Privacy In SL

Not sure if this is the proper forum to address this issue...but here it is. We all know that there is no such thing as total privacy in Second Life. My question is why not? There are a lot of people in sl who for whatever reason likes to think they do have some privacy when they are in a house in sl. Yeah I know it is just an avatar and not the real person, but, it is a very real person on the keyboard controlling the av. Real life attitudes and feelings come into play because they are real life people doing things in sl. My question is: Can there be a program, script, etc..developed that can stop someone from sitting in your house, spying on what your doing, zooming in with a camera to get a close up of who, what and etc...is going on. Again, I realize these are only avatars but I really think privacy in sl is a big issue. Anyones thoughts on this matter and what is the LL policy on making a person's house really private?

Probably this closest thing to "total privacy", apart from IMs, would be to own your very own island, and make it hidden to the general public. Then, you could frolic and do schtuff on it, and noone else could come in. I believe an avatar is a real representation of a real person.

Camscanning blocks just do not work. Some Resis tried to make things before using different hiding techniques, but in each and every one of those cases, I've been able to manuever in (for the sake of testing). Thick walls? Clip 'em! Particle blockers? Hide 'em! As for the rest, DEBUG menu has a great many tools to disassemble the visuals, i.e. "Hide Selected".

Furthermore, there's also the psychological thing of putting up big locks, which makes some only more curious to budge in. Which is why what is unknown is perhaps the most private of all.

It's fascinating how much the privacy angle extends to textual communication in here, not so much graphics or sound. In the Community Standards it sez:


Source: http://secondlife.com/corporate/cs.php

Me, personally, I believe in common courtesy and moving on if I get a feeling a couple (or more) is gettin' it on in private!

Complete privacy would be very nice. It is obtainable for 195.00US per month/Private Island. At least to the highest degree possible anyway. I don't think that LL has the means to make it possible for there to be privacy on each lot entirely or any mainland sim. With that said, I agree it really would be nice if we did have that ability. Singular plots would have to somehow appear "offline" to make this a reality.

Mar

One of the basic things about second life, it seems to me, is the ability to roam everywhere and look at everything. At one time privacy was not an issue - people welcomed others coming onto their property and looking around. When being hidden becomes important it is always possible to gain pseudo-privacy by building high.

The plethora of anti-social pushing devices and locked doors has spoiled some of the appeal of second life to me, especially when the bloody things knock you off course when you are trying to fly somewhere.

If you wish to skulk in a cave, why come to Second Life in the first place?

Totally agree. I'm sure there are plenty of offline design and build programs that people can use if they really don't want to see or be seen by anyone. Maybe LL can modify the client to have a special offline mode with no interaction and only builds to people's hard drives

Own land put a skybox in the air and you have all you need

...also experiment with putting the sky box higher than people can fly and use a simple teleport script to get to it.

I enjoy roaming around in SL and meeting new people, in fact I have a very large list of friends. There is a lot to see in SL and I have not even scratched the surface and may never see it all. And I do not live in a cave...That is not the point.....I don't think it is right for anyone who wants to just come into someone house without being invited. I don't even mind them looking around my land, but they should not be able to look inside a house without being invited in, like I said before, a lot of people like their privacy, regardless where it is, rl or sl. This is suppose to be second life and be able to do just about anything you want to. Isn't wanting privacy at time part of that idea.

Thanks for all the comments so far......

What I really want to see if IM-style privacy controls.

Next to the gestures drop down and the chat bar, a drop down for AVAILIBILITY STATUS would be great, with the following options: Available / AFK / Busy / Invisible

The first three are fairly self explanatory. Invisible, however, would still show your avatar in world, you would just appear as "Offline" in your profile, find, and calling cards, and wouldn't appear as a "green dot" on either the main map or the minimap. That would allow those of us who've been here a while and collected MANY, MANY cards and friends the ability to actually get stuff done without being interrupted.

Regards,

-Flip

I would love for us to have this kind of capability. So many times I log on thinking I'll be knocking out a project, only to be caught up in one IM after another. Before I know it, the evening is spent. Wash/Rinse/Repeat. Its no wonder it takes me weeks to accomplish something that should only take an evening.

I'd also like to point out that our community has grown to a size where its becoming increasingly difficult to discount privacy concerns as anti-community. We're not a small town anymore, and along with that brings both exciting opportunities and new challenges.

As we grow bigger, I think we'll find that instead of a gridwide community like what was here in Beta, we'll see more & more individual communities that makeup an emerging federation.

Flip and Travis, how often have we talked about this on the SL Forums now? This is like, one of our favorites.

We are sorely missing respect for one anothers time. Increased usage of the following phrases:

Busy?
when you have a few minutes...
at your convenience...
if you don't mind...
get back with me when your free...

as well as many variations would help establish a respect for an individual's choice in time allotment.

Yeah. People that don't unstand give me a few minutes means... a few minutes, not twenty seconds later.

hehehe, you're correct Torley, we do seem to go round and round about this one. The thing is, the Lindens already HAVE this ability, why not just give it to us too? Also, on the log in screen, provide the drop down as well - so if you log in invisibly, people don't get a notification they you're online!

I've had a Linden standing right next to me who (a) doesn't appear on the minimap, (b) doesn't show up on the big map, (c) appears "Offline" in find, and (d) doesn't show up on llSensor() sweeps, however, can be seen and heard in world. What's the harm in allowing residents the same functionality?

Regards,

-Flip

Ifregular users could to that, then greifers would use it to make more of a nuisance. I cna understand IM and MAP privacy, but letting someone become invisible to other users down to the avatar is begging for trouble.

Also, can we get beacons for Listens and Sensors?

YES - an option to temporarily set yourself invisible to IMs and MAP from those who have your calling card would be a nice feature.

George, as others have said, I think any expectation of "locked door" privacy in SL is just not realistic unless you own a private island. Even a skyhouse/skybox does not guarantee you total privacy as there are a few people trolling the skies looking for private spaces to snoop in. That being said, a sky residence with a personal teleporter is the closest you will get. This almost totally solves wanting privacy for when you are home with company. Put in a vistor counter if you want to know who's snooping in your house when you are offline. IM me if you want instructions for doing the above.

If your issue is that you don't want people to know just what sort of activities you are into, then you need to maybe not leave those things laying around when you are not using them or create an alt account to hide your adventurous side.

The easiest solution of all is to just be loud and proud. Be who you are and don't give a damn what anyone thinks about your "interests."

I LOVE SHEEP!!!!

I thought you had a thing for cows.

and pretty little bugs.

Aweee <3

Last I checked we had a "busy" setting for our avatars that would auto respond to any incoming IM with a custom message. Seems like a decent substitute that doesn't contain any apparent griefing applications.

As far as privacy in SL goes...build high. I think that most people who have any common decency have learned to recognize that two avatars at any height over about 256 are looking for pirvacy and this is seen as the proverbial rocking trailer that one should not knock upon. As for those who lack the decency to respect this, or who simply aren't familiar with the idea, there are some very simple scripts to send them quickly on their way before they have a chance to bother you. Build higher so as to avoid taking out an innocent traveler, or implement a warning system to let someone know they are entering your bubble-o-super-private-secret-times before taking action.

Once I was making love to Aimee and people complained about doing it in the WA! Where is the privacy?!

George, should you decide to go the sky box route, Frans Charming makes a handy device to simplify this process.

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I have some questions on sky houses and script teleports. I have set up a special email address for my sl account. If there anyone who can help me with questions on a sky house and scripted teleports that would be willing to discuss with me by email. I do have my preimum membership and a basic 512 m2 lot.

my sl email address is: [email]georgeflan@gmail.com[/email]