You are free to modify KiSS sets in any way you want as long as you leave the result on your own computer. You can pretty much do anything you want on the privacy of your own computer [at home, if you own the computer - do it at work on the office computer and you are in trouble]. Some states said it is illegal to cut and paste the image of a minor's face onto a nude adult body. I don't know if the courts upheld or overturned the laws, but that is the only thing I can think of that made individual expression for self-enjoyment a crime.
I think that you would technically be guilty of pirating a set, but since there is no distribution it doesn't matter. Actually this is an awfully good way to get started with .cnf work - take 'em apart, add stuff, rearrange 'em, change stuff, put 'em back together - it's really good practice. There are some folk out there who are graphically talented but provide lousy .cnf because they just don't know how.
Now, if you think your modifications add something significant to the set and you would like to share what you've produced it is appropriate to write the creator and ask his/her permission. If you send a modified set to friends without permission you have stepped over the bounds of accepted behavior.
[[In my opinion adding blinking or snap-to probably doesn't count as significant modification. Some artists would probably give you permission to send out the modified set, some wouldn't. Oh, Dov tells the story that a few years ago some aspiring artist sent him a whole bunch of "new KiSS sets I made." When Dov opened the sets he discovered they were modified versions of a bunch of sets already on the BKP, the artist had simply drawn naughty bits on all the base dolls.]]
Expansion sets are still a matter of debate. Some folk think that it is fine for you to put your changes [.cnf, .cels, .wavs, etc.] into an expansion set. You have not changed/modified the original at all, and you have put nothing of the original in your expansion set. But when the EX set is opened with the original the viewer has your modified set. Other folk think that EX sets should only be distributed with the original artist's permission.
Posted on Mar 22, 2004, 1:38 PM from IP address 68.77.202.35