• Wired , Tuesday, November 21, 2006 11:15 AM

Interesting enough, Second Life creator Linden Lab is retreating into the shadows over the controversy surrounding the game's first widespread instance of cyber crime. The program CopyBot, which lets users copy anything that appears in the virtual world, threatens to undermine its growing virtual economy, which is predicated on users creating products purchased by others.

However, instead of bringing out the lawyers, Philip "Linden" Rosedale, the company's CEO, says that nothing can stop someone from copying textures or shapes off their own compute, which is what's happening. Merchants would have to file a federal suit if they want financial compensation; hardly worth it if you consider the cost of goods in the game. Bottom line: it means Second Life is now a laboratory for finding an alternative to copyright rules.

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