Late last year, Grossman Tucker Perreault & Pfleger announced that they had successfully registered as a trademark the multidimensional likeness of Aimee Weber, the Second Life avatar of New York content-creator and businesswoman Alyssa LaRoche. While GTP&P referred to it as a groundbreaking decision (it is -- groundbreaking is another word for 'first'), it is not … [Read more...] about The trademarking of an avatar
Op-ed
The identity paradox
Last week, we spoke about anonymity and privacy, and in so doing we brushed past the concept of identity. The problem of identity has been with us for quite some time, as a species and as a set of societies. Newer technologies, such as the telephone and the Public Internet do not make the problem harder or more intractable, but they sure do make it a lot easier to actually … [Read more...] about The identity paradox
Anonymity versus privacy, online and in atoms
Much is touted about the Public Internet and virtual environments constituting mediums of anonymity - that the actions of users are essentially anonymous and free of consequence. That's actually pretty far from the truth. There's anonymity and there's privacy, and these are two rather different qualities, and are available in quite a different mix to what common knowledge … [Read more...] about Anonymity versus privacy, online and in atoms
And the earth moved in Second Life
In regards to Second Life, it doesn't get much bigger than the announcement made in the past few hours (Tateru Nino has an excellent summary of the announcement over at Massively). Essentially, Linden Lab have decreed that any adults-only content on the mainland of Second Life will eventually be relocated to a new continent. For the sake of illustration, let's call the new … [Read more...] about And the earth moved in Second Life
The Internet, video games, virtual environments and social networks: The new Demon Drink
An Engineering student at the University of Texas Austin murdered his wife and his mother at their homes, then shot and killed 14 people (and wounded 32 others) at his school, before being killed by police officers. A Japanese woman who had been dumped by her Sappporo boyfriend destroyed some of his property and records. A Houston woman believed her husband was having an … [Read more...] about The Internet, video games, virtual environments and social networks: The new Demon Drink