[arg_discuss] "Fake Blogs Now A Criminal Offence"

[despain at quantumcontent.com]

I haven't been following this thread carefully, but wanted to note
that there are existing laws on the books in the US that need to be
considered when doing any "marketing" related ARG.

A quick google found this page with a rundown of some applicable laws
(but not all the sections of these laws that might apply to ARGs)
http://www.lawpublish.com/viral-marketing.html

There are laws about paying people to be "spokesmen" for a product...
Laws about providing compensation for forwarding emails to friends...

I'm not going to go into it in-depth, but if you're being paid to
do an ARG, a consult with a lawyer should be included in your plans.

Granted, you shouldn't let the lawyers design your ARG, but you should
be aware of how risky you're being.

Wendy Despain
quantumcontent.com




> This is worrying to me, since the planned Loose-Fish #3 is supposed to

> use sites like Facebook, MySpace and Linked In as the main vehicles

> for the story.  I'm wondering if any or all of these sites have some

> provision in their TOS for creating fictional profiles as long as

> there's something denoting that it's part of the story.

>

> The goal is not to fool anybody, but to tell the story.  I'm guessing

> I'll be sending a lot of email to a lot of confused people at many

> different social networks.

>

>

> ===========================

> The Loose-Fish Project:  <www.loose-fish.com>

> The Good Captain:  <www.goodcaptain.com>

>

>

>

>

>

> On Apr 14, 2008, at 9:56 AM, O'Donnell, Dean M wrote:

> Actually, there was a similar controversy involving Facebook and

> Jonathan Swift, who they were shocked, shocked to find wasn't actually

> still alive:

>

> http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/11/facebook-boots-.html

>

> Since we've used Facebook profiles a lot in our ARGs, we were

> apparently in violation of their EULA too.  Although when all the

> characters from Babylon 5 invited me to join their group, I suspected

> that perhaps it was a commonly violated part of the agreement.

>

> Oh, and hi everyone!  I'm an academic who uses ARGs to teach

> Interactive Storytelling.  We're on our third year of student produced

> ARGs now, and this year's festivities will be starting soon.

>

> Dean

>

> ____________________________________________

> Dean O'Donnell     Associate Director,

> Interactive Media and Game Development

> Dept. of Humanities and Arts   WPI

> dodo at wpi.edu

> Phone: 508-831-5947

> Fax: 508-831-5932

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-

> bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of A Nakama

> Sent: Saturday, April 12, 2008 6:14 PM

> To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG

> Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] "Fake Blogs Now A Criminal Offence"

>

> If a law like this ever hit the books in America, I imagine the big test

> would be when an ARG-related case inevitably hit the courts.

>

> ~ Adam Nakama

>

> On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 10:08 AM, Andrea Phillips <andrhia at gmail.com>

> wrote:

>

>> It's certainly worth asking a lawyer. Anyone know a lawyer?

>>

>> Dan Hon, I am looking at you. @_@

>>

>> --

>> Andrea Phillips

>> andrhia at gmail.com

>> http://www.deusexmachinatio.com

>> Words * Culture * Interaction

>> _______________________________________________

>> ARG_Discuss mailing list

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