Open letter to the owner of slstats.com

This is an open letter that I wrote to the owner of slstats.com's owner,
I really feel that this should be open because of what it is he is doing
and that the general SL public has a right to know what he is recording
from SL into his 3rd party database, that is publicly available, without
their consent.

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Hi there,

This is in a sense not a hate mail but a suggestion how to avoid it.
The outrageous feature that most people are going to react and are
reacting against of your "service" (http://slstats.com/) and the "watches"
is that it registers users who are not wearing the watch and are not
aware of your site/"service". This is what I reacted against too, I
immediately went to the site to see if I was in it and found to my relief
that I didn't show up in the search.

The fact that one has to look up your store and find an opt-out box just
to not be on your database is also quiet outrageous. A step in the right
direction but not far enough.
*sniff sniff* Am I smelling a land popularity scam here? I am going to
assume that it isn't but you have to realize what this way of doing it looks like.

To assume that someone wants to be in your database even though they
are completely unaware of it is (I'm really straining not to steep down to
certain blasphemies that is derogatory of your intellect here). The answer
should always be considered NO unless otherwise stated. For me and
all of the people I have discussed this with it is obvious. Why isn't it to you?

In a sense I find this to be a very interesting experiment and a very
interesting service and would have gladly worn an attachment with the
script if it wasn't for that it REGISTERS TOTALLY UNAWARE
PEOPLE who are NOT GIVEN A CHOICE IF THEY ARE NOT
AWARE OF YOUR SITE/"SERVICE".

I can now (and everybody else who knows the URL) with your site,
map portions of the social patterns of several avatars who are
not aware and have not agreed upon your "service" without much
trouble. Even as much as a name and that someone has met the
person is information that can be abused.
To subject people who are unaware of your "service" to this is in
my opinion reckless (to use a nice word).

Please remove that feature, it will save you and the SL community
a whole lot of trouble and angst in the long run.
Make it so that only those who are wearing the script and have agreed
upon the the terms of your service is registered.

I sincerely hope that you do not take offense by this mail, but rather
see it as concerned constructive criticism. If and when the registration
of unaware people ceases I would gladly take part in this experiment.

/Rickel

PS. I chose to make it open so that more people who are unaware of your
registration and mapping of them can have a say in this matter. I will
post your reply to it (with your consent) to the thread in the beginning of
the post as well.

Maybe I missed the point... but your saying you got an SLStats watch not knowing what it did? Then how'd you find it in the first place? As far as *I* know, the only way one would know about the watch in question is if someone recommended it, or finding the location of the in-world item from slstats.com

I use it, I also know full well it tracks. Theirs nothing wrong with that at all. Im just kinda curious as to how you'd get the thing not knowing what it does

I mean come on... this is from the notecard


so how can you say you didnt know?

So I guess people are totally apathetic to the fact that you can look up their agent keys on 3rd party sites, yet they get riled up over far more trivial information?

Pie.

I think you did miss the point.

Read more closely next time:



He's saying that he didn't buy a watch but found out that it has an online service that tracks not only the watch owners but everyone who comes near a watch owner. So he's mad that people who don't know about the service or the watch are involved and have information about them posted on a website.

My personal opinion on the matter is that the information it DOES post is fairly irrelevant, my name is on there since apparently one of my friends owns the watch, and really it says nothing pertinant besides whens the last time I was within range of someone with a watch and who (who owns a watch) that i've been around. I hardly see the economic, griefer, or private (dis)advantages of this. Mostly that it's just inane and stupid.

Personally I think you're overreacting.

Maybe I should have put this link in the main post. But here it is:
/139/70/127053/1.html

This where I got my info, as well as from the slstats.com homepage.

I'm not ranting about the registration of CONSENTING wearers of the watch
what I'm concerned with is the registration of people WHO HAVE NOT given
their consent, and may not even know the registration even exist.

Not so much the agen key as the social network I surround myself with, the people I meet and spend time with. I don't what that information to be published on a website.

so does your computer....

C:\Documents And Settings\(your name)\Application Data\Second Life\cache\name.cache

go check it out.... boom, a list of AV Keys and Names you've come in contact with

its not like a social security number... the only thing someone can actually DO with your AVKey is to either email you, IM you, or send you money via script.

I sent an email to the sites owner.

I will deal with those who track me using this greifing system as greifers, and promptly remove themselves from my presence.

Consider this your warning.

Yes you did, what she is stating is that they are publishing stats on people that DO NOT suscribe to the service, which is an invasion of those ppls privacy, their stats are listed whether they want them there or not, whether they suscribe or not, and whether they have given permission for their stats to be used in this business..

Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. I know that I do not like the idea of data about my social network is being registerd and published without my concent. That was why I wrote the letter.

You said you didn't have your name on there so I think you might need to check on a person who DOESNT have the watch and see what stats they have. The watch obviously cannot see who the people you're hanging around with unless those people have a watch. The stats for non-watch users is pretty much only what you can look up in someone's profile. Mine had my ratings, my join date, the last time someone with a watch reported being around me, and the people with watches that were around me. It didn't say how long they were around (which means I might have just passed by them in a sim), it didn't say how long I was online, who I was around besides people who owned watches, or even what my key was (which even though easily accessable would be more of a violation of privacy than anything).

Ultimately, if I was trying to get information on a non-watch user from that site, i'd have less data than what i'd get from opening up their profile.

That sort of information isn't definite, provided you don't isolate yourself from anyone and everyone but your circle of friends, there's tons of random people you would pick up or who would pick you up to have such stats uploaded, so it is in no way obvious what people listed are your 'social network.'

That's on my computer and on the computer of the people I have been in contact with. Not on a publicly available website.

And does your computer paste it on a website for the world to see?

The point is that some residents may not like being tracked and details about them posted on a website. Which is fair. It's silly to downplay it just because other things track you as well. It's the SL version of spyware - most may consider this harmless, but it's fucking annoying. I'll be picking up an opt-out box, but I should not HAVE to.

http://w-hat.com/name2key

see other places do it to

well you know lets take this into real world terms... grocery store "Advantage" Cards, ya know those cards you swipe to get savings at the register?

THOSE track your buying habits... and companys pay TOP DOLLAR for lists of your shopping habits. They track everything you can imagine, cross reference everything. When you buy bread, they know what peanut butter you like to buy. When you buy salsa, they know what brand of chips your gonna buy.

I'm not trying to start an argument.... but people, this happens DAILY in real life. This is a game, and much less drastic... but to that effect yes people will datamine what they can for the purpose of generating statistics.

I dont see anyone hating on their grocery store card that saves them pennies compared to the cash the grocery store is bringing in selling their shopping data to 3rd parties

I hope this post is just sorely missing some sarcasm tags.

In SL yes. Not on some publicly availabe website.

The real point is that it's publicly available within SL, and because the MG's current policy is open registration, it's the same thing as publicly available outside SL. Even the Community Standards on disclosure agrees there.

Maybe if someone were posting your chat logs or embarassing pictures of you pixel-humping some child AV's, I could see how you would be upset. But this is completely innoculous.

Wrong. My name appears on that site.

Its not. I am dead serious. I did not sign up to be tracked, anyone using this system to do so is greifing.

I'm so going to look up your profile in-world. Better report me for griefing now!

I think you missed the point of what i'm saying and to categorize i'll show you my profile on this site, I don't have a watch.

Artemis Fate's SLstats.com profile

Now outside of the two people there that have "seen" me as watch owners, and when I was first and last seen by a watch owner, there is nothing in that page that couldn't be found in my SL profile.

And the information up there is so inconclusive that it doesn't matter, all it says is that i've been in the scripted vicinity of these people, I could have passed them in a mall and it'd have read. I don't know what kind of "griefer" could use this data (what're they going to do? Blackmail me that I know a person which I might not?)

If you think this statistics is an invasion of privacy, then you better blank out your profile and AR anyone who reads it, because guess what, LL has a listing of all the information they're putting on their site and it's publically available and then some.

Lemme quote this since you seemed to be too busy typing the "wrong" reply instead of reading it:

The watch obviously cannot see who the people you're hanging around with unless those people have a watch.

Your name appears on the site because you were "seen" by StarJunky Fermi and Tanya Book, it however doesn't say where they saw you, how long they saw you for, or any other information that wouldn't be found by searching up your profile.

Except not really. You can abuse report me all you want for flying by you, it's not griefing.

Perhaps the owner of the website can make an "opt-out" kiosk that takes your key and removes all references of your avatar from the database automatically -- a blacklist.

Personally I find the generation of social networks fascinating, and I love useless stats. That's why I wear the watch.