what are keys?

Someone was talking about locks and keys for collars in RLV. I know about collars, what are keys, how do you get them, what do you do with them?

It's a fictional object designed by the maker of the collar, that does not actually exist, used to signify the "owner" of the collar wearer in roleplay terms. Literally it is a scripted mechanism for giving particular people rights to control the collar. You can't "get them" you just ask the person wearing the collar to add you as having rights over it.

or, more likely when you hear people talk about keys in SL, they are talking about a "unique ID" that each avatar has.

it's just a special number of s certain length, written a specific way... there are billions of combinations, and no two avatars will have the same one.

other things have these "keys" as well, like each prim rezzed on a sim, each data request made by a script, each uploaded texture, etc, etc..... one per pretty much anything you can think of in sl.

Not that this needs to be done often, but I'll expand on Void's statement. UUID keys in second life fall into 4 categories, Asset, Instance, Account and Land.

Asset Keys are things found in your inventory:
Animations, Gestures, Objects, Notecards, Scripts, Sounds and Textures. Technically, your inventory doesn't contain much more than the name, permission, and asset key for each item. It's this key that is used to 'look up' the actual object stored on the asset servers.

Instance keys are assigned on the fly when you 'rez' an object. This key will be different for an object in your inventory, for example, MyObject in your inventory will have an asset key for looking up MyObject on the asset server, then, when rezzed, the server will assign an instance key which is used to refer to the actual in-word object.

Account Keys refer to Avatars and Groups. Alot of people get nervous about others having your key, but it's nothing to worry about. Much of scripting relies on knowing the avatar's key for various script functions such as a vendor giving an object to an avatar. The vendor object 'gives' the sold item to the avatar's key, and the avatar's key is used to lookup that avatar's inventory where the item is then stored. There are multiple lists out on the web that store thousands upon thousands of keys, or one could easily write a script that runs a sensor sweep (which returns avatar keys amongst other things). No one can really do anything malicious with an avatar's key, and it's considered public (as are public groups).

Land Keys

Each region has it's own key, as does each parcel. Say you own a parcel, and split it, the original key is discarded and two new ones are assigned to the parcel. These keys are pretty much used internally (for teleports and such), and even scripters don't typically have much use for them, mainly just the system uses them.

UUID's are used all over the place and are not unique to Second Life, and being that they are 128 bit long numbers, the total number of combination is astronomical. (3 × 10 to the 38th power). So the odds of a clash are virtually non-existent.

In this case, Dante's answer is the correct one. While the other technical information is accurate, it's referring to something entirely different than what the OP was asking about.

Just to add that while some "keys" are purely fictional in that once you become the "key holder" you are the one with rights to do things, some implementations require that you are the holder of an object which is the key. Without physical posession of one of these in inventory you are not the key holder.

Typically it will then be an item you wear either in a hand or as a HUD. An example such as the RealKey that goes with RealRestraints.

I still keep hearing about keys used as an "additional" protection of a locked collar etc...

Billions???

Bazillions!!

edit: are you the Key Master??

well yeah, 2^128, but if I'd said ~1/3 duodecillion even I'd have to look it up

youre possibly referring to a 'real' key, used with many rlv collars and such. they are an actual prim key that you can pass to a trusted friend or an alt. wearing (on your hand) then clicking the key will unlock the collar in the event they are locked down by a 'casual master'.

But using a non-RLV compliant Viewer makes all this moot, yes?

From the perspective of being able to remove the item yes. It will still likely IM the owner/person who locked it.

The point is, it's all RP. With or without RLV or keys or whatever, if I decide I don't want to play any more, it's no great challenge for me to relog without RLV turned on and take off my my collar that way.

The point about RLV is that it imposes various restrictions (or, rather, allows my Master to impose them) when I'm using it, not that it makes it impossible (or even difficult) for me to run away and join Scylla's guerrilla army if I want to (/me quite likes the idea of being an urbane guerriilla).

I have been called in to wind up a friend's key for them. It is RLV and when it runs out of time it disables all their abilities, runs a slumped animation and won't let them move or TP.

What about ~116 quattuorvigintillion?

there are devices that will not only email the 'master', they will also trip an 'alarm'. some will begin displaying red hovertext branding you a 'cheat'.
there are also people that consider it 'cheating' to log in on a non-rlv viewer to detach/stand/etc.
in any case, i am merely responding to a question about keys, i am not championing a philosophy or lifestyle.

that's something a bit different I think, specific to doll RP, although it does generally use RLV functions... in those cases the key is just something sticking out of their back, not something possessed by another avatar, or innate to an avatar.