An initiative to fight content theft

You may have heard about it but not known what it was all about. Its quite simple really, C.A.D.U.S.C. serves as an informative shield against content theft. Its main purpose is to create awareness and warn member militaries against threats and copybotters.

Titus Valerian: So what exactly is C.A.D.U.S.C.?

Lurdan Huszar: C.A.D.U.S.C. is the Coalition Against the Distribution and Use of Stolen Content. It’s an initiative that was launched by the Iron Symphony about six months ago to directly combat content theft within the means available to members of the community. When a serious case of content theft is reported by one of the participating groups, we arrange a meeting that’ll occur usually within the week of the incident to discuss the issue. We’ll take a look at what sort of evidence we have and decide what sort of action is necessary and appropriate to take. What’ll often end up happening is that we’ll determine who the offender is, we’ll send abuse reports in and then ensure that both the individual responsible for the theft and the content in question is banned from the territory of all member factions. We’ll also ban/report distributors in addition to those who actually copybot or leak the content.

Titus Valerian: So who is part of C.A.D.U.S.C. and whom may join this project?

Lurdan Huszar: At the moment, the Merczateers, Ordo Imperalis, Phoenix Embers, Vox Aeron, Proxima, Aurora and New Jessie are members. Any group in good standing can join, and we hope that as many groups as possible do join, because the effect of being banned from multiple combat sims obviously becomes more deincentivizing as it slowly grows towards a potential ban from the entire community for involving yourself in content theft.

Titus Valerian: Has C.A.D.U.S.C. proven its efficiency so far?

Lurdan Huszar: Thankfully we haven’t had to meet often, but when we do, I know that the right decisions are made and that it’s a step towards a community where content theft is rarely an issue. It also sends a message to potential content thieves that the community won’t just sit complacent when an act of theft occurs.

Titus Valerian: Thank you Lurdan, is there anything else you would like our readers to know?

Lurdan Huszar: Yeah, if you’re a military leader and you’re not involved in C.A.D.U.S.C. yet, there’s no reason not to be. Our ultimate goal with the initiative is to have the entire community involved, which would no doubt make any content thief seriously think twice before he decides to steal something. That’s something everyone will benefit from. Just drop myself or Anthony Lehane an IM anytime and we’ll get your group all set up.

Titus Valerian: Thank you Lurdan.

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From the C.A.D.U.S.C. Protocol & Obligation Charter:

A. Introduction

- C.A.D.U.S.C. represents a shared effort by community leaders to defend and work against the use of copybotting and the distribution of stolen content. Member groups of C.A.D.U.S.C. will not allow the use of stolen content in their simulators with no exceptions.

- Known content offenders (theives and distributors alike) will be barred from accessing sims under ownership of C.A.D.U.S.C. members, effectively deincentivizing content theft for the average SL military member. C.A.D.U.S.C. militaries will engage in meetings and use group notices to establish known content offenders and stay on the same page in regards to current threats in our community.

- C.A.D.U.S.C. members acknowledge their efforts do not completely wipe content theft off the face of the grid, but we must do what we can to protect our work and our community.

- C.A.D.U.S.C. is an Iron Symphony initiative, however any and all militaries are invited to take part in C.A.D.U.S.C. and all it has to offer.

B. Protocols & Obligations

- Meetings will be held in response to content theft complaints. The meetings will be announced ahead of time, and may be adjusted to fit everyone’s schedule.

- Whenever significant content theft appears in our community, a C.A.D.U.S.C. meeting will be held. All issues are handled on a case by case basis, and the participants at the C.A.D.U.S.C. will decide what action will be taken.

- When content theft threatens a C.A.D.U.S.C. military member, they may send a notice in the C.A.D.U.S.C. group detailing the offense, with a notecard attached including evidence and proof. Member groups can then use the evidence and come to a decision of how the case will be handled in their own sim.

- The use of stolen content will not be tolerated in C.A.D.U.S.C. sims – If someone is using stolen content, they may not be a content offender, but they will be asked to remove the item and will be informed that it has been stolen. If they do not comply they will be banned.

I hope everyone will realize the importance of such projects, in order to stop the use and distribution of stolen content we need to work hand in hand to expose those who steal from our content creators.

- Titus Valerian

The Battle for Caine’s Seaside Villa

This is a lulz article and not to be taken seriously. The participants in this lulz event do not necessarily support anti-Furry beliefs. The individuals involved in this were not acting on behalf of their respective factions and the said factions will not be held responsible for anything that has been said or done.

Like a distress call I received a Teleport from Caine Constantine just as I was about to sip some Priman Champagne. I dropped my glass and found myself in Blake Diego, surrounded by Furries, Caine’s friends and Sturm Korps personnel. It is not clear what was going on but it is clear that Dark Svenska was brutally abused by furries whom even though they almost lost the battle managed to humiliate and traumatize Dark Svenska for the rest of his life.

I rezzed inside a house which, according to Caine Constantine was surrounded by Sturm Korps troops whom had locked him in his room and vowed to free his property of all furries. Mr Constantine as a respectable landowner and a lover of furries never asked them to take any such actions but as a prisoner there wasn’t much he could do other than to stare at his telephone bill.

Surprisingly, Bruno Ziskey had already popped out of a Chaos Portal to rescue Caine and the other hostages. What was the motive behind this act of generosity?

None as we soon found out! Bruno was a supporter of the Sturm Korps and had only infiltrated the house in order to kill all the furries inside!

In the mean time Dark Svenska had made huge progress and while planting Sturm Korps banners and eliminating the last of the furries he made an attempt to breach inside the house which was no longer controlled by his troops but rather by the Furry Protection Fund!

A well placed bomb destroyed one of the walls and made it possible for Dark Svenska and his troops to charge at the house! However inside a determined furry was ready to take them on…

Svenska was hit by a bottle of Jack Daniels and the said furry literally jumped on the occasion and raped Dark Svenska with her crotch, humiliating him for the rest of his life. Not only had he been raped by a furry but she was also female. That’s right, Dark Svenska was raped by a girl.

Very soon a second bomb detonated and those who were still alive fled! I managed to shortly interview both Svenska and Corsi:

Dark Svenska: i’m Dark Svenska bitch

Titus Valerian: Do you have anything to say to the furry protection fund?

Dark Svenska: Burn them all.

Dark Svenska: I believe in the Dark Gods

Dark Svenska shouts: VICTORY

Dark Svenska: SEIG HEIL!

Titus Valerian: What is your say on the matter of the furry god?

Dark Svenska shouts: SEIG HEIL

Dark Svenska shouts: SEIG HEIL

Titus Valerian: Someone suggested to me that you may have been abused by a furry when you were a child. Care to comment and tell me whether this is true or untrue?

Dark Svenska: WEll.

Dark Svenska: It all started when I was in a furry disguise in furnation with Pattehphox Katsu.

Dark Svenska: Pattehphox introduced me too the furrys and their ‘roman baths’

Titus Valerian: Any comment on what happened between you and Dark Svenska?

Corsi Mousehold: I DID NOT HAVE SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH THAT WOMAN

I soon found myself alone covered in SK blood and Furry hair thinking about what had just happened. It seems that while Svenska managed to burn a dozen furries at the stake with his Sturm Korps friends the furries scored a great victory by annihilating the SK troops, raping Dark Svenska and pillaging their U-Boot. Land owner Caine Constantine does not wish to be associated with what happened here today and would like to report that one of his garden dwarves was stolen during the battle. If you know where it is please dial 666JESSIE.

- Titus Valerian

[Guest Article] Where did we stray?

More than five years ago I came to SL and founded what was to become the grid’s first example of what we now know as the modern combat group. 

We found ourselves on the shores of a world over which we had no control.  The sandboxes were a harsh place for a group to grow up, especially in those days.  Every day was a slog through waves of griefers – real griefers with orbiters and shields, not just trolls with annoying gestures and tired memes – and the constant, unending attrition of our memberbase whether it be from the constant attacks or turncoat officers (those of you who remember the old group system know what problems I’m talking about).

The majority of the modern combat community has become spoiled with private islands, and their ability to completely control their home field.  There are so few of us left who remember the horrors of mainland warfare; the dangers of using civilian buildings as a backstop, the ever-present threat of safe land, inter-sim artillery strikes, your enemy having a secret outpost within a few sims of you (I of course refer here to ANTAC, which remained a closely guarded secret until the end of the Adscita Merczateers), and the fact that you could be attacked from anywhere without warning.  But, by far the most impactful aspect of mainland warfare was that guns were the only way to defend land.  Banning, in that era, did not stop objects from coming through and – aside from being tantamount to surrender – simply invited your enemy to sit on safe land and fire in.  Militaries had no choice but to defend their interests to the bitter end, the length of the attack completely at the mercy of the enemy’s schedule, and the only way to survive was to kill for the right to.  Those days saw many a group rise on a whim, and fall by the sword of another.

In no way am I suggesting that we should go back to the mainland, though its chaotic elements and grand scale did add a certain flavor to combat.

But what was it that made so many groups topple?  None of their members were really killed, and none of their vehicles were really destroyed.  The enemy could sweep over the gates, spawn camp you, rape your women, and then disappear without a trace.  A number of such crushing defeats could easily reduce a group to nothing, while not actually causing any quantifiable material damage.

We sought for a long time to find a term for this type of warfare.  In the end it is not the destruction of anything physical that kills a group, it is the destruction of its morale.  Because the human species has such a grand capacity for bouncing back from emotional blows (We were honorable, they cheated, they outnumbered us, etc), only the slow, brutal, and unending carnage of successive failed attacks and defenses can destroy a group in SL.  We dubbed this “Entropy Warfare”.

It is common knowledge now that only this kind of soul-crushing, eye-deadening emotional warfare can wreck a military in Second Life.  Taking their base is a small setback, as is pushing back their assault.  These things alone cannot bring a group to its knees, because at the end of a battle in SL nothing is truly gained outside of bragging rights for the winner, and maybe a bit of shame for the looser.

I look around the “community” today and I see weakness.

After reading the logs from one of The Anvil Coalition’s meetings posted in the Merczateer announcement my observations are proven to be well founded.  When asked to assault an enemy sim for even relatively short periods of time every day, numerous leaders among the Coalition suggested that it was “harrassment”.

As much of a scumbag as Christoph is, he is right.  You are military groups: you are here to fight for your survival.  TAC and the Iron Symphony are huge alliances with previously-unfathomable resources at their disposal, be it personnel or technology.  Most of the time, with some notable exceptions, they sit in their sims and twiddle their thumbs.  The waste I see should be a crime.

Militaries in Second Life today are much akin to the friendly professor who teaches your philosophy class.  All of his students love him, and will write him letters after they graduate to tell him how much he changed their lives.  But, he’ll never make department chairman because he’s not willing to kill for it.

Militaries today are not here for a challenge.  They are here to play single player in an MMO, where they always win.  Defenders have a natural advantage, as anyone who’s studied tactics will tell you, and in order to effectively assault a defended position you usually need three-to-one odds in your favor.  Todays rules are sculpted in order to compound the defender’s natural advantage exponentially.  Some sims even prohibit attackers from having a number advantage over the defenders (or they must stay within a certain ratio), defeating the thinking of military strategists for generations with the stoke of a key, essentially turning many sims into a shooting gallery for the defenders.  Even with all the odds stacked in their favor, some groups further impose time limits on attackers, shielding them from the possibility of battle fatigue.

Perhaps the greatest offender is the affectionately named banhammer, the extension and glorification of which is the “blockade”.  Ignoring the fact that the word is used completely incorrectly, blockades and bannings are the cancer that is killing SL combat.  You are here to play a game, and unless you’re still in kindergarden or a special-ed class where “everyone’s a winner!”, that game must have a loser.  Losing is part of games, and it happens to everyone eventually.  If you don’t like to lose, and no one really does, well…practice makes perfect.

- Mazer Ludd