If you're not busy, take a look at this:
http://dusanwriter.com/?p=987
Apparently, somebody using Second Inventory found a way to use it to retrieve the location (not just region, mind, but X-Y-Z) of an agent that sends you an IM. It was found that the amazing open-source SL viewer can be recompiled with minimal effort in such a way that establishing a link with an avatar by opening an IM window with them (even if you don't actually send them an IM) allows you to get a fix on their position, regardless of their privacy settings. They don't even have to be on your friend list. And there's nothing they can do to stop it.
Reprehensible LL coding, or just an illusion shattered, as most notions of privacy vis-a-vis the internet typically are? Ah, well.
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Dakota Tebaldi
Voodoo Child
Join date: 6 Feb 2008
Posts: 1,873
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10-17-2008 12:06
_____________________
"...Dakota will grow up to be very scary... but in a HOT and desireable kind of way." - 3Ring Binder
"I really do think it's a pity he didnt "age" himself to 18." - Jig Chippewa  |
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Kitty Barnett
Registered User
Join date: 10 May 2006
Posts: 5,586
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10-17-2008 12:38
Uhm... isn't that very old news?
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Atashi Toshihiko
Frequently Befuddled
Join date: 7 Dec 2006
Posts: 1,423
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10-17-2008 13:15
There's all kinds of juicy data in an IM packet, the normal viewer just hides most of it. You can do lots of neat stuff with LibSL too.
-Atashi _____________________
Visit Atashi's Art and Oddities Store and the Waikiti Motor Works at beautiful Waikiti.
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Marine Kelley
Your cutest PITA
Join date: 19 Nov 2006
Posts: 111
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10-17-2008 13:55
It is very old news, but I for one would like all these information to STOP being transmitted by the server. The only cases when you need to know where the message sender is, is for a TP offer and an inventory offer. NOT for a declined inventory offer, a vanilla IM or a friendship refusal.
Why ? Because this is used extensively by stalkers and I know at least two people who are feeling totally distressed by someone overusing that "feature" (to me it's a bug, a security flaw even). So I want this off. |
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Imnotgoing Sideways
Can't outlaw cute! =^-^=
Join date: 17 Nov 2007
Posts: 4,694
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10-17-2008 13:59
SL Proxy is able to pick that up. (^_^)
Stalkers like me can't live effectively without it. (^_^)y _____________________
Somewhere in this world; there is someone having some good clean fun doing the one thing you hate the most. (^_^)y
 http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ferguson/54/237/94 |
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Ponsonby Low
Unregistered User
Join date: 21 May 2008
Posts: 1,893
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10-17-2008 14:05
...an illusion shattered, as most notions of privacy vis-a-vis the internet typically are? Always a good thing to bear in mind. Still, why IS it necessary to enable this particular functionality? Would it cost tens of thousands of programmer-hours to change it? |
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Dakota Tebaldi
Voodoo Child
Join date: 6 Feb 2008
Posts: 1,873
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10-17-2008 14:28
Always a good thing to bear in mind. Still, why IS it necessary to enable this particular functionality? Would it cost tens of thousands of programmer-hours to change it? Possibly. The way SL communicates is at the very base of the entire application. I'd think a rewrite which fixed this issue would have to be VERY extensive. _____________________
"...Dakota will grow up to be very scary... but in a HOT and desireable kind of way." - 3Ring Binder
"I really do think it's a pity he didnt "age" himself to 18." - Jig Chippewa |
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Ponsonby Low
Unregistered User
Join date: 21 May 2008
Posts: 1,893
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10-17-2008 14:29
Then we must resign ourselves to being seen.
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Sindy Tsure
Will script for shoes
Join date: 18 Sep 2006
Posts: 4,103
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10-17-2008 14:44
Possibly. The way SL communicates is at the very base of the entire application. I'd think a rewrite which fixed this issue would have to be VERY extensive. Why is it needed? I can see that it might need to say online/offline but why transmit the location? |
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Argent Stonecutter
Emergency Mustelid
Join date: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 20,263
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10-17-2008 14:56
This is the kind of reason I wanted the "log in offline mode" that kept sending IMs to mail and doing all the usual "user is offline" stuff with the IM features of SL, so that if someone wanted to talk to you they had to be in the same place you were already... just like in RL.
Instead we got a mode to suppress notification of your friends when you log in, and a new complex set of friends permissions. Which is, um, not anywhere near the same. _____________________
Argent Stonecutter - http://globalcausalityviolation.blogspot.com/
"And now I'm going to show you something really cool." Skyhook Station - http://xrl.us/skyhook23 Coonspiracy Store - http://xrl.us/coonstore |
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Kitty Barnett
Registered User
Join date: 10 May 2006
Posts: 5,586
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10-17-2008 14:57
Why is it needed? I can see that it might need to say online/offline but why transmit the location? Just look at how "effective" hiding your online presence is from your profile and/or friends (groups, IM'ing, scripts all reveal it anyway) is so why would they have made more of an effort for location? |