about blogging

[MochaEvis]

do i need to get permission from land,business, etc owners to blog about their place? im interested about writing and blogging about people, places, clothes, etc but it get me worried if i need permission from them just to post about it ( persons of course i need permission and clothes no need ( i guess) but what im more worried is about the places)

[ChinRey]

That's a very good question. I suggest you repost it in the General Discussion Forum here. The Answers section isn't really suitable for long discussions.

But a quick answer: We do have something called freedom of press and that certainly applies to bloggers. It's a freedom with responsibility though.

[Freya Mokusei]

You need to comply with the Snapshot and Machinima Policy and the IP Policy.

My reading (and personal opinion, I am not a lawyer) of both is that you don't need to ask permission before posting, and don't need to worry about privacy or consent if you're not posting images or video.

It's probably polite (and in my experience, fun!) to at least tell someone after you've featured them, but not necessary.

[Nalates Urriah]

I think Freya gave the most precise answer and provided links to the pertinent parts of the ToS agreement you accepted.

With legal documents there is what it sounds like you can do and what people do. Chicago has strict gun-laws and LOTS of killing and crime. Go figure.

If you look through the SL blogosphere, you find a number of blogs that are like travel magazines, they cover places in SL. You could contact those people and ask what they do. I suspect everyone that has built a region appreciates having their creation publicized. Those that may not, have access closed off to keep people out.

When I cover some region, I just do it. I don't go looking for permission.

Most of the ToS stuff only kicks in when you do someone harm. Understand slander and liable law and you understand the type of harm that is problematic in a technical/legal sense. 

If you decide to do product reviews, you get into a more complicated scenario. If a product crashes your computer, you can state that fact. But, you may be challenged to prove it.

Remember. This is a game, real money is involved, and people have feelings.