research ethics, secret avatar monitoring, and 3rd party web sites

This page about research ethics and SecondLife http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=062 (authored by Torley Linden on 6-27-2006), says that "informed consent" is necessary for ethical research. It also suggests that research without informed consent, is a bad thing, which "erodes trust and threatens the privacy of Second Life residents".

An earlier posting to this forum by Torley seems to say that the SLStats.com spy watch is OK. I’m trying to understand how “informed consent” is achieved by a device that secretly scans avatars in the vicinity of a user. What does Linden Labs believe is required for “informed consent”?

Aren’t the subjects of the research supposed to be the ones that consent?

This post is made to hopefully get some explanations and clarifications from the LL about the whole data-mining capabilities that 3rd parties has with LSL and what is allowed and not allowed according to the TOS and Community Standard (short = CS).

As this obviously is a grey area where TOS and CS is concerned I, and I am guessing many others, wish to hear a clear statement on where LL stands in the issue of data-mining within SL whether it be for the benefit of the data-miners or the benefit of those who wants some level of privacy in SL. The discussion is stuck in an endless loop untill LL's ruling.

The whole slstat.com outcry (and previously the Avatar Key database outcry) I pretty much chalk up to shock from the privacy wanted camp:

1) A lot of people were unaware of the data-mining potential of LSL and that this was possible came as a shock.

2) Also that LL seems to allow it comes as a shock.

3) And for some that someone is unscrupulous enough to actually do this in SL comes a shock. (Though I don't know why since there are all kinds of ppl in SL).

This all melded down into an almost incomprehensible mass of questions, angry opinions, threats (both personal and legal), positive and negative feedback etc. ad infinitum, but the very repugnant attitude from many in the allow data-mining camp (short = ADC) when dealing with the privacy wanted camp's (short PWC) concerns had something to do with it.
The PWC felt helpless, there was nothing "in world" that could be done since there is no way of identifying the watch/script wearers (aside from zooming in on all the present peoples wrists if they wore the watch on the default attachment point) and no way to stop or control the flow of information they gathered, people who feel helpless resorts to desperate means to try and gain some controll over the situaton (human nature 101).

So when the shock has settled I would really like some actual answers no matter what side they may take so that I and many others can take what actions or inactions we wish concerning our precence in SL and move on with ours and yours lives (I'm just guessing, but this has to be at least as annoying to you as it is to us).


What we have seen this far is obviously far from the data-mining potential of LSL, more can be done, so says both Lindens as well as the data-miners themselves and anyone who bothered to look into what the LSL functions for identification, scanning, listening etc. is capable of.

That this is possible is as it should, mostly these things are used for harmless thing such as HUD scanners, Security scripts, various "on avatar present" scripts (such as light on/off scripts and rezzers of various kinds) just to mention a few. So they are a big part of the SL experience.

The question isn't so much as how much is possible, we already know from these two outcries that we are merely scratching the surface of it's true potential, as it is what is allowed and what is not and what is justifiable and what is not. Last but not least, if privacy is a valid sacrifice to the development of new technology.

The owner of slstats.com described these outcries following the pattern of grief, that may or may not be accurate but at least I know I'm trying to understand to be able to accept.
So with this in mind for me and many others in my position to be able to accept it we wish to understand it.

So to understand it there is of course some questions (you knew it was coming )

1) What is allowed and what isn't, Collection

It is obvious that LL is allowing 3rd party data-mining in SL, so I ask:

1.1) The extent of the information gathered, how much of the profile is allowed to be mined? All? Parts (if so what parts are off limits?)?

1.2) Other information about the unknowing and/or unwilling people, what is allowed and what is not such as location, other people around the person, velocity, number of attachments, the persons avatar keys etc.

1.3) The means of collecting this data, is LL's position that unknowing and/or unwilling people is fair bait for data-mining?

1.4) Does LL think that an opt-out system where it is assumed that the unknowing and/or unwilling participants are willing subjects in the mining process until they have said otherwise is a healthy way for data-mining in the SL community and will it be allowed by 3rd parties in the future considering the morally objectionable nature of this practice (I know we agreed to let LL tracking us when we signed up for SL but when it comes to 3rd parties the TOS and CS is still, at least to me, unclear)?

1.5) (this is more of an observation than a question but I would like a clarification on this as well if possible) A sociologist who are conducting serious research in social networking in a cyber environment has to sign off on a rules of conduct "contract" to be allowed to conduct their research in SL, while your everyday SL user is allowed to gather this type of data with scripts without signing this same kind of "contract" leaving them carte blanc in what to do with the information.


2) The accepted handling of the aggregated information the data-mining obtains

I think what most people reacted against, beside the opt-out nature, is that the information gathered in the slstats.com database was readily available (is no more, it is now only available to logged in users of the watch/script I have heard so there is no sure-fire way to make sure the opt-out is taking effect) and that is was presented in such a way that cross-referencing for obtaining various forms of information (such as outing alts, cheating spouses, misconceived ideas about who your friends are etc.) was a very high probability if the database received enough mined information. I don't know if it was slstats.com's owner’s intention and I highly doubt it, but the potential was there none the less given enough gathered data.

2.1) So (finally here comes the questions, sorry for the long prelude) is it looked upon favourably by the LL that all information that is allowed to data-mine is published openly on the web?

2.2) Is the potential of outing alts, or RL identities etc. for certain forms of information and/or ways to display the information enough for it to not be allowed to be published freely on the web and/or collected?


3) Defences against data-mining

Since 3rd party data-mining is here to stay, apparently, the PWC would be a lot calmer if they were given some sort defence against data-mining. Some want it because they hide something( ), others like me strongly dislikes that the data we generate is made into a product that we have no other control over other than not logging into SL, and others still have other reasons for this.

I know these questions may be about things that are a bit too far in the future to be certain of. But in a sense, we all gave LL a trust to safeguard our privacy when we signed up for SL, many of us assumed this was both RL and SL information, and I know I would really like to know if something like these things are even under consideration and if we can expect some level of cyber privacy in the future.

3.1) A vast majority of the computer users today regularly make use of anti-spyware, anti-data-mining and anti-virus software to get rid of these kinds of programs that comes out of the WWW and other places, will there be SL equivalents to this?

3.2) Will there be LSL functions such as llBlockScan(key id), llHideKey(key id), llLockProfile(key id), llHideGridPosition(key id), llHideMapPosition(key id) etc. in the future to make anti-data-mining and anti-spyware scripts or perhaps a check sheet that you can check yes or no on what information about you 3rd parties are allowed to obtain through data-mining?


I ask that these questions are handled seriously because they are asked seriously. I also respectfully ask that you refrain from sweeping it under the rug with inconclusive answers or calling it derogatory names such as "noise" etc. or calling me and the rest of the PWC techno-ignorant as these are very serious and, at least from the PWC's view, very valid concerns for many in SL.

And if at all possible the answers should not come from Torley since she has proven to be too biased in this matter to handle this objectively (No offence or disrespect meant at all Torley, but nobody is perfect and I sincerly hope that you see that).

I can’t believe that I’m actually dreading posting these questions here, but after all the abuse and scorn that my Open letter to the owner of slstats.com thread (/108/d1/127297/1.html) generated, I can only hope this will get as respectful an answer as the questions were asked and we can finally put this to rest and move on.

/Rick

Hi and thanks for taking the time to write.

I didn't author the "Research Ethics in Second Life" page--sorry, I know that looks confusing. I just pasted it into the Knowledge Base with a link to the actual article for searchability and convenience.

I also posted a clarification here--again my apologies for any confusion.

Of course I'm going to ask for more info on this!