Pics in SL without permission

[Fantino Sella]

Can someone take pics of me in SL without my permission and then put them on a web page?

I mean if a girl takes a pic of me making love with her without my permission and then post it on a photo web site naming the pic with my SL name, isn't this a privacy violation?

This was what i was talking about, sorry if i hadn't been clear before

[Pixieplumb Flanagan]

Probably, if they want to.  If you mean is it permitted, that's slightly trickier.  If the website in question is outside of LL's realm then you can try issuing a DMCA, but the likelihood of success is remote, given that the site could be hosted in any of a number of coutries who might have very different laws and degree of compliance with international law.

If the pictures are being used on SL's marketplace then you can flag any listing containing them, but you'd have to be 100% sure that the pictures were of your avatar and that they were being used in an innaproriate way.  For example, you might just be in the background of a general in world shot that featured a creator's item in the foreground, which is almost certainly fair game.

Are you concerned that this may have happened, and if so do you think it is being done for nefarious purposes?

 

[Rhonda Huntress]

Yes.

 

From http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Snapshot_and_machinima_policy

As long as you comply with the terms and conditions below, both Linden Lab and the Residents of Second Life (collectively, “we”) grant you the following copyright licenses:

1. A License To Capture. You may take snapshots and capture machinima of the 3D content we created that is displayed in-world, and
2. A License To Use. You may use the resulting snapshot or machinima within or outside of Second Life in any current or future media.

 

There are other stipulations listed but in general as long as

• it is snapshots, 
• your avatar is not a registered trademark 
• the land covenant does not expressly forbid it.

You can take snapshot in world and use them elsewhere because permission is already granted when you agreed to the TOS.

[Rolig Loon]

Rhonda quoted the Snapshot and Machnina policy for you.  If you scroll through that policy, you'll see that the restriction on machinima are much tighter than on snapshots.  Specifically, "Consent is not required for any snapshots."  So there's your answer.  Now, is it nice to do what that girl did?  I don't think so, but it's not breaking any rules.  Take some comfort in the fact that it's a picture of your avatar, not you, and that nobody knows who you are in RL unless you have been telling people.