Real Life data request

What do people think about the LL requests for full RL disclosure details before they will action a support ticket.
I mean:
rl name
rl email
rl dob
SL password
pets name (or chosen security question)

To me that is a bit OTT

Password and pets name (or whatever your chosen security question was) should be enough.

Is this just a back door way to get us age verified?

Love to hear your thoughts

Maybe it's a way to cut down on the number of support tickets. Is this something new? When did they start requiring this information?

I first heard of it about 6 weeks ago. I dont know how long it was in effect before that. I have verified it for myself since.

I don't have a clue why it would be such a deep dark secret - it's not like you are sharing the info with a Resident. We give this info everyday to the Petshop online place, and ebay and 1-800flowers etc- they are a company we chose to do business with. Meh- not living under the radar so do not see the concern. And why is being age verified a problem? We are - allegedly - over the age of maturity when we signed up. Sorry- maybe I am not paranoid enough, but I just don't get it. Different if it were one of the thousand random survey crap we get here -

It's pretty damned stupid if you ask me. I've given them every frakking piece of information they asked for, and they still completely ignore my support ticket. From what I've heard from other SL friends, this is not at all uncommon.

"File a Support Ticket" == "STFU Noob"

.

I don't get asked this stuff when I submit a ticket. I guess that's because they already have all this information on my account.

I've never been asked for that information either, but all the accounts I've filed support tickets from have payment information on file.

I'm not sure what serious purpose they'd want it for. Are there people out there who hijack someone else's SL account to file support tickets?

I'd guess it's just a verification issue; they already know all that about me. Or is it another case of inadequate software? And what was that thread about scary Linden powers?

I've just tried to submit a ticket, asking to put a plot in auction. Those information wasn't asked.

Maybe it is only for some kind of tickets for some problems with accounts, like reported minors.

I was asked for all that information recently. I told them no, I wasn't giving it to them. They had it all on file, the ticket didn't require taking action on my account or doing anything that might compromise account security -- in fact, my identity was irrelevant to the ticket, and I wasn't giving secure information to anyone without Linden in their name.

They didn't respond to my rebuke, but they did go ahead and process the ticket anyway.

It might be billing-related, if not everyone's getting it. I _think_ I got the same questions when I submitted a different billing ticket a couple of years ago. On that occasion I gave the information willingly, because the problem was one where account security was relevant. But I can't stand being told to jump through bureacratic hoops just for the heck of it. It's especially stupid to do in a support situation, where there's a good chance the user submitting the ticket is already frustrated and ticked off.

Your RL info might be corrupted. This happened to me a while back, even when I had dozens of regions. I literally had to tell them who I was again. Security question for the win...

* * * * *

Hello, Linden Research? Yes, I've got a prim poodle attacking me and deleting objects. Yes, right now. Help me! Help me! No, I'm totally serious. What? No, I wasn't the guy asking for a poodle to be removed from my avatar's butt five minutes ago. What are you talking about? No, I wasn't the guy claiming it was raining poodles at the Ahern welcome area ten minutes ago, either. Why would you think so? No, I don't want to give you my real information ~ how dare you!

People who signed up via certain regAPI services were never asked for anything but a birthday, email address, and avatar name choice. What is LL going to do? Suspend/ban them all for LL making a mistake with the regAPI program?

This.

And I've filed a stack of tickets recently.

I soooooo want a copy of THIS poodle.

Well...

Not -that- poodle. But one that does what it did. Preferably with trans permissions to hand out as a party gag.

Ok... well maybe not. Somebody'd get banned if there was a poodle that did that on purpose...

great post from you all. thank you.
just to clarify, i dislike bureaucratic hoops also. but my concern with this trend is less that, than that i no longer trust the security of the information we give LL.
let me explain.
the info we provide when we register an account is stored. we all understand that or we would not have continued with our registration. in that sense it is just like giving the online shop our details. but if we use say amazon.com as an example, when we repeat buy we dont need to add all our details every time b/c we have registered. subsequent purchases need only a password and sometiems a security question. nor if we access amazon help do we have to repeat this info.
the LL case means that a different part of LL is now getting our details (ie different to the place it was lodged initially). this doubles the incidents of storage of our information.
not only that but each time we file a ticket and we get asked for that info the data is being repeated and stored again.
does anyone but me see the security implications of that?

now add to that the fact that I know of several cases, from people that i trust not to make up stories and who have had this happen to them, where rl info has been "leaked" (or perhaps hacked not sure) from parts of LL to SL griefers and harassers and in one case this had RL consequences.
and no, this is not scaremongering
and yes in some cases the people concerned did take the matter further (at least as far as the complaints process in LL ever gets us)

so to summarise:
each time we have to provide our full RL details we are increasing the risk of a security leak with that information. to me that is not a happy thought.
i have had this issue with a premium account AND with a free account.
i find it interesting that some of you have had this asked of you and some haven't.

and i would file a ticket to ask about it if
a. i thought it would get an asnwer, or
b. i did not have to provide details I dont want to first

thanks all for your contributions
slainte
nikkie

I have been asked to confirm this information when I have been making a billing inqury. However I was not asked for my password and would not want to pass that over as doesn't LL say we will never ask for your password? apart from that the billing was handled by the outsourced people ontyme IIRC

I've never been asked this to file a support ticket but I do get asked for it on Live Help, and when talking to them on the phone. It's a simple security cross-check, to ensure that they are speaking to the right person, and no they do NOT ask you for your password on the phone or in IM, and I sure as hell wouldn't tell them it. It wouldn't help anyway - passwords are encrypted so even LL employees can't cross-check them.

They already have your data (or at least they should have, because you filled it in when you signed up), they're just cross-checking it against what they already have on file.

Not necessarily. If it's just a security cross-check they won't be re-recording this data over and over, they're just cross-referencing it against what they already have, so they know you are you, and not A. Griefer. Read it, make sure it matches, delete it.