintour (with Wintour being, I believe, her chosen display name). But wait, she's also partnered with MissFederova Resident. Huh?

No picks, no classified, a join date of 2009, and her first life bio is a study in arcane minimalism:

iaie
Be lovelie, feel like a sexie.

Ooookay then.

Marie2 had this to say:

[2012/10/15 14:09] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): you think those skins will be on sale
[2012/10/15 14:09] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): for 1k or more
[2012/10/15 14:09] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): I can do it for 300L
[2012/10/15 14:09] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): Full fat pack
[2012/10/15 14:09] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): :)
[2012/10/15 14:09] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): Maliah skin will sell more with me than you
[14:10] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): 20k i am offering
[14:10] Gerusa Bastos (marie2.cisse): for don't distruing this skin

Yeah, that really does strike me as straight-up extortion. Pay her twenty thousand Lindens or she'll release the hacked copy of your skin; which, seriously, she can do at any point anyway, because if she's showing it off, you KNOW it's going to hit the Marketplace sooner or later. And did I mention the total lack of any and all ethics for this entire thing? How can we deal honestly with people who don't care in the least who they hurt, as long as they get their money? The concept of not infringing because it hurts people won't wash; the idea that it's a crime with punishment means nothing, either, because week after week, month after month, this happens, and keeps on happening, and nothing's heard from the Lindens.

What about Alemanha (or, as her profile more properly calls her, sallyGirlpaty Aho? She's got a decant date of 2010, once changed her display name to "prostituta de beverlly hills", and all her first life bio says is "High quality static poses." But no store link. The hell. Is she Marie2 Cisse's alt? If not, who is she?

And issela2 Resident has the same picture as Alexandriala Resident and Marie2 Cisse, though she was cracked whole onto the grid in 2012; so I'd say at least provisionally, Marie2 is likely issela2 is likely Alexandriala...but who else?

Issela, according to Sanya Bilavio, had this to say:

[17:26] issela2: HAHAHA
[17:26] issela2: Take care
[17:34] issela2: I've all your mesh stuff
[17:34] issela2: And I'm going to giving away this

Have we really become this jaded as an online world? Not only that copyright infringement has become so openly blatant, but that the only thing we feel we can do is protest on blogs, because complaining to the Lindens does absolutely nothing? When did the last line of defense for copyright protection include the statement "For gods' sake don't expect the Lindens to do anything"?

Plus, being openly mocked when our products, our skins, our shapes, our mesh designs are lifted--in Sanya's case, directly in front of her eyes--that's emotionally crushing at the worst, depressing and enervating at best.

Getting back to Alexandriala Resident, whose SL bio is a feast of confusion:

No fear no doubt.
I'll provide the answers.

Mide tus palabras.

Online Catastrophe is
The answer.
There's no other. That does it like i do it.
Read RL. Kty bai

Um. Had to look that bit up; I can't find a solid English version, but several Spanish pages attribute the phrase to Pythagoras. One variant:

"Measure your words, weigh your opinions, count your deeds."

The problem is I can't track down anything directly attributed to Pythagoras with that translation. (Though "mide tus palabras" does mean "measure your words".)

So I went to look at the RL bio:

I do not care.........

kty bai

Right, just...right, you stand over there, I'm just going to back away slowly and then run for the door.

"MissFederova Resident", btw, seems to have been slain by the Lindens, as was plain "federova Resident"--at least, as far as both in-world and out-of-world search will tell me.

Guess the alt's out of the closet, or something?

The whole cavalcade of defiant alted thieves are noted individually on Sanya Bilavio's Flickr. But here's what kills me about this whole thing. Going back to the original blog, we find Alexandriana saying this:

[2012/11/02 12:23] Second Life: Alexandriala has given you this body part: Inna Bilavio shape
[2012/11/02 12:23] Alexandriala: Your shape has been copybotted.
[2012/11/02 12:23] Alexandriala: And will be sold.

That's...awfully close to blackmail, innit?

We already know she (in any of her nefarious guises) has no shame; she's openly posting hacked skins on both her Flickr and in her Marketplace store. Though apparently, there's an odd bit of sock puppetry attached to this teapot storm, as well--here, MissFederova attacks

• Annie Jolifaunt (ITGirls owner, decanted 2010)
• Avida Resident (nothing found)
• Brigida Oliphaunt (nothing found, though I did find a "brigida Resident", decanted in 2010; no idea if it's any relation to the mysterious Ms. Oliphaunt. "Oliphant" was a last name, so "Oliphaunt" might have been; beyond that, no information found)
• Capucine Bartavelle (nothing found, in or out of world)
• CasaAmerica Resident (seems to have no connection; decanted 2011)
• Christine Coignet (decanted 2010)
• Dumani Resident (decanted 2012)
• Götzsche Resident (She has a blog, though it's so new it's still squealing, and she arrived in 2012 on the grid)
• Julia Stegner (no results)
• Ladytrava Resident (born in 2011 is all I've got)
• Louise Menizah (listed in world with a decant date of 2009; but she's not listed out of world at all. There is a Luiza Menizah, but I don't know if there's any connection. Intriguingly, she also arrived in 2009.)
• Munique Benusconi (no results in or out of world; but Benusconi is confirmed as a last name)
• SallyGirlPaty Aho (already covered elsewhere)
• Sorrisocolgate Resident (none found in or out of world; there's a sorrisocarente Resident, decanted in 2012, but I don't know if they're related)

Wau. Lotsa names there. What connects them all? No clue. Why are they all being named as alts? No clue. But it deeply worries me. Someone--or a group of someones--who have no desire to do anything but graft a source of easy cash, fear no enforcement practices (and really, why should they, after everything else that's happened regarding copyrighted goods), and don't care how much chaos they leave in their wake...this makes them at least technologically capable, morally bankrupt, and contemptuous of any pressure we might bring to bear.

How do we stop a mobile, amoral conglomerate dedicated to taking what they can and spending it as fast as possible? When at least the original three names on this lengthening list seem to have zero compunction not only in lifting designs that aren't theirs, but in telling those they've infringed, directly, that they've not only lifted those designs, but they have every intention of selling them--and there's not a thing they can do to stop this?

I don't have the answers. I wish I did.