Tech & Biz

YouTube pulls video of giant penis attack in Second Life

by Actual News Geezer | January 5, 2007 at 04:04 pm

19378 views | 1 Recommendation | 4 comments

Get this: during a real news interview conducted by a real reporter in Second Life (a growing and popular virtual world) the interviewee ( a real person but appearing as an avatar) is attacked by a horde of giant penises (not real). Someone else captures the action and posts the video of the penile mobbing to YouTube.

The interviewee, Ailin Graef, gets very, very annoyed and threatens to sue YouTube. Today, CNET, which conducted the original interview, reported that YouTube has now complied with Ms. Graef's demands and has pulled the video down.

A Second Life land developer has convinced YouTube to pull down an off-color video of her virtual self being harassed during an interview, raising novel questions about the legal rights of virtual world participants.

Last month, Anshe Chung Studios demanded that YouTube delete the recording, citing the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which generally requires Web sites to remove material that infringes on copyright laws. The controversy stemmed from video taken during an interview with Anshe Chung, the virtual world's biggest land owner, conducted by CNET News.com in its Second Life bureau last month.

During the interview--which took place in a digital theater in front of
dozens of audience members' avatars--a group intent on sabotaging the
event attacked it with 15 minutes of animated penises and photographs
of Anshe Chung's real-life owner, Ailin Graef, digitally altered to
make her look like she was holding a giant penis.

Background

According to this report, Ms. Graef has amassed about 300million Linden dollars, the game's currency. (275 Linden amount to one US dollar).

She employs ten people at an office in China to help 'develop' the online
land she later sells to mother players.

Frankfurt-based Ms Graef allowed her online equivalent, or avatar, to take
part in a chat show-style event hosted by technology news site CNET.

But as her avatar took her seat, and audience members arrived, the griefers
struck. As the phalluses kept floating by, Ms Graef's character Anshe abandoned her
seat and tried to take the interview to another site - only to be foiled
again when griefers crashed that system.

CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman said: 'She is very popular, and some people
don't like her.

Saturday Metro Dec. 22, 2006