Open letter to the owner of slstats.com

In general I find that people who deal professionally with large-scale databases and data mining are the first to be concerned about non-consensual data building up, because they know what sort of things can be done with it.

Hmph.

He's now modified it so you can only view stats if you log in - and logging in requires using the watch. So I can't log in to see what data he's stored on me without joining in with the program. That's certainly against the Data Protection Act in the UK - I don't know if there's a similar law in the US.

hrm, I am not LSL literate, but I am wondering....would it be possible to create a program that 'poisons' his database? That is, generates random player names and info, claims to see random and non-existant players and feeds it up the pipe to him? Just a thought for more LSL literate folks.

That would require hacking the interface with his website, which would be both illegal and immoral. I agree with some people's views here but two wrongs don't make a right.

So in other words, the opt-out boxes might not be opting us out and we cannot verify we are opted out without joining the data-collection (which would invalidate the opt out in a catch 22). Man, this guy sounds like a professional marketeer....a real class piece of work! </sarcasm>

I noticed that. So my alt might be getting a watch at some point.

Ah, like I said, I did not know if something could be coded in SL to send (much like his watches do) without touching his site. No, doing anything outside of the game would indeed be unethical and illegal. Too bad though, would be funny to see his DB size triple overnight with non-existant players.

Possible - it would depend on how simple the protocol he's using is and whether there's any password or authentication.

The data is sent from SL to his site. If you send forged data to his website, that's hacking his RL website; the fact that the origin of the data would be SL doesn't make any difference to that.

This is a foolish statement. Do you clean spyware from your computer because you have something to hide? No. You clean it because it is gathering information about you and places you visit, and bogging down your internet connection. This data (trivial or not) is used for advertisers. I have a feeling that the top watch-users are going to be absolutely bombarded with spam once that database is fattened up enough to be sold.

And then *I* will be the one to laugh and point.

Um, spamming is against the TOS.
Again, repeating arguments from the name2key debates doesn't work.

"Ummmmm", so is griefing. Doesn't mean that it's not going to happen. Spammers can actually make some money by doing it, so in the years to come I think you're going to see more spamming than griefing, especially since penalties are not much more than a slap on the wrist.

That there is NO link to on his website that I can find. Someone has to give you the URL to the hidden page that tells you where to go to get the opt out cube. Yeah, like the bulk of people could opt out even if they wanted to. A hidden opt out is same as not having one.

And also, being able to opt out when you may not even know that the system exists doesn't count.

Well, if the lindens weren't in this guy's back pocket (ala his personal secretary and cheerleader Torley...btw, concerns aren't noise, regardless how much you like this scumball site, Torley), they could sticky a 'Privacy and You' message telling folks that this exists and how to get out of it....they could also list other databases like Ulrika's key DB and such. Make it into a public service annoucement for new players.

But since the Lindens so often end up on the side of the griefer, the sleazy marketer, etc, I can't see them even doing this simple thing for their players.

My domains are all hosted by Domainsbyproxy as well, as I did not like having my home address and telephone number on display, but still wanted to provide a way to be contacted in regards to the domain - the service provides the right balance between the two.

When I did not use the service, I actually had an SL member call and harass and threaten me, and they got my information from the registration on SLUniverse.com. I was also constantly bombarded with spam - both phone calls and emails about the domain. So yes, if by "people who have stuff to hide", you mean those who do not want to expose their personal information freely to anyone who wants to look it up, then I am one of those people too. I have my RL phone number unlisted as well.

I don't agree with how Mark is handling all of this, but as far as domainsbyproxy, I see nothing wrong with protecting your personal information as a domain owner.

You know what is even more slime-ball? Yesterday there was an opt-out link clearly visible at the top right of the page. Now it's gone.

My guess is, Mark 'Only a Few have opted out' Barrett realized how many were opting out and had to put a stop to that. I know I saw a half-dozen when I went and got my box to opt out.

Here is Google's cached version of the page with the opt-out:

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:WUYjGdy5M70J:slstats.com/+&hl=en&gl=ca&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=firefox-a

You will also notice he has removed any way to contact him.

Perhaps he and his site are NOT as popular as he would lead us to belive in his earlier condenscending posts? Some community, eh? He don't want to hear from folks and the only way he can keep folks there is by forced enrollment and hiding opt-out!

It appears now the site has been changed to login only in order to view anything.

Here's a question. I would have gone to Mark's page to contact him and ask... but... ya know.

On my land, if I turn off resident use of scripted objects, does this disable the watch?

yes it does, it is a LSL script so it is disabled if in No Script land as long as the owner (or by group owners) are not wearing one.

Unless you're within 20m of someone outside your land who is wearing one.