Hi, my name is Dove, I steal. :(

I already posted on the content theft issue awhile back….and I still feel the same – it sucks, you suck if you do it. But with the huge amounts of attention it’s getting anymore, and it seems daily someone new is outted for being a thief….I can’t help but feel, perhaps, just maybe …we’re all sitting a *little* too high on our horses. I’m sure this is going to get me kicked in the teeth but I have to ask those who are leading this parade or marching at the forefront:

How much illegal music, that you downloaded, do you listen to while playing SL?
How many illegal rips and copies of movies have you watched in SL with friends and family?
How many of the programs that you use to create your content and amazing works in SL, did you actually pay for?
(and of course the age-old favorite)
How much of your “original content” contains pieces and parts of someone else’s “original content” – ahem, that means you photosourcers!

I could go on and on. Gonna start by saying – I’m guilty as fucking hell. No, I am in no way saying it’s okay to steal the works of others, trust me, I am so freakin’ over it …it’s got me paranoid to even shop at new places that aren’t already established in SL, it’s that bad! But, I feel like we’ve all gotten a little wound-tight lately, and high-strung. I know that it has to suck to have your hard work stolen right out from under you without any sense of justice to be found, I know that I would hate that very much myself.

I just know, also, that we’re all (or at least the majority of us) living in some pretty fragile glass houses. Who is drawing that line between what’s acceptable and what’s not? Who draws the line between legal and illegal (because it’s obviously really blurry for some)? Who is deciding what levels of thievery are okay and which ones are not? Does the sense of right and wrong only exist in the bubble our SL clients create? Is this level of theatrical and dramatic ‘coverage’ of the guilty and condemned exactly necessary? It’s almost like we’ve become a pitchfork mob, out for the kill. On the other side of that coin, I am fully aware of the reason behind this mentality we’ve developed – it comes from the lack of action on LL’s part – we’re taking it into our own hands!

I dunno what’s right and wrong in this circular debate, maybe I’m just sitting on the fence. I thoroughly support people fighting the good fight, and I think that the thieves should be brought to task for what they are doing. I just don’t think I’m of clear enough conscience to join it myself. I suppose I will just continue supporting the original designers and creators directly and leave the balls-to-the-wall approach to those with the ..well…balls, to do it.

So, I guess….’Go Team!’ ? ? ?