I’m surprised Kickstarter doesn’t have a general prohibition on living organisms, like Ebay does. Apparently, you can give away Siberian tigers or smallpox virus, as long as they’re not genetically modified.
Edward,
They are new. I am sure it will come eventually as they realize the legal liabilities involved.
Not really on topic, but while the idea of using plants for natural outdoor lighting is intriguing, I wonder about the ramifications for the problem of light pollution for amateur astronomy.
I might be able to block off my neighbor’s spotlight, but if his trees are glowing…
Rickl,
Even more interesting will be the legal liabilities. For example, tomatoes require a specific length of daylight to ripen properly. If my neighbor’s glow in the dark trees keep me from having tomatoes in my garden do I get to sue them for it?
I think this indicates a need for coherent company policy towards potentially risky endeavors not a genuine anti-science stance. Whoever made this policy decision probably hasn’t thought about it much and made a moderately poor decision based on a single case.
The policy in question is very limited which I think counts as a strike against the claim that Kickstarter is somehow becoming anti-science. You can still fund GMO projects and distribute/sell the resulting organisms, just not as Kickstarter rewards.
Yes, it not anti-science. They are just trying to protect themselves from the legal liabilities and lawsuits that would result from allowing them to be used as prizes. Its sad that some folks read ideology into it, a sign of how partisan the world has become.
What legal liabilities, Thomas? That sort of reasoning could apply to any potential dangerous product offered as a Kickstarter reward.
Yep. And I am sure after a few lawsuits, or threats of lawsuits they will tighten up like Ebay did and folks will look back fondly at these free wheeling days of old…
BTW Remember France threatening Ebay and Yahoo with legal action because model WWII German aircraft has Swastikas on them?
Click on NAZI and NAZI-related for the full list of restricted material. Yes, it does seem funny, until the lawyers strike and threaten to empty your bank account…
And yes, it is only a matter of time before the lawyers come for KickStarter too…
You can still fund GMO projects and distribute/sell the resulting organisms, just not as Kickstarter rewards.
Obviously — they have no control over what you sell/distribute outside of Kickstarter. That doesn’t change the fact they are prohibiting GMO on their site.
Edward,
Exactly. And if you do they have a defense against the lawyers, namely that you violated their rules to do it. And that is all KickStarter is interested in, keeping the lawyers away 🙂
Edward, you can still fund GMO projects on Kickstarter and sell the results. They aren’t prohibiting GMO, but just GMO products as a Kickstarter reward. All I can say is that if Thomas is right, then this is a tip of a rather large iceberg. But it still doesn’t explain why they chose the relatively harmless GMO stuff to start doing liability protection.
How’s this for a rule of thumb?
If they’re prohibiting ALL living organisms then it’s not anti-science.
If they’re prohibiting GMO until a set of standards can be evolved for the safety (including long-term safety, thank you Australia) of the offerings, then it’s not anti-science.
If they’re prohibiting JUST GMO and there is no intent of evolving a standard, then it is.
Here are some:
http://mashable.com/2012/12/06/kickstarter-alternatives/#gallery/the-best-alternatives-to-kickstarter/50d335fbb589e4026300340e
I’m surprised Kickstarter doesn’t have a general prohibition on living organisms, like Ebay does. Apparently, you can give away Siberian tigers or smallpox virus, as long as they’re not genetically modified.
Edward,
They are new. I am sure it will come eventually as they realize the legal liabilities involved.
Not really on topic, but while the idea of using plants for natural outdoor lighting is intriguing, I wonder about the ramifications for the problem of light pollution for amateur astronomy.
I might be able to block off my neighbor’s spotlight, but if his trees are glowing…
Rickl,
Even more interesting will be the legal liabilities. For example, tomatoes require a specific length of daylight to ripen properly. If my neighbor’s glow in the dark trees keep me from having tomatoes in my garden do I get to sue them for it?
I think this indicates a need for coherent company policy towards potentially risky endeavors not a genuine anti-science stance. Whoever made this policy decision probably hasn’t thought about it much and made a moderately poor decision based on a single case.
The policy in question is very limited which I think counts as a strike against the claim that Kickstarter is somehow becoming anti-science. You can still fund GMO projects and distribute/sell the resulting organisms, just not as Kickstarter rewards.
Yes, it not anti-science. They are just trying to protect themselves from the legal liabilities and lawsuits that would result from allowing them to be used as prizes. Its sad that some folks read ideology into it, a sign of how partisan the world has become.
What legal liabilities, Thomas? That sort of reasoning could apply to any potential dangerous product offered as a Kickstarter reward.
Yep. And I am sure after a few lawsuits, or threats of lawsuits they will tighten up like Ebay did and folks will look back fondly at these free wheeling days of old…
BTW Remember France threatening Ebay and Yahoo with legal action because model WWII German aircraft has Swastikas on them?
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=98593&page=1
The result is this Ebay policy…
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/offensive.html
Click on NAZI and NAZI-related for the full list of restricted material. Yes, it does seem funny, until the lawyers strike and threaten to empty your bank account…
And yes, it is only a matter of time before the lawyers come for KickStarter too…
You can still fund GMO projects and distribute/sell the resulting organisms, just not as Kickstarter rewards.
Obviously — they have no control over what you sell/distribute outside of Kickstarter. That doesn’t change the fact they are prohibiting GMO on their site.
Edward,
Exactly. And if you do they have a defense against the lawyers, namely that you violated their rules to do it. And that is all KickStarter is interested in, keeping the lawyers away 🙂
Edward, you can still fund GMO projects on Kickstarter and sell the results. They aren’t prohibiting GMO, but just GMO products as a Kickstarter reward. All I can say is that if Thomas is right, then this is a tip of a rather large iceberg. But it still doesn’t explain why they chose the relatively harmless GMO stuff to start doing liability protection.
How’s this for a rule of thumb?
If they’re prohibiting ALL living organisms then it’s not anti-science.
If they’re prohibiting GMO until a set of standards can be evolved for the safety (including long-term safety, thank you Australia) of the offerings, then it’s not anti-science.
If they’re prohibiting JUST GMO and there is no intent of evolving a standard, then it is.