Okay, I started sitting through the SpotOn3D “outreach” show (which is still in an ongoing rotation on their video stream, a recording can be found here), and frankly, the whole thing is filled with so many moments of WTF? that I started to take notes. Let me share my first part here, after the girl with the blown up latex glove.

 

(CC-by Suicide Girls)

Tessa: “It’s a shame, but none of the loudest voices have shown up” – Maybe they would’ve if they would’ve known about it… you know, like, in advance.

About Ilya Tochner: “He has some concerns about his business, and he takes us as a serious threat” – That’s probably because anticompetitve behaviour is a serious threat.

“This is not a closed venue, this is our SpotOn3D grid.” – … which is closed to the hypergrid, requires signing up just to attend, and is controlled by the very people who are controversial, and of course partial about how they appear in public. In the metaverse, that’s about as closed as you get. Compare it to a forum that can only be read by registered members, and you might understand why it’s perceived like that. Also, as Ilan pointed out, SpotOn3D is not without precedent of silencing critical voices, as their blog shows (or not, since exactly none of the many critical comments about their plugin actually got published). So really, how can anyone trust SpotOn3D of not employing the same silencing techniques on their grid, where they can kick and ban anyone they don’t like?

… So yeah, what is it about the “missing” comments on the blog?

“His argument was that we should return our code for our patent to the OpenSim community” – no, I don’t think that was Ilya’s argument. His argument, and that of many others, is simply that you shouldn’t patent it. Do whatever you want with it, nobody really needs it, as there are too many ways to skin this particular cat, but the patent can and does stifle innovation in that particular field. “Patent means a monopoly” – Well yes, that’s exactly what a patent is.

_____Stevan chimes in_____

“If it was so easy, someone else would’ve put it out prior” – well, actually someone else did put it out prior. In fact, several someones.

“This is not the first patent we filed; this is the fifth patent we filed and we intend to file numerous more as we build technology.” – Now this is news. So what were the other patents about??? (I really need to emphasize this point more, I think.)

“The 3D environment seemed to be stagnant” – Wow, your 3D environment is much different from the 3D environment I know.

“There is no reason that we should not build technology and try to protect it.” The way this is said sounds like you can’t build technology without protecting it, but actually, that’s exactly what free software is about.

(silence, confusion, someone left, more confusion)

“It’s useless if no one actually want’s to have a conversation” – ‘conversation’ != ‘audience’. Audiences = useless.

Adressing prior art, Stevan states they submitted every piece of prior art “they are aware of” along with the patent, and still believes their technology to be unique enough to be granted a patent. Also, a cat is about to get skinned.

“We’re just trying to protect what we’ve done” – but we’re not telling you what it is. What was that about “useless conversation” again?

(silence, someone is back)

“Patents are private for the first 18 months (…) patent number is not available” Stevan claims the patent will not be visible even if the patent number were known, doesn’t state the reason why the number is kept secret though (after all, it doesn’t seem to hurt to say it).

(freaky robot voice; silence)

“They’re seperate programs. This thing functions not only on the GPL, but it also functions in other ways.” – Not quite clear, this sentence. I think it means the plugin doesn’t just work with the viewer, but also with other programs, so it doesn’t need to be “embedded” in their code. But again, it’s not clear.

“No, I’m not going to give out the number, because if one gives out the number initially, it gives people access to something that if they know what they’re doing they can actually go and block the patent from the point of view of acting like the person who has actually filed the patent.” – Not clear, but it seems they’re afraid of fraud.

“When it publishes out in the real world in normal course then it will be available, and then people can find it, we’ll provide it.” – Something to keep in mind.

“I’m not really quite clear what people are jumping up and down about” – Maybe people just want to know what it is exactly you’re patenting, because with all that wish-wash going on, it seems like SpotOn3D announces this major breakthrough and great invention, then people start looking at it up close, find out that it doesn’t seem to be all that great and most of it (the viewer, FireBreath, and of course OpenSim) isn’t made by SpotOn3D, and hence can’t be patented by them.

Tessa talks, without apparent reason, about how great she is, how she’s the “grandma” of the “3D web” and that, because of that, she should have a good understanding about IP law. Hence, it’s been a challenge to “try to help people understand”, which is, you know, understandable.

She goes on a rant about how without the “legal laws” we have there would be chaos, and uses Second Life as an example for that (?) where it was “really difficult to get anything really accomplished”. From there on she jumps to basic rights of self-expression and how there should be room for everyone.

“The thing that strikes me so ironic in all this…” rabble rabble, been in SL for 756 years “…is the intolerance of differences.” –  No, it’s not about difference. It’s about bullying, hostile behaviour.

… Did she just compare herself to kids being mistreated?

“there seems to be a real anger over that because we’re doing a corporate professional production grade project here” – I can’t really see much of the professionalism, but I don’t think anyone is angry at you because you’re using big words, but rather because of the way you’re doing business.

“No one has ever asked us for any of our code” – This is not surprising given that a.) you keep that code secret (see the plugin) and b.) this is not how open source works. Nobody will “ask” for some unknown code to incorporate into their project just because you are a “corporate professional production grade project”.

Tessa goes on rambling about how they were just doing the right thing and trying to be part of the community while being mistreated and rejected. Talks about an exploit that they “tried to get fixed” (again not naming what it is) and sums it up by calling all this “reaching out to the OpenSim community”.

Continues to say they’re keeping away from OpenSim core and not asking any of the core contributers to implement anything, and makes it sound as if this is a really good thing (instead of something natural). States they couldn’t contribute anything back because all their coders have to look at client code “at least once a month”. Seems the rant has come to a halt there.

Someone states he’s the only person there, and only represents him/herself. Tessa thinks that’s sad.

Tessa resumes her rant while the person is typing. I think that’s sad.

“I do also want to adress the criticism that we do not give anything back to the community. Because we can’t submit in code, we have to do it in other ways, and we try to be really creative about that.” – That word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.

Tessa uses this opportunity to promote SpotOn3D features (double dutch delivery), seemingly to an audience of one. She seems to think this is something the OpenSim community should be thankful for, and is surprised there wasn’t much praise.

“We are known as the content production grid.” That’s so funny she actually had to laugh at herself after she said that.

While the person typing is, seemingly, still typing, this is another perfect opportunity to talk about the rights of creators, because otherwise “we will have a lot of ugly avatars, and ugly land”. Me being a case in point, I guess.

“and they need to step up and do more on their side too.” Not clear who “they” are here, but it’s irrelevant because “they need to start copyrighting their stuff”. For someone so adept at copyright (see above) that’s an odd statement. Every creation is copyrighted. If people voluntarily give up their copy rights, or use permissive licenses, why is she telling them to not do that? Weird.

“And we would actually like to create a clearinghouse where content creators can list their copyrighted items and users can easily see what is and isn’t their work, so they’ll be less likely to buy stolen goods.” – I’ll just leave that here. The mind, it boggles.

Someone asks if their projects infringe SpotOn3D’s patent. The answer is they don’t know. Silence ensues.

Stevan says he doesn’t code. Silence.

Stevan goes on a rant about how much “stuff out there” is not patented, and he sounds almost sad about it. He strongly believes in intellectual property, and that he put a lot of money into SpotOn3D, which is at a massive loss. He definitely doesn’t sound happy about it.

Tessa talks about the mentality in Opensim that “all content should be free” and how they (who?) have a massive problem with it. She’s part of some interoperability group, that flamed her. There was just one jump between SL and OpenSim. That was a great loss. The mind boggles.

Clearinghouse. Again.

Creators can do copyrights of all their works. 35,– $. 100 to 300 $.

Stevan interrupts, telling her not to talk about legal stuff. The man has some sense left.

Something about compilations, which are important to be filed. Talks about something they want to come out next year that has to do with DRM and search. I bet there’s gonna be a patent on it.

People need to be organized and file with the copyright office when they come out with stuff. Because  Stevan says so.

If you’re going to run a business you have to protect your content. Because Tessa says so.

Someone asks something. Silence.

More silence.

Someone says creators don’t give enough shits. Tessa agrees.

Someone actually tells Tessa that this is not about double dutch delivery. Tessa sounds sad, but says she understands. She says there are people who are steadfast against corporations, IP, competition, etc.

Stevan says “people don’t know what they’re complaining about”, but fails to see that his secrecy might be a reason for that. He’s asking someone why people are complaining, when they’re not doing anything themselves. It’s not sure if he expects an answer.

Silence.

Someone says it’s easier to follow others than form your own opinion. Tessa thinks that’s very true.

Someone says from their personal view, “the only thing they did and do was involve patents.” Tessa doesn’t know who “they” are, but uses this opportunity to explain that the real reasons for “companies” to file patents is to draw investors. She says that makes sense because SpotOn3D has no headquarters, because it would be hypocritical. Continues to say it’s not about greed, but about survival. At this point, it sounds like SpotOn3D is in a lot of financial trouble, and this is a desperate attempt to get more funds in.

Someone says that whatever he said was still just his viewpoint. Tessa still doesn’t know who “they” are.

Timestamp: 35:00 minutes. Way to go. More soon.

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