Category: News-Opinion

New Community Platform launched

Posted on by Inara Pey

The new Community Platform launched today. The layout is clean and fresh and in keeping with the rest of the revised SL website.  Torley has produced one of his ever-impressive videos to help introduce the platform:

This is needed, as some of the elements of the platform are not entire intuitive. Take adding an avatar picture for example. Once logged in, there is an option at the top of the screen called My Settings. Within this is a tab called Avatars. One would think this is the place to upload and select an avatar picture for go alongside your posts.

Wrong.

While you can indeed select an avatar from My Settings->Avatars, you in fact have to upload any image you wish to use from your profile first. Your Community Platform profile, that is. This requires that you click on your name at the top of the Community pages then click on Upload Images (/View image for, once you’ve uploaded the first time) then upload a picture then go to My Settings -> Avatars to select and use it.

And if you want to get a background for your avatar picture, it is even more confusing, as you need to play around with the Social Connect tab of My Settings.

And if you want to use a custom background (such as the one on the left) – it gets harder, as nowhere is the required size of the background given. This means that you have to fiddle about guessing the relative size of the background – and the “preview” option in Social Connect is as useful as a chocolate tea kettle as it is not representative of the background’s size when used in forum posts…

Friendly, huh? I eventually got the image on the left to work after well over 30 minutes of pissing playing around with images, and the required size appears to be 117(w) x 210(h) pixels.

None of this gets the new platform off to a user-friendly start – and this is reflected in the fact that the first questions lined up in the new Answers section of the Platform are about … setting up forum avatar pictures…

Elsewhere, LL seem to have blundered yet again. Back when the Jive-based blogrum was launched, a glaring omission was that of a General Discussion forum. This lead to people being confused as to where to chat and, well, be a community. It also lead to some pretty heavy-handed moderation on the part of Linden Labs which at times – it has to be said – was very biased in its approach: threads critical of LL were rapidly shut down by LL staff as being “inappropriate” for the forum in which they were posted, while other threads with a more positive attitude towards LL were allowed to run unhindered, despite also technically being in the “wrong” forum topic area.

Well…guess what is missing from the new forums? Yup: there is no General Discussions area. Of course, the JIVE blogrum did get a GD eventually – but you would have thought someone in LL, staff churn or not, would have remembered what happened before and learned a lesson. True, the JIVE-based GD got to be a pretty unpleasant environment  – but discussion is what makes a community, and without a GD area, the new Community Platform has a big hole in it – and it is already causing mass confusion, with GD topics turning up in both the Entertainment and Your Avatar sections.

I’m not altogether sure how I’ll like the new layout – if I use it that much, I’m now far too at home over at SLU. The general approach seems good, allowing for the obscure route you need to take to get a good-looking forum avatar sorted out;  page layouts are going to take a while to get used to. Certainly, the lack of a clear-cut GD environment is going to lead to a lot of confusion as to where people should post, and LL need to sort this out now rather than leave it – or go back to stomping on threads for being “inappropriate” for the sections they show up in.

More guidelines need to be built-into the system as well: Torley’s video is good at giving a broad overview, but really, the system could do with around two or three more.

It’s also going to be interesting to see how long LL staff remain engaged on the Platform once the sense of Shiny has worn off of it for them. In that respect, I’m rather surprised that there isn’t a section entitled “Ask a Linden” or “Ask the Lab”, or some such – together with clear and concise guidelines – that encourages two-way communications between users and LL representatives. After all, this platform is about improving communications and providing channels of communication, is it not?

A sad mentality…

Posted on by Inara Pey

Throughout the entire RedZone farrago, there is a sad mentality demonstrated among some of its most ardent followers.

On the one hand, they are paranoid about “copybotters” and “griefers” to the extent that they are willing to utilise a tool that is both flawed in concept and execution, as one of their own members points out:

Yes… it doesn’t work.

Rather than admit this, they get quite rabid in their postings concerning all of us who have genuine grounds for concern over the use and potential abuse of this tool: we’re vilified as being “copybotters” and “greifers” [sic] ourselves; we’re accused of being duplicitous and misleading.

Then on the other hand, in a stunning display of duplicity which (unsurprisingly) seems to escape them, they themselves remain unwilling to be honest and open about their use of RedZone and what it actually does, preferring to avoid, obfuscate or simply omit.

For example, when discussing the use of RZ at the sim level, Sylla Rhiadra suggests the sim owners should put up notification that they are using RZ so that their visitors may make an informed decision as to whether they in fact wish to enter the sim:

“Welcome to XXXXX! Please note that to remain in this sim you must consent to a scan that will load publicly available information about your avatar, including your avatar name, your IP address, UUID, and status of payment information, on to a third-party web site outside of the jurisdiction of Linden Lab or its ToS, where it will be stored and collated against the IP addresses of other residents in order to determine what other accounts employ the same IP address as yourself. Please note also that inclusion of your information within this database may result in you being banned from RedZone-using sims that have banned any account using the same IP address as you, and that, moreover, the names of your avatar and any others employing the same IP (including any of your alts that have been scanned) may be revealed to individual RedZone users if anyone using the same IP address as you consents to the release of this information. To gain access to these names yourself, you must purchase a copy of RedZone, currently retailing at L$3,999. Failure to consent to this scan witihin 6 seconds will result in the ejection of your avatar from this parcel.”

However, Bunderwahl Guisse replies that all that is needed is a message such as:

“Welcome to Dark Alley! [his roleplay sim, which does use the RZ scanner] We use RedZone for your protection. RedZone is a Tos compliant security tool that helps make sure you will not be harrassed [sic] or stalked during your visit.”

Leaving aside the fact that the term “Tos complaint” is highly questionable – suggestive as it is that Linden Lab themselves have vetted the product and given it the all-clear – the “revised” text from Mr. Guisse once again completely avoids mentioning precisely what RZ does, preventing his visitors from making any form of informed consent as to whether they want to run the risk of having their personal information exposed on an insecure, non-Linden database.

It’s also ironic that he claims RZ will ensure his visitors “will not be harrassed [sic]” when if, anything, it is a tool that can allow the unscrupulous to do precisely that.

However, the most revealing thing about Mr. Guisse’s attitude, and those of his ilk using RedZone and attempt to hide its use is this: the fact that they are willing to go to these lengths indicates they are fully aware that honest transparency about the tool they are using will kill their trade stone dead, because no-one will be willing to accept the realities of RZ if presented to them in terms as suggested by Sylla – and remain on their sim.

You’d think that realisation would be enough to get any rational, clear-thinking business person to consider removing the tool altogether and replacing it with something that, while it may require a little more work on their part, will not run the risk of scaring customers away.

But no. These people would rather keep the tool safely hidden and act in a completely dishonest manner towards their customers, clients – and friends. Worse than that, they’ll continue to regard the rest of the community with a mix of rampant paranoia and misplaced belief in their own “rightness” that will, in the end…destroy their own businesses.

People aren’t fools, as Jeggs in the screen shot above notes. The word will out – indeed the word is spreading. I’m persistently banging on about it here just as others are elsewhere – some in the most humorous of ways will still getting the message across. RedZone is a hot topic on Twitter and elsewhere. More and more Groups are spreading the word on the invasive nature of the tool and (potentially equally importantly), the unethical nature of its creator. May content creators who initially used the tool have now withdrawn it from use – some very publicly, as with RedGrave Skins, who sent out an apology to all 1500+ members of their product Group.

It is not as if there are not already tools available to them that could replace RZ, as I’ve stated elsewhere. They’re not even willing to participate and support JIRAs that could potentially strengthen their arsenal when dealing with griefing and the like.

This being the case, those who persist in hiding their use of RZ and trying to whitewash what the tool is and how it works will become the pariahs of SL. Their sims and stores will be avoided (many are already blacklisted) – and they’ll have no-one but themselves to blame.

Not that they’ll see it that way, of course.

Linden Lab comments on RedZone

Posted on by Inara Pey

Following the recent change to the Community Standards, zFire Xue has been attempting to wriggle out of having to receive the formal consent of those being scanned by his RedZone devices to have their information “background checked”.

Tateru Nino carried the concerns of users about Xue’s unethical approaches to the situation, which included a threat the release his database to all and sundry (for a fee), and his attempts to equate implied consent with formal (or informed) consent; not to mention his willingness to effectively throw his users under the wheels of ToS violations.

The Lab were very clear on matters, as you can see here.

The change to the Community Services itself wasn’t enough. However, this move by Linden Lab – coupled with the fact that once again, the RedZone tool has been delisted from SL Marketplace and comments from Lab representatives thanking users for filing AR’s on the matter of the number false positive reports this tool gives (in matching avatar accounts to one another) is indicative that the wheels are still in motion on this matter.

Interestingly, at around the time the comments were made, RedZone again vanished from the SL Marketplace.

LL to make “concerted effort” on content protection

Posted on by Inara Pey

Stroker Serpentine and those involved in the class action against Linden Lab over content protection have reached an out-of-court settlement with the makers of Second Life.

During a recording of Metaverse TV’s Grumpy Old Avatars, Stroker stated:

“We settled the lawsuit with Linden Lab. We settled amicably, and reasonably, and we’re anticipating a concerted effort on Linden’s behalf going forward towards content protection and the rights of content creators and at least being aware of the fact that there is a lot of content theft going on out there.”

Precisely what this means for SL as a whole is unclear. That settlement has been reached would indicate that both sides realised they had slim chances for an outright “win”. That action of some description is now anticipated on the part of Linden Lab is clear. Quite what that action will be remains to be seen.  One wonders if the shelved Content Management Roadmap may get a dusting-down; if it does, then it needs to be given a long, hard look. The first cut wasn’t that impressive.

The legal department at Battery Street seems to have its hands full right now…

RedZone and security: separating fact from fiction

Posted on by Inara Pey

The mills continue to churn on the matter of RedZone and its ilk. As such, I thought I’d pause for breath and try to sort some of the wheat from the chaff for those still confused. I’m deliberately avoiding any attempt to delve deeply into the more questionable aspects of RedZone and its data-gathering, and focus on the raw facts in the hope of illuminating the bare bones of why RedZone has little or no legitimate use in matters of security.

Myth 1: RedZone prevents copybotting

No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t even deter copybotting. RedZone attempts to identify known malicious viewers – which sounds good until you consider the following:

  • Anyone seriously engaged in content ripping (aka copybotting) knows how to hide the identity of the Viewer they are using so that it appears to be perfectly legitimate – thus RedZone cannot identify it. They can therefore create an alt, enter a sim, be scanned a “legal” and still copy items on display
  • Copybotting existed long before the Viewer was open sourced. As such, while the Viewer is the most convenient way to rip content, it is not the only means. The code for content ripping is still available to those that want to use it. There are also software applications that can be used for certain types of content theft. RedZone cannot even detect such activities – much less stop them- RedZone cannot even detect, much less stop them
  • RedZone works on the assumption that the Copybotter will actively engage in theft within the shop. Some may – and will likely avoid detection, as noted above. However, the simplest way to copy something is to legitimately buy it and then rez and copy it away from the store, rendering RedZone pointless.

So, don’t be fooled. In terms of “stopping copybotting” RedZone will be about as effective as using a wet paper bag to stop a bullet. At L$3999 a pop, that’s an awfully expensive wet paper bag…

Myth 2: RedZone prevents griefing by alts

RedZone is no better than any non-invasive (and cheaper) security tools for stopping griefing. In many respects, it is actually worse.

Much is made of RedZone’s ability to “identify alts” and so “stop griefers returning”. While this makes good reading, let’s look at the facts.

RedZone uses a method of obtaining avatar data and IP addresses (through a media stream exploit) and then compares results, the “theory” being that if two avatars have the same IP address, they “must” be alts of one another. BUT…the system ignores the fact that the vast majority of IP addresses currently in use are dynamic and can be changed frequently.

For example, I can turn my router off for 3 or more minutes, and when I power it back on again, I have a “new” IP address assigned to me by my ISP – an IP address that was previously been used by someone else possibly in the same general geographical location as me, but certainly using the same ISP.  This means that potentially:

  • *If* I were a griefer, I could avoid detection on a sim using RedZone simply by forcing my ISP to assign me a new IP address and then creating a throw-away alt.  There is a better than even chance that RedZone would not detect me, leaving me free to go about my dirty business
  • As someone who does not engage in griefing, I could be innocently accused and convicted of the crime, simply be because my ISP has assigned me a dynamic IP address that was previously associated with a “griefer”

RedZone further fails to acknowledge the existence of “block” IP addressing – such as might be used within an office building, or in an apartment block or by an Internet cafe, and so on. This means that if *one* person is identified as a “griefer” on that IP address – then all users of that IP address “must” be alts of the “griefer” – and are therefore banned.

And if that weren’t enough – RedZone does not distinguish between accounts on the same IP address. Thus, if one person in a household decides to do something silly, then can end up being banned as a “griefer”  – along with the rest of their household.

Proponents of RedZone will say this is acceptable – in other words, condone “guilt by association” – for the “greater good”. Yet all they are actually doing is potentially banning customers from their shops and patrons from their venues. Again, the genuine / serial griefer can circumvent RedZone as easily as the serial copybotter.

Myth 3: RedZone provides better land security features than other systems

No, it doesn’t. For general land security – keeping out unwanted visitors, preventing “casual” acts of “griefing”, removing troublemakers, etc., RedZone offers no more than can be found – free of charge – in the land tools available at parcel level, or at estate level if you own a sim. Using the land tools you can ensure:

  • Residents with no payment info logged with LL (directly or via PayPal) cannot access their land
  • Residents who are not Adult Verified cannot access their land
  • Residents who are not Adult Verified and have no payment information registered cannot access their land
  • Only members of your own Group can access the land.

These options alone should deal with over 99% of potential issues around security. And even if there is the occasional issue with a troublemaker, all parcels have a simple-to-use Ban List.

Similarly, griefing objects can be taken care of  simply by:

  • Restricting object creation / rezzing to Group members only
  • Restricting object entry to Group members only
  • (Worst case) restricting script running to Group members only.

These three steps alone eliminate the means by which the majority of griefers operate.

Sim owners can similarly restrict access to their sims – and in the case of residential sims, restrict access to multiple Groups if they wish, to save having everyone living on the sim a member of “their” Group.

If, for whatever reason, estate / land tools don’t work for you, then there are a number of items out there specifically developed for land security, none of which require your visitors / friends to be surreptitiously scanned. I’ll name two here, because I’ve used them for the last 4+ years at both parcel and sim level with great success:

  • Psyke Phaeton’s outstanding PDS Home Security orb – offers both parcel and sim-level solutions
  • Thomas Conover’s Land BodyGuard HUD, which provides sim-wide protection plus remote access to functions (you don’t have to be on your sim to ban someone, similarly, you can ban someone who is not physically present on the sim at the time of banning (because, say, they’ve created mischief and run away). It can be fully integrated with the SIM Radar system, if required – and both for half the price of RedZone. Find both in-world here.

These are just two systems. There are many more. All are cheaper that RedZone, and all carry out their functions without the need to covertly scan your visitors, as stated, nor do they lead to additional angst and drama over people being incorrectly accused of being alts of one another or having information about them stored on a third-party database outside of SL (which would most likely cause them considerable upset were they to be told this is in fact the case).

The facts that do count with RedZone

  • It cannot prevent copybotting. The most it can give an a false sense of security
  • It may deter the odd griefer, but not those who make griefing a habit
  • It offers an expensive solution to the problem of land security costing far more than dedicated land security tools that offer the same functionality
  • As a basic “security tool” RedZone is invasive of people’s privacy that sends avatar information to an insecure 3rd party database. As such, and given its use is detectable, all it is liable to do is encourage people to stay away from those stores / venues where it is used.

As I said, I’m not using this post to delve into the deeper and more distasteful elements of RedZone or the unethical behaviour of its creator following recent revisions to the Second Life Community Standards. These are all public knowledge. Rather, I’m hoping this post will simply give pause to those who have RedZone, or who are considering it, so they can ask themselves if it is really worth L$3999 when something costing L$750 will do the job without embroiling them in the wider aspects of the RedZone situation.

Data scraping: update

Posted on by Inara Pey

The media patch mentioned for Phoenix has, as reported earlier, now arrived in Henri Beauchamp’s Cool VL Viewer, in a somewhat modified form.

And already it is proving its worth for those concerned with attempts by others to scrape and gather IP addresses for the purposes of match – or simply gathering avatar information in general for the purposes of profiling & possible stalking.

  • Theia Magic, had a run-in a while ago with a club owner who was either somewhat economical with the truth during their exchange – or was playing a game of “place the RedZone, removed the RedZone, place the RedZone again when no-one is looking”. As it seems that, despite his loud denials as to running RedZone, he does in fact have it deployed and hidden. Given he’s been trolling the “old” official forums loudly denying he has or would use RedZone, getting caught out has obviously left him with the produce of several chickens on his face – or at least, that’s how I look upon the “colourful metaphors” he employs in his exchange with Theia.
  • The Hair Fair that has been running of late and has been widely advertised also appears to be running RedZone. Whether it is the organisers or an individual store is unclear; however, the patch flagged aggressive media stream pushing that resolved to the RedZone server as soon as a number of people using Henri’s Viewer arrived. The interesting thing here is that Greenzone failed to give any alerts.
  • Theia has now started a list of in-world locations that are attempting to deliberately mask their use of RedZone (see link above). So much for the RedZone Challenge initiated by Ciaran Laval in an attempt to gain transparency.

Quickware (another spying tool) has been linked to the IP Address 193.93.174.118.

Elsewhere, and connected with the use of the new patch, A “new” mystery domain has now been revealed as popping up frequently around the grid, again aggressively pushing a media URL onto people arrival at stores and venues. URL resolves to a domain called m.sparkgap.info (IP 69.163.222.23). It is unclear as to precisely what this is doing: speculation points to it possibly being related to CDS, but this is far from confirmed.

Caution certainly dictates both of these IPs are added to your firewall for blocking purposes – and in the case of m.sparkgap.info, added to your host file if you are technically-minded. Prior to the release of the media patch, there was speculation that it would probably uncover a lot more in the way of mysterious use (as opposed to outright misuse) people build around media streaming. m.sparkgap.info may yet be the tip of the iceberg.

Finally, Itazura Radio has some fun at the RedZoners’ expense while making some very valid points (sorry I cannot embed; EMI apparently get ticked off with me if I try).

And Cummere Mayo provides some excellent advice for those wishing to lose friends and alienate people.

A new working week commences tomorrow; one in which the new Community Platform is unveiled. This could well be a testing time for the Lab in terms of measuring up their actions against the words of their new CEO.

Further Information:

  • The humongous SLU thread on the subject (now with summaries!) – it is a monster, but an enlightening and addictive read
  • Henri Beauchamp’s Cool VL Viewer with media patch
  • Theia Magic’s blog with RedZone listings
  • no2Redzone – the latest information, information on blocking the RedZone site, etc.
  • My original post, with further links (and some repeats)
  • JIRAs on the subject of privacy – all worthy of your vote and watch):
    • SVC6751 -Make parcel_media_agent_command and similar request user permission
    • SVC 6793 – Establishing an opt-out system to prevent tracking
    • VWR24746 – RedZone security violates ToS, exposes private information & is being misused
    • VWR-24807 – Add abilityto filter cookies into the browser (Viewer 2.x)