Eye on the Blog: Enforcing the New Third-Party Viewer Policy

On March 31, 2010, M Linden announced an updated Second Life Terms of Service (TOS) that becomes effective on Friday, April 30th. We have incorporated our new Policy on Third-Party Viewers into the updated TOS. This Policy governs access to Second Life and our technical platform that supports Second Life by any third-party viewer, by which we mean any third-party software client, regardless of its source code, that logs into our servers. This includes software for viewing Second Life, any chat clients, utilities, bots, and proxies as well as applications that may not be listed in our Third-Party Viewer Directory. This policy does not place any restriction on modification or use of our viewer source code that we make available under the GPL. Rather, the policy sets out requirements for connecting to the Second Life service using a Third-Party Viewer, regardless of the viewer source code used, and for participating in our Third-Party Viewer Directory.

On Friday, we will begin enforcing the new Policy on Third Party Viewers. The steps we will take may include blocking viewers that do not comply with the new conditions for access to Second Life. We know that there are many compliant viewers in use -- beyond the seven that are currently listed on the Third-Party Viewer Directory -- and we will not interrupt their access to Second Life. The Third-Party Viewer Directory is the best place to find out whether the developer of the viewer that you are using has self-certified that the software complies with the new Policy.

We hope that this step will provide a safer and more secure Second Life environment for all Residents.

And, if you haven't yet tried Second Life Viewer 2, the official Second Life Viewer, then we encourage you to try it, now updated with additional performance and stability enhancements.

To view the blog post, Click Here.

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Second Life Viewers and the Third-Party Viewer Directory

For the Official Experience from Linden Lab
The Official Second Life Viewer

We at Linden Lab have optimized this viewer to help you have a safe, stable, and enjoyable experience in Second Life supported by our Customer Relations team.

The Snowglobe Viewer

We also support the Snowglobe viewer, which typically has new features not yet available in the official Second Life viewer. Developed jointly by Linden Lab and the open source community, this viewer may be somewhat less stable than the official Second Life viewer.

For a More Experimental Experience with a Third-Party Viewer

You may connect to Second Life using software released by a third-party developer. We have a Policy on Third-Party Viewers to help promote a positive and predictable experience for all Second Life Residents. However, because third-party viewers are not our viewers, we cannot guarantee that they will follow our rules. You are responsible for evaluating whether you want to use and share information with them.

The Third-Party Viewer Directory

To be listed in the Viewer Directory, a software developer must self-certify that it complies with Linden Lab policies. Beware of third-party viewers that are not in the Viewer Directory – they have either declined to self-certify or been refused for noncompliance with our policies.

The Third-Party Viewer Directory

Viewer Name - Developer Name
Emerald Viewer - Modular Systems
Kirstens Viewer - KirstenLee Cinquetti
METAbolt - Legolas Luke
Mobile Grid Client - Kurz Socke
omvviewer project - Robin Cornelius
Pocket Metaverse - Pocket Metaverse
Sparkle IM - Genkii KK

For Developers: How To Apply for the Viewer Directory

1. Your Second Life accounts must be in good standing, must not be suspended, and must not have been permanently banned or terminated.
2. You must have valid payment information on file with us or have been age verified by us.
3. Review our Policy on Third-Party Viewers and the Second Life Terms of Service.
4. Make sure you and your third-party viewer are in compliance with our policies.
5. Complete the application form and certify your compliance.

Disclaimer: Linden Lab makes no representations or warranties regarding any of the listed viewers or developers. These third-party viewers are not affiliated with or overseen by Linden Lab. Please take reasonable precautions, including virus scanning, before installing and using any of the listed viewers.

To view the blog page: Click Here, page from a link at the bottom of the Download page.

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Correction: Linden Lab Makes the BBB’s Grade After All

On Monday April the 12th, we did a story about the Better Business Bureau giving an “F” rating to Linden Lab. We got a little reader feedback on the matter. And as it turned out, things had changed since we had last looked at the BBB website.

For the story, go to Extra Extra.

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Linden Lab Gets “F” From BBB, But ...

“Linden Labs: F .” That’s the rating the Better Business Bureau gives the company behind Second Life. So is this a stinging confirmation of the repeated stories about the Lindens’ dismal service to the residents of the Metaverse? Maybe not.

For the story, go to Extra Extra.

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BREAKING NEWS: Second Life Sold by Linden Labs to Chinese Corporation

(**Update** - April Fool ;-) )

Today in a stunning development, Linden Lab announced they had sold Second Life to China’s Baidu Corporation. In a brief printed statement released to the press, CEO Mark Kingdom stated the deal was reached after several weeks of secret negotiations.

Baidu Inc. is a major communications company in China, owning the top search engine there. It made a profit of over $600 million in 2007. It made the news recently as the company most likely to profit from Google’s troubles with the Chinese government.

On it’s blog, Mark Linden stated, “Letting Second Life go was not an easy decision. But Linden Labs has always prided itself on being on the forefront on the development of the technologies of virtual worlds. With Second Life becoming increasingly complex, we came to the conclusion we could not continue to both continue to be so and run our grand experiment. While we shall continue to improve Second Life, it will be through business deals with Baidu as new technologies become available.”

Baidu also had a statement on the Linden blog, “We welcome Second Life into Baidu ... As we have helped bring the Internet to China, so we hope to guide the virtual residents into a righteous harmonious band. ... We should remind that our company operates under a set of rules that require reverence and respect to the wise and honored statesmen of our government. Those whom run about in virtual reality in their boxers using their words as fists with no regard for the respect of their betters are asked to cease such behavior so we will not need to take actions all will regret.”

One of the Lindens supposedly stated that following the sale, Linden Lab will be cooperating with Facebook to make a sequel to the "Farmvile" game, but this is unconfirmed.

Details are still coming in about what is clearly a turning point in Second Life.

To go to the Linden blog post and comments, Click Here.

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Linden Lab Release New Viewer

'Unveiling An Improved New Resident Experience


One of the things we've been working hard on here at Linden Lab, as M pointed out in his  New Year post, is the new Resident experience in Second Life.


Today, we're proud to announce an important step forward as we continue to improve the welcome experience for new Residents; it's a more streamlined introduction to our online world, one that is simple, linear, and integrated with Viewer 2.  Our primary goal is to make Second Life more welcoming for new Residents, because more new Residents means more opportunity for merchants, landowners, creators--and for the whole ecosystem that is Second Life. However, Viewer 2 isn't just for new Residents. It also delivers a better, more intuitive user experience for all of us and gives everyone in Second Life the capability to integrate web-based media seamlessly into Second Life--a huge leap forward. And, what may not be immediately apparent--but equally  important--it provides us a robust and flexible platform to build on; we have much more goodness planned to roll out in 2010 and beyond.
Key points:
Second Life Welcome Island and Second Life Discovery Island
New Starter Avatars
Updated Terms of Service
Updated Maturity Ratings
Second Life Viewer 2 in Registration Flow'

Read the full post HERE

Reading through the entire post it seems aimed more at new residents and the Lindens actually point out that many testers experienced in SL have had difficulties adapting and basically completely relearning how to use Secondlife.
So looks like the long suffering residents will have to wait that little bit longer for all the bug fixes and better search etc that we have all been asking for for so long, of course we can expect bug fixes for the new viewer will take priority over little things like that as of course the new residents have no idea how Linden lab works and will expect the best service.
Luckily for now the update IS optional ;)
Dana

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New Third Party Viewer Policy Runs Into Backlash

At the same time as the Beta of it’s new viewer, Linden Labs also announced a new policy concerning the use of “third-party viewers in general,” such as the Emerald viewer. The Lindens say they are willing to accept the use of these viewers, though a number are raising questions about the wording of the policy.

The policy was a long list of legalese that this blue collar worker in real-life found hard to understand. Going through the Linden blog, readers expressed similar confusion. Some thought things looked fishy.

Well, not one single instance or version of the 3rd-party clients that I have ever seen or used can meet a strict interpretation of the new rules for an "approved" client, So you have, despite all your noise to the contrary, effectively banned ALL 3rd party clients, as they exist today. At least, banned their use by anyone that plays by the rules. The thieves will still use fake tags and pretend to be an LL-approved copy of Snowglobe and have a field day.

And you know what? LL's OWN CLIENTS can't pass those restrictions!

One of my friends came to me. He thought that the Lindens were making the use of a third party viewer punishable by suspension or ban, and pointed out an entry in the “Boy Lane” blog. Boy Lane called herself one of the people behind one of the 3rd party viewers, and had this to say:

What happened now however is going way too far beyond a reasonable policy. Besides making some clear statements about content "backup" LL also introduced some funny terms they could not legally enforce previously. Such as not using the generic term "life" which one has to explicitly agree upon by signing LL's new policy.

But unfortunately not all can be labeled "funny". To come to the (at least in my opinion) main point. LL introduced one killer clause:

7. Your Responsibility for Third-Party Viewers
If you are a user or Developer of Third-Party Viewers:

a. You are responsible for all uses you make of Third-Party Viewers, and if you are a Developer, you are also responsible for all Third-Party Viewers that you develop or distribute.


What this means is that a viewer developer has to take (legal) responsibility for any action of any viewer user. That's something GPL specifically allows to exclude, now LL forces such responsibility back to software developers. It is pretty much impossible for anyone to take such a responsibility. Besides many other questionable points this clause renders the whole 3rd party viewer policy unacceptable.

Boy Lane stated she refused to comply with the new policy, and recommended others stop using third party viewers, saying they were risking being banned from Second Life.

Tateru Nino in “Massively” called the new policy, “the worst day's work that we've seen come out of the Lab to-date. TPV policies have a number of glaring flaws, chief among which are multiple incompatibilities with the existing source licenses, so that you can't actually build and distribute a viewer from the open source code-base while simultaneously being in compliance with the TPV policies. That's quite an astonishing oversight. In fact, not a single release of the source-code made by Linden Lab to date complies with the TPV policies. An unmodified build from the trunk code-base would be violate the policies as they presently stand.”

Why were the new policies so poorly written? The question was summed up between comments between Tateru and one of her readers. He thought the Lindens were too proud to admit that their viewer was inferior to that others could build. Tateru thought this wasn’t the case, but rather a blunder, wondering if, “someone on the legal team just phoned this in half-asleep.”

Word is, Soft Linden is writing up a more clear policy. Hopefully this will clear up a good deal of confusion and suspicion, and quiet fears the Lindens are trying to ban third-party viewers without saying so.

To go to the Linden Blog post, Click Here

To go to the comments, Click Here.

Other sources: Massively, Boy Lane

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Second Life Viewer 2.0 Beta Released

There’s been some talk about it in recent weeks, wondering what it might bring. Well, it’s finally arrived. The Beta for Second Life’s Viewer 2.0.

“Today, we're excited to announce the launch of Viewer 2 Beta, the next generation of Second Life viewers -- combining an easy browser-like experience with shared media capabilities -- providing what we believe is the best experience yet for accessing Second Life, and a new option to choose from among Viewer 1.23 and other Third Party Viewers. We looked carefully at the experience design of other successful social media and technology platforms--such as the web browser, Facebook, the iPhone, Twitter, etc.--and the key elements that enabled them to reach mass adoption. You'll see much of that thinking baked into new Viewer 2 experience design. Our primary goal was to create a more consumer-friendly viewer--an imperative to bring in a new wave of Second Life Residents. After all, more people in Second Life means that there will be more amazing content, more customers to purchase virtual goods, a thriving economy, more friends and communities, and we can do even more to improve the experience. All very good things for all of us.”

Taking a look, I saw they remembered Mac users, and downloaded the beta viewer. It was notable that the icon had a yellow bar with black stripes on the side, as if to signal “under construction.” It took a minute for the viewer to initially appear after double-clicking on the icon, though later on it came on normally. One friend when downloading it only got a string of binary code.

I managed to log on okay, but my friends list was a bit quirky, people listed as “waiting,” and I was cloudy. Eventually, the list appeared, though some were listed as offline whom later turned out were on. When I logged on later, there was no “waiting” period. My avatar remained a cloud, even on the second time I used the beta. So it looks like the beta needs improvement there.

Using the new viewer took some getting used to, and the side-to-side movement and crouch & jump buttons were missing from the movement toolbar. But there are interesting features. On the right of the screen are tabs, which can be clicked to open a window with information. Bringing up someone’s profile will reveal both their Second Life and real-life pictures (or what’s used in place of them), which can be useful for those who wish to better mix their virtual lives with their real ones. One’s teleport history is stored, so if you forgot to make a landmark at a place you visited the previous day, you can check the history to return.

One feature should be of great interest to non-human avatars, such as furries and tinies: Alpha Masks. Meant to be used in place of invisiprims, they can render parts of your avatar invisible. For digitgrade avatars, this means no “force field” effect around their shins.

Being cloudy the whole time, my impression the beta still needs a good deal of work. But it does have some cool features that show good potential for it.

For the complete Linden blog entry, Click Here. To go to continued comments, Click Here. To go to a Second Life Youtube about the Beta viewer, narrated by Epsy Linden, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

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A Laggy Problem in Foxworth Part 2: “It’s Your Fault”

Recently, Foxyfurman Kunami had some trouble with lag on his sim, lag that turned out to be from a sim that was basically a Shoutcast server farm. Although Linden Lab eventually took care of the problem, it was after a friend of his found it and alerted them. In the meantime, it appears some in LL kept pointing the finger back at Foxyfurman, as this note sent by him suggests.

* * * * * * * * * *

Bix thought you would find this entertaining, the "it's your fault" response by LL. I do want to add as a side note when I called LL I got Gareth Ontyne on the line, by moving my ticket someone took care of this the next day, so the problem was fixed and everyone knows what happened, it is obvious that the shoutcast server was basically locking up all the performance, but the "canned response" in words is just stupid. I commend the actions but the BS that "blame the sim owner" is just so stupid it is funny.

* * * * * * * * * *

Foxyfurman:

Re: Huge Lagg issues on my sim

Spontaneously about a week ago we have had HUGE lagg spikes, we have tried shutting down scripts section by section, with zero help, your service desk told me to re compile all my top scripts into LSL, this is NOT the problem, and it will break many items. We have shut down section by section we still have huge problems, basically my sim is un-useable at this time. Again I have tried shutting scripts off section by section and the only way it even works OK is when ALL scripts are off, even a few scripts will over tax the sim. I have NEVER in a year had this issue and have added nothing new, yes I have restarted, many times including a LL initiated re start. I was informed by my manager that this could have started mid Jan.(ish)but just not as bad, not sure who is new sharing our server but this is a huge mess, thanks for taking care of this ASAP.

* * * * * * * * * *

Gareth
Linden Lab Support:

Hi Foxyfurman,

Thanks for contacting us in regards to this issue.

I am going to escalate this ticket to the appropriate department and they will contact you shortly via email regarding your request. In the meantime, if you need to contact us again about this issue, please add a comment to this ticket rather than creating a new ticket.

* * * * * * * * * *

Spike Linden
Linden Lab Support

Hello Foxyfurman,

Thank you for your ticket regarding your region and the performance issues.
I'm sorry to say that if there are lag spikes in the way you have described and they continue after restarts, then the source of the problem is within your region. As you have scripted spikes, then it will be scripted items within your region causing this.

Every time you restart a region, it will change server, so other regions can not keep causing issues if you move from host to host.

How were you disabling scripts section by section? This can't actually be done completely.
Unchecking the Run Scripts option in About Land will only disable scripts for non-parcel owner. You can't actually disable scripts for items that are owned by the parcel owner. So if a parcel is deeded to a group, all deeded items will still be running. If a parcel is owned by an avatar, then all items belonging to that avatar will still be running, with both 'All Residents' and 'Group' unchecked for Run Scripts.

This can help you narrow down the problem though, as you can eliminate most parcel/objects through this method.

I've had a look at the region today and script time is high (18-20ms). The chances are high that as avatars go to the region you will be running low on available resources and start to have issues. In this case your 'only' option is to look at your content. You will have to either re-script more efficiently or remove items completely from the region. There is no other choice for this type of issue.

Please make sure to look at our wiki page for 'Improving Region Performance'. This page can help you greatly in managing your region better. Key thing to remember is that you can't just fill a region with anything you want and expect it to work. You 'must' manage your regions content effectively.
TICKET CLOSED

* * * * * * * * * *

Ticket RE OPENED

Foxyfurman:

This was fixed prior to your investigation :)

Someone from LL moved the shout cast server sim that was running on the same CPU and like magic everything is totally fine. We are crazy careful about what we put down and paranoid about Time Dilation and our total script time. With a shout cast sim as a "virtual neighbor" our time dilation was 70 now it is 99. In addition for fun we ported to these shout cast sims and all of them were horrific with lag/with time dilation in the 80-50 range and all of their virtual neighbors were a train wrecks as well regardless of ANY avatars.

We had shut down all scripts in the estate manager panel and still had lag this is how we know to look OUTSIDE our sim. It is not always the sim owners fault as you say.

Sorry I re open this ticket but this caused my sim to basically stop in its tracks, it will never happen to me again because I will know what to look for, but I know others will not be so creative in looking outside their sim for the problem.

* * * * * * * * * *

It seems persistence is in order when dealing with the Lindens. Fortunately, Foxyfurman has plenty of it.

Bixyl Shuftan

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Second Life “Avatar” Advertising Campaign?

It seems that not only has Linden Lab started doing some advertising for Second Life, but they’ve decided to take advantage of the hype over the highly popular movie “Avatar.”

Seen here and here on Flickr (special thanks to inacentaurdump and gogolita), the advertisement banners show a thinly-dressed blue lady with blue skin in front of a wilderness area with a moon rising in the sky behind her. The caption reads “Free AVATAR.”

The woman is not technically a Na’vi avatar. She isn’t wearing tribal clothes, and has no pointed ears or catlike features. But the connection to the movie is obvious.

Peter Linden has been asked about the ad, and had the following response:

"While we’re certainly fans of the Avatar film and of blue avatars (not to mention pink, green, yellow, and robot avatars), we do not want to cause any confusion between Second Life and the movie with this advertisement, and we plan to change it to avoid any misunderstanding."

The advertising campaign does seem to have made the desired results. After slowly declining for much of 2009, their “user concurrency” numbers suddenly rose. Tateru Nino of the “Dwell on it” blog had her own comment about Linden Lab’s ad campaign in comic form. The Lindens will probably want to take their time before removing the ad.

Linden Lab isn't alone in taking advantage of the "Avatar" bandwagon. Social network IMVU has also come out with their own banner, featuring a blue woman with the caption "Get Your AVATAR."

It is notable that a number of people have created various Na’vi avs up for sale in Second Life. While there are a few cheap and demo ones, most cost hundreds, even thousands of Lindens. Some Pandora roleplay areas have sprung up in some sims as well.

Bixyl Shuftan

Sources: New World Notes , Massively

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M&M Target of Copybot Attack, Threats

M&M Creations informed SL Newspaper that they were the target of A Copybot attack that ripped off many of their content creations, and then someone threatening to distribute copies of the pirated goods around. “Isn’t this outrageous,” 10 Goosson commented, “This is bizarre, but so open. We traced the thief, and his account was deleted. Then we were approached by a new av who says he is a friend of the thief. So openly?!” Porting reporters to the scene, a sandbox in the sky in the Mythos sim, 10 told, “the more things will rez, the more you recognize our main-stores complete content.” And indeed as shapes and colors formed, familiar goods appeared, “Behind you Bixyl, 2 other plateaus, all rezzed permanent ready to be taken, stolen ... This is still a bit shocking, the way the Hamarack Krovac and Swiss Ryada did this.”

10 handed over a notecard of the conversation she had with Hamarack Krovac, “im gonna give your scultie to every peopla.” “I'll report this, small effort.” “its too late. its on my computer ... LOL, i got your shop in my invent, come see ... adresse renew, its easy. i can come every time, second life cant banned  me. ...  FREE SCULTIE COME HERE, ALL IN THE BOX FOR ) LINDEN, 0 linden*, alll its free.” At times, the griefer claimed he was trying to “help,” but his threats and boasts spoke otherwise.

The incidents confused the Goossons and others. Marcthur Goosson remarked, “the craziest thing is that the copybotter told me he copybotted.” A woman responded, “He TOLD you?  Do include that in your AR , and near the time he said that to you.” “I know, I am struggling with word scanner pictures...  just to relief myself, this matter pisses me off. I am standing in a sandbox with half my shop copybotted. I talk to live chat and they tell me to send DMCA. I have to work my a** out with documents, pictures, notecards, faxes and PDF etc etc. And I am still standing in that sandbox with all proof in front of me.(it is an exact replica of my shop) Where is LL ??? They are hidden behind the papers, crawling in a stupid system. ... Sorry to drop this out of the blue.”

10 claimed the items had been in the sandbox for some time, “We're so sick of these little children! And LL is not showing up while we're standing here, no we need papers, forms, proof, (how much do you want to have) digital signatures ... It's still standing here, for hours!!! ... We both filed abuse-reports but it is bizarre. LL asks us to make such a long wait while all things are here, proof enough even the names and notecards, and still LL responds this bureaucratic paperwork-way, I can't imagine!! For a virtual world that moves this fast, being so so so bureaucratic, is this normal??? Can we as hard creative workers expect this?? Even the event tree, what a cynical thing to see. Pathetic if you ask me.”

10 went on, “I just want to express what happened to us and show all in-world some stupids are playing against LL-Terms Of Service and OURS, and nothing has been done. Marcthur (has been) standing here for hours!! Tell the proof is still here ... I've no idea how many 'friends' this idiot has.”

More people dropped in, and the discussion went on. One visitor after looking the scene over commented, “... Makes me wonder what the hell was the point ... We know: 1)He did this without any monetary benefit, 2)Informed the creator he copied. So this is probably a troll.” 10 told a little more about the incident, saying they had found the first guy at M&M Creations a few days ago, “Swiss Ryada, we approached him friendly, but he just went through with rezzing before using his copybot right under our noses!! So after several requests, we banned him. And now, a few days later this Hamarack is 'back' for helping his friend Swiss.”

Eventually, Marcthur announced, “I talked to the landowner, he banned the guy and waits for my signal to wipe this.” When someone asked why they didn’t go ahead and get rid of it, “I want LL over here, better proof is not be found. ... So we residents have to solve our own business and all LL does is read reports. I cannot file a DMCA in a few minutes. It is good newspapers are here.” Someone commented, “I remember back in 2004 and 5 when Lindens (were) in-game with us, and you could look one up and they (would) just fly right over and issues like this were addressed right away. It’s sad really. ... This makes me feel very uneasy as a designer where Second Life is headed.”

Eventually, everyone left the scene. Hours later when the sandbox was checked again, the copy of the stolen goods was gone. Question is, is this the end of M&M’s problems?

By Bixyl Shuftan

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[Emerald] Meetings with Linden Lab

 Over the course of the last year or so, more and more people have chosen to use the Emerald Viewer; so many in fact, that it is now the most used third party viewer in Second Life. As a result, it is undeniable that even the most incidental of changes in Emerald, when multiplied by the sheer amount of users, can cause drastic effects on the grid. We thus felt it was necessary to work more closely with Linden Lab to prevent any serious issues from occurring.

As some of you may already know, for the past several weeks we have been meeting with representatives from Linden Lab for the purpose of discussing issues that impact the Second Life service and the Emerald Viewer. By initiating and maintaining direct and frequent contact with Linden Lab, we have access to the information necessary to ensure that our improvements and features do not disrupt the service. This allows us to make certain that the changes we implement, when scaled up to the tens of thousands of people using Emerald, will not cause anything to explode. ;P

What this means is that in the future, if we feel that a potential improvement to Emerald could harm the service, we can communicate with Linden Lab to avoid the possibility of releasing a feature with undesired effects. Conversely, if Linden Lab were to discover a problem caused by Emerald, they can contact us in real time in order to get the issue resolved as quickly as possible.

As a result, this cooperation should help ensure the overall stability of the grid, and of the features you've come to depend on, whether they are features of Second Life, or just our particular additions to it.
 
EDIT: FYI, nobody is buying/taking over Emerald kthx
 Source: [Emerald] Meetings with Linden Lab

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More Trouble at Foxworth

Earlier, the Foxworthy sim was the scene of trouble when a number of accounts were permanently banned for reasons that made no sense to anyone familiar with the area. More recently, the region was the target of a griefer, whom went as far as to threaten someone. How the Lindens reacted was a surprise.

To read more, go to Community.

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Banned for Looking???

Rumors are floating around about Linden Lab banning not only third party viewers but people using them. So I decided to investigate. 

I am not a geek so I do not really understand the technical aspects of the question but will try to explain what is happening; 

A long time ago someone recommended that I download a viewer that was not SL but worked the same way and better, I was not sure what to do so I decided against it.

There have others that I heard of in the meantime but was reluctant because of the copybot issue that was being talked about so much.  

Recently I began to hear raves about Emerald. Being older and somewhat wiser I decided to try it. It was made from open source with input from some Lindens I understand. 

I loved it! 

It is just like using SL but has some neat helpers. I understand from serious builders they really like it because they can create smaller prims and try textures before uploading them among, other things.  I really liked having the draw line bar right there on the menu bar so I could adjust the distance quickly when I wanted without opening the preferences. There are other enticing features. 

That is just one viewer. There are a host and most of them were built with the open source information that is in the sl wiki and is still there; (http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Get_source_and_compile). 

The  “brown bag” meeting sessions to discuss and get input from residents regarding a change in the policy have started and may help clarify the future. No viewer or anyone who is using one will be banned from sl, unless, as always , there is a violation of SL TOS. 

Gemma Cleanslate

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“Linden Labs, Why the Hell Attack Me?”

The Foxworth sim, owned by Foxyfurman Kumaki, gets some residents passing through, notably at the Mayan Casino. But compared to the big gaming areas in Second Life, it hardly ranks in visitor numbers as a high-traffic place.

So why have there been some bannings by Linden Labs for “gaming” traffic numbers in the sim?

“Feels like I am (being) attacked,” Foxyfurman told SL Newspaper, “Look at Search, then the places tab. ... Type in games or Zyngo. Look at the top listings. Those are the places with the highest traffic, like 50K, 60K. Our sim the day after the fishing (tournament), was 15K. To get 50K, you stack ‘bots on each other until your number gets up. We don’t do that. Our numbers are normal. Can you imagine, you can hardly move (around) with the fishing event. To get that traffic all the time will close the sim with lag.”

“That us why twenty to sixty thousand is fake, and every one knows it. That is why when they say I am doing this, why the hell attack me?”

“Now you look at a list of discipline from Linden Labs. No one ever gets banned forever, just a warning or suspension. John (Diddy) got no warning, and is perma-banned for life. ... I just wish they removed the ‘places’ from Search. That way, no one would worry about bots, or sitting in your own sim. (laughs) I’ll get banned for listening to my own stream. If I was idle with Diddy, I would have been. Thankfully, I was not.”

Foxyfurman had a notecard, which contained his responses to the Lindens, plus a comment at the end.


Details: Friends and a few alts banned from SL for gaming traffic.

First I want to say I am disappointed and concerned, why a resident that has 2 mainland sims and 1 private region would be singled out for gaming traffic, when the traffic numbers are not high we are normally between 2+K to 12K all legitimate from Halloween hunts, 7 seas fishing events, and Midnight mania boards, this traffic is not high and the #s totally support my claim. We do not in any way rely on traffic to build our sim, for that we would need an army of bots and I don’t want to bother with that kind of silliness.

My real life business partner was working on a platform above our sim, (Diddy Darkmatter), He has a few of my alts out so he can test a listener device he has been working on with another resident, (Aiko Swashbuckler), then poof!! Everyone is banned from SL!

1. I want everyone who was banned on my sim reinstated (this may include customers I don’t know about who were banned as well).
2. I want and explanation of WHY my sim was a target of this attack, yes I call it an attack because our traffic is obviously not generated by bots; it is too low for that.
3. This is a fun place for me, I have the music playing on speakers in my warehouse all day while I work, and can I expect to be banned for sitting in my own sim listening to my music? I am really worried about this, and to be honest taking the time to write this letter is costing me time and stress that is totally unwarranted and unneeded.

In the end I want to say I am not mad in anyway, I am confused and a bit disappointed that you would treat a customer like this, it feels like a vendetta and while not a paranoid individual I still ask for a detailed account of the decision process as well as to speak to the individual(s) who were involved in this decision process, I hope the individuals involved do not have access to my billing information as well, as a business owner RL taking someone’s billing information and a customer/business relationship is to be taken very seriously and I hope this will be handled in the best manner.

I wish to talk to a real person for this as well my cell is listed below.

Thank you for your consideration

***-***-****
Foxyfurman Kumaki


Perry Linden Hi FoxyFurman,

Thank you for contacting us.

Your ticket has been escalated to the correct department.

They will contact you as soon as possible.

Kind Regards
Perry Linden


3/11/2009 4:05 AM PDT Closed
Matthew Linden Hello,
Linden Lab just completed its review, at your request, of a disciplinary action taken against your account.

Our investigation shows that the suspension of your account was correctly applied in alignment with the Second Life Terms of Service and/or Second Life Community Standards.

If any further information is required, Linden Lab will contact you regarding this incident. Otherwise, please consider the matter resolved as no further communications will be sent.

Sincerely,
Customer Support
Linden Lab


3/11/2009 4:56 AM PDT Reopened Foxyfurman Kumaki Dear Support,

You have given me answers to none of my queries.

You discipline a long time customer and sim owner and they maintain and still maintain innocence. I ask you for not a generic answer but details of WHY this was done; the canned response I get is not acceptable. You have also banned a paid account (Diddy Darkmatter) this is my business partner and he needs his account restored. He will contact you from his air card if he can as he is out of town ATM. Also you may have banned some customers as well, when you handed down your discipline a few other customers dropped off of radar as well. Again I pay US 330ish a month to LL, I just want a detailed account of the discipline not a canned response.

I want a call from a real person again I ask:

Thank you for your consideration

Foxyfurman Kumaki


Ticket closed and locked by support with no response Actions
You are not authorized to perform any actions at this time.

*********
In the end, my partners account was permanently suspended and as well my 2 alts I use for testing perms and games. I am not sure how many customers got the boot but I know some dropped off radar at the time of the LL raid.


Later, another notecard was sent from Aiko Swashbuckler, with some links to the Linen blog concerning rules about bots.

https://blogs.secondlife.com/message/9040#9040 - Further Clarification on Bots and Camping, “So the policy statement is that where we see a Resident unfairly increasing their Search ranking, regardless of how that is achieved, it will be considered as 'gaming'. We will give a first warning to begin with and direct people to the policy. However continued gaming can result in suspension or removal from Search listings altogether.”

https://blogs.secondlife.com/message/28188#28188 - Re: Camping Crackdown, “I have heard that all residents on the sim were suspended for the hour, many may not have known and will be surprised when they see the email explaining why they were suspended. Did a Linden go rogue on us? Did the rules change while we weren't looking? I believe that suspending the campers is NOT disciplinary action.”

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Inworld_policy_on_bots - Official Policy on Bots

Following this were several examples of disclipinary action taken by Linden Labs on related matters:

Date: Sunday, November 8, 2009
Violation: Community Standards : Gaming Traffic Violation
Region: Ruwart
Description: Gaming Traffic.
Action taken: Suspended 1 days.

Date: Thursday, November 5, 2009
Violation: Community Standards : Gaming Traffic Violation
Region: Wexler Education
Description: Gaming Traffic.
Action taken: Warning issued.

Date: Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Violation: Terms of Service: Gambling
Region: Acris
Description: Terms of Service.
Action taken: Warning issued.

Date: Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Violation: Community Standards : Gaming Traffic Violation
Region: Dozer
Description: Gaming Traffic.
Action taken: Warning issued.

Foxyfurman has heard no further word from the Lindens about his friend’s account, but unfortunately the next message by the lindens concerning the bannings was not a good one, “fact is this same thing happened to my SLX account.”

“This is one of those things that it’s best that everyone knows what happened and exactly how Linden Labs handled it.”

Bixyl Shuftan

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Third Party Viewer Policy

"Linden Lab supports an open platform with opportunity for all. The flexibility of the content creation tools and open viewer allow for great creativity and innovation, but that openness also carries a responsibility for those developing on our platform and those using third party tools with our platform.
In our recent blog post Our Content Management Roadmap we addressed the responsibility Residents have to respect the intellectual property rights of others inside or outside of Second Life, and we urged developers of third party copying tools to adopt standard industry practices that protect intellectual property. Similarly, developers of third party Second Life viewers must act responsibly in how they develop and distribute their viewers. We are currently working on revisions to our policies regarding the use and management of third party viewers. To support those policy revisions, we will be implementing tools and programs to help us protect our Residents and their content, and enable them to have better, more predictable Second Life experiences."

 In recent months Secondlife has seen a rash of new viewers, some with great features others with some which could be used to spoil others use of secondlife like copybot-like features and phishing. Now Linden Lab are moving to create a registry of these third party viewers with the idea being to protect the secondlife user - what do you think?
You can read the full post HERE or join the discussion HERE

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"Next Chapter" for Philip Linden

I'm starting a new company, and wanted to let you know. It's a big idea - something that actually depends on Second Life existing to get started, and that I have been thinking about almost as long as I've been thinking about Second Life. I don't want to try to explain the idea here, because it is a decision I've just made and honestly I don't think I can do a good job describing it yet. But I did want to tell the whole SL community, because I don't want you to worry that anything is wrong:

I will still be chairman, as I have been since leaving the job as CEO. The change is that I'm not going to be working full-time at Linden Lab anymore (some of you might have thought I wasn't still there, but actually I have been!). I'll still be doing the same outbound and media type things as before - talking about Second Life, etc.

For the last year and a half since M started as CEO, we've been working very closely together. Much of my actual Linden work has been time spent with M. We have literally sat at the same pod, 5 feet away from each other, and have met multiple times a week. We're now at a place where I feel really comfortable that Second Life and Linden Lab are OK without me being here day to day anymore. M (and others) have also managed to hire a bunch of diverse, smart, passionate people who I feel can very capably lead the company. Do I always agree with everything they are doing? Of course not! What founder would? It's like when your teenagers leave home - of course you still worry and wish they would listen to you more! But at some point you believe that they are safe enough to live on their own. I believe that the mission of building the digital world is safe in the hands of the Lindens, which means that I can start working again at full intensity on this new project. It's very exciting.

Also, I've got a new island in-world - it's called 'P Squared'. I'm thinking it can become a sort of extended space for my new work life. Please come and visit, and don't be surprised if I give you something to do. :-) And as for all of you - the people all over the world who have built Second Life - you all feel very near and dear to me, and I want you to be a part of this next adventure. I can't say enough, or say thank you enough, about the experience that has been watching Second Life come to life. On a personal level, it has deeply changed me. I am a different and better person, in part through the experience of being in Second Life with all of you. So anyway... I'll keep you posted, as I get things more sorted out.

Philip Linden

Source: The Second Life Blog

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Created Content at risk again.............

No doubt about it content creators have a lot of risks to face in SL these days and today I was made aware of yet another issue with the permissions system that is in place at the moment.
According to my source this is not a new bug its one the Lindens have been aware of for a long time (yet have not fixed).
My source firstly asked me to provide a NO COPY/ NO MODIFY object, which i dropped on their profile, a few minutes later they gave me 5 copies back - I was still the creator and the original perms had not changed yet - they now had 5 copies of a no copy object!
I won't tell you how it is done (I have recreated it myself) as I think that would do a great deal of harm to content creators already stretched through copiers at work in SL.
I did however go to live chat to see what the Lindens had to say about it:

dana_Vanmoer: I can recreate someone elses no copy no modify object

dana_Vanmoer: the permissions do not change but i can copy an object as many times as i wish regardless of the original permissions

XXXXX: Ok Dana this is actually one we are aware of. Our engineers are working to fix it urgently and we are asking if any creators notice their work being copied they send in an abuse report and a DMCA

dana_Vanmoer: you already know about this?

XXXXX: We do and our engineers are working to fix it as an urgent situation and we have asked people send in dmca and abuse reports.

XXXXX: Is there anything else I can help you with today?

dana_Vanmoer: no but how urgent is urgent this is scary for any content creator?

dana_Vanmoer: The person who told me about this reported it over a week ago

XXXXX: I do understand Dana however as I am not an engineer I can not give a timescale other than to say they are definitely working on it and content creators should know how to send in DMCAs

dana_Vanmoer: they do but DMCA takes a long time

dana_Vanmoer: a week is a long time of having items copied

XXXXX: I do understand Dana however I can not provide any further information than I have already. If you believe your work is being copied contact us and we will absolutely investigate it.

To me this is scary as i sell all my wedding things transferable - no copy - no mod.
Good luck to all content creators I hope linden Lab really are treating this one as URGENT.

Dana Vanmoer

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"The New SecondLife.com" - Linden Labs' Website Gets an Overhaul

Hi all. Callen Linden here. A few months back, we launched the Dashboard Beta and asked for your feedback. Your response was enthusiastic and very constructive. We've implemented a number of your suggestions and more are slated for future releases.

The dashboard was the tip of the iceberg. I'm delighted to say that the rest of the Second Life web site is launching today. We've given our web properties a top-to-bottom overhaul to make your Second Life experiences easier (and more fun) than ever. As always, we'd love your feedback on the redesign.

The magic of Second Life...

The first thing you'll notice is the new look. You got a glimpse of it with the new home page back in December, and now we've extended it to the rest of our web properties. Our aim was to create a visual style that would highlight the magic of Second Life and showcase your artistry. The images that light up the site were selected to reveal the extraordinary range of experiences and emotion that Second Life offers.

Not just a pretty face...

As lovely as it is, the changes are not merely a visual face lift. We sent surveys, held office hours, read your comments on blogs and forums, talked to our support folks and the old timers at Linden Lab. We heard that community, exploration, land and shopping are what Second Life is all about for you, so we mirrored that in our new main menu. We know that Second Life is an amazing palette for creativity and building, so we collected resources for designers, coders, merchants and promoters to help you hit the ground running. We heard you say that while shopping on the web is convenient, shopping in world is wonderful because it is an emotional, social and visual feast, so we made sure to highlight both. We learned that many new users think Orientation Island is all there is to Second Life (!!), so we created a web-based world map and linked it tothe Showcase. And we know that what makes Second Life stick are the relationships you form, so we collected our community resources together to help you connect with other like-minded people.

But perhaps the most important part is what you can't see. To respond to your ideas and suggestions, we are re-architecting our back-end systems so we can improve our current features and performance, and provide an ever-expanding set of tools for discovery, sharing, creativity and customization.

Here's the skinny...

* The Dashboard is the first step on a path to richer web-based social tools for Second Life. On it, we've collected the most popular Second Life web features for easy access to the tools and resources you need to manage your Second Life. In future releases, we'll provide better tools for communication, social networking, customization, personalization and management.

* For new users, we've improved the path into Second Life. Registration has been completely redesigned with a streamlined flow and better messaging for new users. Coming soon, you'll see further improvements in the new user experience with better basic training in world, a new approach to designing starting locations, and of course, the redesign of Viewer 2.0.

* For international visitors, we've made it easier to find non-English language registration options and browse community gateways by language preference. We've also been working on the plumbing to make it easier to offer all of our web properties in more languages, and providing toll free support numbers for non-English language speakers.

* The new web-based Second Life Map harnesses the power of Search and the Showcase to bring a real-world feel to exploring the virtual world. We think it gives new and old Residents alike a great tool for discovering Second Life, making it easier for you to find (and teleport to) the store, concert, club or peaceful beach that suits your mood. The new Map is just one of the milestones on our roadmap for improving Search and Classifieds, and connecting you with the great content and communities of Second Life.

* We've also completely redesigned the Land Store experience to make it easier to use and understand. As part of this redesign we are pleased to announce the launch of Themed Private Regions, where you can purchase a private region in move-in condition. We are starting with Linden designs for a Baronial Castle, Moonbase, Conference Center, and Theater. In the future, the Themed Private Regions option will provide an excellent opportunity for creators to have their content available for sale in our land store. For more information visit our FAQ.

* Shop 'til you drop! Now, from the main menu and throughout the site, we promote the spectacular diversity of stores offering everything from shoes to submarines. As the world's largest virtual goods marketplace, we've now extended our platform to the web, giving Residents new shopping opportunities; and merchants additional visibility with links from secondlife.com.

Thanks!

Sincere thanks to all who contributed to the dashboard beta by providing constructive feedback. Let's continue the conversation after you take a look at the new site. We want to hear what you think, what you need, and what you imagine.

Finally, if you do nothing else, check out the Machinima video in the "What is Second Life?" section of the site. I've seen it 100 times, and it still gets me every time!

Posted by Callen Linden on secondlife.com on Aug 26, 2009

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Brand Names From Real Life to be Banned on Xstreet

On August 11, Pink Linden posted some “Updates to XStreet SL Listing Guidelines.” Among them were some “Branding Guidelines” which dealt with Real Life brands reproduced within Second Life.

Branding Guidelines

Branded items may be listed or sold only by the brand or intellectual property owner or its authorized agents. A "branded item" is an item that:

* contains or uses a brand name or logo;

* replicates or closely imitates the appearance of a real-world physical product of a brand owner (for example, items that replicate the appearance of brands of cars, jewelry, or shoes that are available in the real world);

* replicates or closely imitates the appearance of a celebrity, famous person, or fictional character from a copyrighted work (for example, avatars that replicate the appearance of movie stars or characters from a book, film, television program, or game); or

* replicates or uses an artistic or creative work that is the subject of copyright (for example, virtual artwork that replicates artwork available in the real world or a sound clip that includes part of a song recording).

"Brand names" include product names; service names; company names; organization names; trade names; designer names; trademarks; service marks; celebrity names; famous persons' names; the unique names of well-known books, films, television programs, games, and other works that are the subject of copyright; and the unique names of well-known fictional characters from copyrighted works.

Be careful not to make comparisons to a brand name or say that your item is "like," "inspired by," or "based on" a brand name because this can be misleading and can lead to intellectual property infringement.

When including pictures in your listings, use a picture that accurately represents your item so that buyers are not confused about what you're selling. Never copy or use someone else's pictures or logos without their permission.

If you are a brand or intellectual property owner or the authorized agent of one, consider making others aware of this information by including it in your listing.

If we receive a complaint from a brand or intellectual property owner, or if we believe in good faith that your listing violates these Branding Guidelines or intellectual property law, we reserve the right to remove your listing and content (including content in Second Life associated with the listing) and in severe or repeat cases revoke your Xstreet SL and Second Life privileges.

You are responsible for ensuring that your listings and content comply with applicable intellectual property laws. Please be aware that your compliance with these Branding Guidelines does not guarantee your compliance with all intellectual property laws. For general information about intellectual property and our intellectual property complaint procedures, please go here. If you need advice on intellectual property law, we suggest you contact an attorney.

Examples

This Is Acceptable:

* An item that uses a brand name (like Gucci®, Nike®, or Rolex®) can be listed only if the item is officially offered or authorized by the brand owner (for example, Gucci America, Inc., Nike, Inc., or Rolex Watch U.S.A., Inc.).

* An item that uses a celebrity or famous name (like Angelina Jolie or Barack Obama) can be listed only if the item is officially offered or authorized by the celebrity or famous person (for example, Angelina Jolie or Barack Obama).

* A virtual car that looks like a particular brand of cars (like Mercedes-Benz®) and uses the logo of the brand can be listed only if the virtual car is officially offered or authorized by the brand owner (for example, Daimler AG).

* An avatar that has the appearance of a fictional character from a copyrighted work (like Darth Vader or Wonder Woman) and uses the character name can be listed only if the avatar is officially offered or authorized by the intellectual property owner of the character (for example, Lucasfilm Entertainment Co. Ltd. or DC Comics).

* Virtual artwork that replicates copyrighted artwork that is available in the real world (like the artwork of Andy Warhol or M.C. Escher) can be listed only if the virtual artwork is officially offered or authorized by the intellectual property owner of the artwork (for example, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. or The M.C. Escher Company B.V.).

This Is NOT Acceptable:

* A virtual sneaker named after a sneaker brand available in the real world (like Adidas® or Converse®) cannot be listed if the listing party is not the brand owner (for example, Adidas America, Inc. or Converse Inc.) or officially authorized by the brand owner.

* A virtual t-shirt with the logo of a real-world brand (like a Mickey Mouse® logo or an NFL® logo) cannot be listed if the listing party is not the brand owner (for example, Disney Enterprises, Inc. or the National Football League) or officially authorized by the brand owner.

* Virtual furniture with the distinctive appearance of a brand of furniture available in the real world (like the Eames® lounge chair and ottoman) cannot be listed if the listing party is not the brand owner (for example, Herman Miller, Inc.) or officially authorized by the brand owner.

* An avatar that has the appearance of a celebrity (for example, Elvis Presley or Marilyn Monroe) cannot be listed if the listing party is not the owner of the celebrity's right of publicity (or the right to use the celebrity's appearance, for example, Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. or Marilyn Monroe LLC) or officially authorized by the celebrity rights owner.

* Lists of unrelated brand names cannot be included in a listing or hidden by using white-on-white text, tiny fonts, special HTML code, or other means intended to circumvent the rules. (See also Keyword Spam below.)

* Misspelling brand names or adding, removing, or swapping some characters to try to circumvent the rules, for example, using the number "1" instead of the letter "I" or a dollar sign "$" instead of the letter "S," is not allowed.

*****

Near the bottom of the “Updates” page, Pink Linden stated those with “listings or content that do not comply” had until September 14 to change or remove them in order to get a refund for the remaining time. After that, “Linden Lab may remove listings and content that do not comply” with no refunds.

Please leave your comments below.

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