Right, it isn't the limitation of speaking that is the problem here for
Verant. They can legally limit your speech because Norrath is not a public
place. What they cannot legally do is deny you access to your 'Real'
property, ie something that has a cash value, because they choose to limit
your speech.
Use this example. Can I go into my boss' office and call him an ignorant
jack-off and expect my free-speech rights to protect me from losing my job?
No, of course not. I can however, expect that my boss cannot deny me access
to my coat at my desk, as well as the rest of my personal possessions there,
and in that I'd be legally correct. They may throw them in a box and carry
them to me outside the premises, but they stil are required by law to
provide me access to them.
It isn't the free speech that's the problem here. I am not in any way
saying they can't legally limit someone's speech within their 'private'
domain. They cannot however take someone's property just because someone
violated their rules within their domain.
Its a whole other issue as to whether the sale of Norrathian items on E-bay
is allowed. It certainly is not illegal in any way. By the very act of not
preventing or even attempting to curtail it, Verant has given tacit approval
to the practice, their license agreement notwithstanding. In fact, by
changing the passwords and station names on some purchased accounts, Verant
has in fact tacitly supported the ability of these things to be sold for
real money, thereby undermining any defense they might have had in this
matter. Getting an attorney or judge to actually rule on these things
however is a very different matter. While the letter of the law may in fact
be violated by this practice, it remains to be seen if the violation falls
within the limits of enforceability.
Kit
-----Original Message-----
From:
jhenders@... [mailto:
jhenders@...]
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2000 2:30 PM
To:
eqbards@onelist.com
Subject: Re: [eqbards] (OT) Theft in EQ Redux
From:
jhenders@...
Hmm. Does he mean salable as in for plat? Or auctionable on ebay? If
it's the latter I think the I Agree you click every time you log in
specifically says it's not. However, if he could make the case that
Verant, by not even attempting to use the avenues Ebay makes available
to intellectual property owners to stop these sales, is giving tacit
approval, then he might get somewhere. It would be nice to see someone
actually try this, if nothing else to see Verant forced to give more
than lip service to shutting it down.
As for constitutional rights, reread your constitution. It specificly
says the government can't stop you from speaking, it says nothing about
what a private company does on thier own property. I think there has
been some state level judgements that stopped shopping malls, for
instance from limiting people's speech, as the malls were ruled to be a
public place, so you'd have to get Norrath ruled the same.
On Tue, Mar 07/00, "Kimes, Dean W." <dean_kimes@...> wrote:
> From: "Kimes, Dean W." <dean_kimes@...>
>
> It is property, according to definitions under US Law. One of my gaming
> buddies, who is a lawyer, came up with an even more interesting
proposition.
> If my equipment is saleable my me, and therefore my property, if Verant
> decides to deny me access to that equipment without due process, they are
> guilty of denying me my own property without such due process, which is
> under US law a violation of my civil rights. I may have the wording not
> entirely correct on this as it is from memory, but that's about how our
> attorney gaming friend laid it out. Interestingly as such, Verant also
> cannot ban someone for anything they say while online. Despite the fact
> that it is in the TOS that you cannot say certain things without being
> banned, US civil liberties laws specifically prohibit anyone from
> voluntarily abrogating their own constitutional rights except in cases of
> national security.
>
> Makes one think doesn't it.
--
Artificial Intelligence stands no chance against Natural Stupidity.
GAT d- -p+(--) c++++ l++ u++ t- m--- W--- !v
b+++ e* s-/+ n-(?) h++ f+g+ w+++ y*
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