Citing DMCA Drama, Popular Mesh Body Pulled from SL

"I'm sorry, but I think Wowmeh will not come back," Baby Ghosn, creator of the popular mesh-based body for Second Life avatars, announced in the comments of her blog last Wednesday. "I really can't manage all this all alone, I'm not professional enough nor I was ready for this big success and troubles." And with that, Wowmeh bodies are gone from Second Life.

"In short, she released a product," Iris tells me, catching me up to speed with a rough summary, "it was popular, it got taken down based on a DMCA claim, she believes it was malicious but didn't counterclaim because she didn't want to give her RL info to a possible troll (I wrote about this at the time) and instead made a revised version of the body removing purchased 3D assets she'd incorporated. That body was then also taken down because it was considered a re-upload of a previously DMCA'd item, even though she says she'd changed it. So now she's not going to re-re-release the product because she wasn't prepared for the level of attention and work involved when she launched the original." (A very casual summary, which might miss some fine details.)

My take: Whatever its value as a law to protect content creators in general (and that's debateable), DMCA is utterly incompatible with Second Life. Here's what I mean:

There seems to be an inherent contradiction at work: DMCA assumes content creators will operate under their real names, but most SL content creators operate under pseudonyms, and prefer to remain that way. So when a DMCA claim is filed in Second Life, that contradiction causes things to unravel. And in its wake, we typically wind up with one pseudonym attacking another pseudonym, and fans of either pseudonym attacking each other, psedonymously. (Read this long, nasty, destructive thread.) I'm not a lawyer, but surely there's a better way to do all this?

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[UCMO]

Anyone remember the drama around Curio v. Hush?

[Arcadia Codesmith]

DMCA was written not by legislators, but by corporate lawyers eager to gut fair use and prevent any potentially marketable IP from ever falling into the public domain. Abuse of the takedown process is just one of its myriad flaws.

The prospects of getting those legislators to betray their campaign funders and do anything in the public interest (assuming any of them are even qualified to actually write legislation in the brief moments between staffing the party fundraising machinery) are increasingly slim.

[Tracy RedAngel]

I remember Curio vs. Hush, but the difference there is Curio did file a counter DMCA and both parties obtained lawyers. The whole thing ended up being a draw because neither one ended up winning. It is fair to say Hush's reputation took a more severe beating than Curio's because since the case ended Curio has been gradually coming back.
The only person who can really tell Baby Ghosn what to do is Baby herself. But in my opinion, I think she should have filed a counter DMCA.

[pssssst]

@UCMO

If you compare the Curio/Hush situation just a little closely, they are in fact the same designer running 2 houses. It's common in SL, VERY common. I will not stoop to saying that was a scam but..come on.

Its probably the slink person who has had the Wowmeh removed. Funny how all that went down just PRIOR to the slink body hitting the market. Hmmmmmmmmmm.

[Nathan Adored]

As for prospect of fixing the issue of legislators being unwilling to "betray their campaign funders"... I say keep an eye on what Wolf PAC is doing, they're trying to get big corporate money and control out of politics, and so are Tenth Amendment Center. Google them. Support them. If they succeed, we might then see it become easier to fix seriously flawed things like the way DMCA treats the little guy.

[Ciaran Laval]

Eh up I'm not even drunk and I appear to have taken the wrong door, I was headed for New World Notes but appear to have stumbled into Shopping Cart Disco.

There's a tad more to this, she wasn't 100% sure of whether all the parts were legitimate as she didn't make all the parts. That's an issue for many content creators in Second Life who utilise the skills of others, they have to trust they are legitimate.

The DMCA is what it is, LL won't arbitrate on your behalf.

[Sinead McMillan]

One has to accept Baby Goshn's decision to not end psychologically wrecked in this revolting mesh wars.
Albeit the community offered Baby legal advice and monetary aid.

As a committed daily wearer of this very FIRST fitted mesh body which hit the grid - and that's in fact Baby's baby - I feel very sorry and also upset over the actual situation.
No more future refinements so far, although the latest releases (3.1 and "Silhouette") are top notch, nearly perfect.

Anyway, the "WowMeh!" can't be purchased any more, so that some of the best and notorious skinmakers already decided to refrain from providing appliers. Bummer!

Let's see who'll be the next victim of abusive DMCA claims.

[Nalates]

When the law was written no one paid attention to the basic American principles. With DMCA one is guilty until they prove their innocence.

The motivating idea was large companies could move the cost of litigation from theyselves to the people they charged with content violation. It has essentially turned the ideas of American free market and innocent until proven guilty around.

[Xanthe]

It's such a shame the Wowmeh won't come back. It showed a lot of promise and a lot of big designers were making clothing and skin appliers before it was taken down.
But I can understand Baby not wanting to take this any further. She's had to deal with a lot the past few months.

[Pussycat Catnap]

Its curious that something that is making someone a lot of income - possibly enough to pay some real life bills - is something that person would pull.

It is also curious that someone could have as their only uploaded product, a very complex 3D mesh model of the human body - one of the more difficult things to learn how to make, and something that you're not likely to see from a beginner.

Where is the rest of this person's body of 3D modeling work? I was about to ask the same question of Lolas (I just deleted that part of my comment), but those date back to a sculpty version and the make also has a few outfits for sale - and quality shows a dramatic rise over time there: because modeling the human body is freaking hard.

That said, SLINK is not the ONLY competitor that appeared right as this one went down. There's another one out there too that is also of about the same age - but its name eludes me right now.

So this story is likely rather complex...

[Tracy RedAngel]

The other fitted mesh body available is from The Shops. Belleza will also be releasing their own body as will Maitreya. I'm sure we'll see several mesh bodies hit the market within a few months.

I don't think Slink has much connection with this particular case, nor do I believe they had anything to do with the DMCA against WowMeh.
Whoever filed the DMCA against Wowmeh, also filed one against Luck Inc, creator of the very popular Phat Azz and Cute Azz. The other similar product that has not been taken down is the [BANNED] Booty...they're still available. They are all based on the SL open source avatar. It's pretty apparent that whoever has filed the DMCA is claiming ownership over the body, and that is what is so messed up about this case.
Slink's Physique body is Siddean Munro's own mesh creation derived to fit with the SL skeleton, but it was not modeled from the open source body. It's specifically made to fit with Slink's mesh hands and feet. Slink hands and feet have become so popular during the last couple of years, that people are simply going to choose the Physique mesh body for it's compatibility with those items. My personal opinion of Slink, is I believe it would be very uncharacteristic of Siddean to file a DMCA unless someone was intentionally and blatantly stealing her own meshes and reselling them.

[Pussycat Catnap]

IF the filing was legit... it was probably NOT from anyone who makes content in SL.

It was probably from somebody who makes commercial grade 3D models for animation or art - who saw their work in SL.

Proving this is trivially easy. View SL in wireframe mode and look at how the object's polygons / vertexes are lined up.

- If they match something, its stolen. If not, it isn't.

Anyone with a Wowmesh or a Phat Azz can do that test - just screenshot if from a couple directions and then compare it with wireframes from some commercial grade 3D models.

That would likely end the drama. Either proving innocence or guilt.

It wouldn't end things with LLs if the makers were innocent... because that's its own bureaucracy - but it would solve it for the fact-based side of things.

I do find it very suspicious that a brand new content creator is able to enter the scene with one product that also happens to be one of the most difficult things to create in 3D modeling - something artists can struggle over for years.

And not one, but two different examples.

BUT it is possible - and someone with either of these products could fact check this in under a minute.

[Pussycat Catnap]

@Tracy RedAngel:

Are you saying that both the wowmeh and phat azz HAVE been viewed in wireframe? And that they do match something?

And that that something is the avatar we are all using?

Actual wireframe comparisons? Anyone got screenshots?

If so that means no one but LLs has a right to file that DMCA... And it'd be odd for them to do so given that they seem to have allowed Open Sim and others to use it.

[Tracy RedAngel]

I don't have the phat azz, but the general consensus from different sources have been that WowMeh and the Luck Inc products originated from the SL avatar. So, no that's not definitive proof. I don't own the phat zzz, but I do own the Wowmeh body. I can take some wireframe images against a green screen.

[Tracy RedAngel]

Okay I posted 3 images on my flickr feed, one of both bodies overlaid on top of each other, and each of the Wowmeh and SL avatar. I used the exact body shape for both.
They're clearly different. They're fairly large images if you'd like to download them and compare with other models (just click the arrow on the bottom right)

SL body: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tracyredangel/14714696928/in/photostream/
WowMeh body: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tracyredangel/14714620860/in/photostream/

SL avatar & Wowmeh overlay: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tracyredangel/14900915932/in/photostream/

[Pussycat Catnap]

My gut instinct says that wowmeh body looks stolen from Poser or Daz. It has way too many vertices for use in a "video game". It looks like the mesh of a model from a 3D art application.

Would need to make wireframes from those sources to be sure.
- Googling them turns up very different meshes though. Somebody with all the various apps would have to load in all the popular 3D art models and try to find one with all those triangles in the legs.

Another theory is its the SL avatar, with doubled vertixes. Except halfway down the thigh the pattern shifts - and it doesn't do that on the SL avatar.

It may then have been an original mesh, falsely DMCA'd.

[Pussycat Catnap]

ps: I started by saying it looked stolen because of the number of vertixes. And then ended saying it might be original...

If it is original - what you have shown is that it is a source of unjustifiable lag... the level of detail in that mesh would be taxing on SL and real-time animation...

I remain highly skeptical that a new 3D modeler could turn out that level of complexity - though it is possible.

It also possible to get into a commercial jetliner, having never stepped foot in a plan before, and solo fly it across the country.

But the odds are such that it invites a very high level of suspicion.

[Tracy RedAngel]

If it did come from Daz or another application, then whoever brought it into SL had to shape the silhouette to match very closely to the SL avatar and did a very good job with rigging it. If you look at the outside shape it does closely match the default avatar, so that's why everyone assumed the body came from that. It's a mystery.

[ReBeccaOrg]

I think it's worth pointing out that MUCH of the blame for frivolous take down notices really lays at services providers. Service providers are under NO obligation to accept take down notices electronically. Nor are they obligated to accept take down notices that are overly broad or that don't otherwise make the assertions of copyright required by the DMCA.

[Ananda]

You know, the more I think about this, it seems to me that the whole DMCA takedown process is just plain incompatible with the supposed purposes of copyright to begin with. Does it promote the advancement of the arts and sciences? Does it benefit consumers in *any* way? Do creators really ever get more money or reputation from its use? Preemptive takedowns and censorship don't look like they accomplish the good things copyright is supposed to bring from what I've seen, regardless of where they are applied.

[Dreamerra]

I know this was a year ago but belleza had the same problem when it came out with there body. If wowmah had files on her computer when she made this body I'm sure this could be cleared and reopened case because really she was first mesh body, people get jelous say this or that but main thing is other person if they. Coped the body do they have files dated if there late and wowmah made hers on her computer she have those files every one has dated files when you save stuff like when picture is made so on. If a petition was made could stoped this it should not be about money wowmah made the body she the only the that know what she was doing not this scam artist I see appliers being made still that it.