CNet: 'Second Life' turns attacker in to FBI

Stupid in what regard? Doesn't Linden Lab pay taxes? Don't the people who make money cashing out Lindens? Surely you're not suggesting...

I'm actually wondering about the attack in late November. Didn't Ginsu Linden say "personal and account information of these individuals will be disclosed to appropriate law enforcement agencies for further investigation, including U.S. state and federal authorities and agencies in applicable international jurisdictions."

Why is this news?

Because they're actually following through on their threats to "take action" against grid attackers. Which is a mixed bag, IMO.

<would post some juicy stuff she has done online for the feds since they can't do anything about it....but would violate the Forums TOS.

Blaze you are trying to make a histeria here again and it won't work. The FBI has been in contact with the company I work for at least once per year on a situation which usually repsonds in hundreds of calls. Heck I myself have had a talk with the FBI once or twice in a nice small room down at the station. Doesn't mean I did anything cause I walked out of there with thier "thank you citizen for the help".

OUt of curisoity what is the mixed bag isues to you? After some of the games that I have seen being made honestly the worse thing that can happen is LL is told to take down all the copyrighted stuff. After the copyright owners get wind of it spurring a Kazza/Napster like situation in which case LL has cleared the blame to the user (you and me).

Good news

"CEO uses cost effective method to reduce risk of attacks on online community while preserving product's much lauded freedom. Financial backers applaud the move."

Blaze, what is wrong with that way of looking at this story?

Talk to you in IM

Remember, people who are distracted by the forums may miss the chance to pick up some land that just got turned public, thus allowing someone else to get it. So there may be a purpose to this thread after all.

I think I preferred when our Champ was sending scanners out in the world to his pretending to invent criminal procedure from his armchair.

I'm still not sure how LL reporting a crime committed against them would be something that would turn away investment. Wouldn't you want to see a company you are interested in act to protect their own creation?

And someone from the SA forums is doing an interview with the CBC, that should be interesting.

Ananda you are correct blaze is just stirring a pot a bit to get people going. Traditional tatic but hey...at least it's half intersting.

For the same reason very few institutions report this.

They do not want to be mired in controversy.

Who wants to invest in something that is running dog fights with a bunch of hackers?

institutions not reporting crimes? They actually do report them often it is just usually "common place". SL reporting is actually a milestone in that it is a online game (just listen and don't scream DEVELOPMENT PLATFORM!) that is filing a legal action. Many other games as mentioned in the article have been subjects to hacks, cracks, scams, DOSes, blah, blah, blah. The difference is LL is taking a stand against it and is setting an example for future reference.

Where on earth do you get that idea from? I mean, think about it, would you rather invest in a company that takes action against people who attempt to harm their business or one that lets attacks on their service go unchecked? If anything this will increase investor confidence.

usually it is the "odd" lawsuits that get notice. Like Microsoft suing a person for reporting a flaw or Apple for someone revealing information about a future product like the "mini" when they never seemed to care before.

Plenty of hosting companies have trouble with script kiddies. I get email from DreamHost all the time about how they're under attack, and how they work with upstream providers to null-route the offending traffic. It's the ones that roll over and take it without fighting back that look bad to investors.

Thanks for the laugh!

I am glad that they are doing something about it.
I swear hacking and grid attacks are a fetish.
They get off on disrupting the flow of things.
LL shouldn't roll over and allow it to keep happening.
And I don't see anything wrong with contacting the FBI in regards to the attacks.

I don't often appreciate the Second Life Herald, but "Extra!!: Philip Calls the FBI. W-Hats Shit Themselves" is the funniest headline I have seen in awhile.

How exactly would a company turning in suspects who are doing damage to the investment (the company) be seen as bad? That's like saying that a VC wouldn't invest in a new chain of convenience stores because they have called the cops in to investigate a string of robberies against the store. They might have some concerns over the security of the company, but they won't doubt they are handling it properly.

This is so wrong.

Eh, the mixed bag is more for the bureaucratic process our personal details travel getting to the FBI. I wouldn't be surprised if a year from now, we discovered all of our names are in the "terrorist watch list" or some silly thing like that.

I kid, of course.

Yup I read it.

"Rosedale could not be reached for comment for this story"

Mine most likly is....if not I doubt anything I could do to SL would matter. LOL

So it's official they didn't forward the information from November's attack as Ginsu said they would?