When logging into the world today, you'll be greeted by a new Terms of Service agreement you must assent to, before entering. The key change, it seems, is explicitly forbidding exploits like CopyBot, while also allowing open source versions of Second Life, like libsecondlife (which, after some drastic re-organization, has re-emerged with a new leader and grand plans.)
Tao Takashi has the TOS analysis.
Update, 3:51pm: In Comments, Taran Rampersad points to another fascinating reading of the TOS tea leaves.
A little more complicated in legal wording with some interesting changes:
http://www.knowprose.com/node/16729
Analysis (http://www.knowprose.com/node/16730 ) leans toward the Asian aspects of SL (all the third party references to service), more ability to operate 'with extreme prejudice', and generally tightening things up - like the jurisdiction of minors.
LibSL may have had an effect, but if Asia is providing a service, they may be using different viewers for linguistic reasons.
The ToS changes appear to have been done with some foresight AND hindsight.
Posted by: Taran Rampersad (aka Nobody Fugazi) | Wednesday, November 22, 2006 at 03:42 PM
Taran Rampersad. Ram - per - sad.
Sad that people can't spell his last name right. :-(
Posted by: Taran Rampersad (aka Nobody Fugazi) | Wednesday, November 22, 2006 at 06:59 PM
Doh, my bad-- fixed!
Posted by: Hamlet Au | Wednesday, November 22, 2006 at 08:14 PM
Umm....
Hamlet, CopyBot is no more an exploit than a 3.5mm male-to-male lead is.
Posted by: SignpostMarv Martin | Friday, November 24, 2006 at 03:13 PM