Privacy of RL data in SL -- what was Philip Rosedale's role at RealNetworks, again?

When i first heard that the former CTO of RealNetworks was the founder of Second Life, the first thing that came to mind was an article I read, around 1999. The article was written by a tech-savy RealJukeBox user who used a packet sniffer on his own computer to empirically determine that the RealNetworks application was, at minimum, "phoning home" with a unique identifier for each user's PC, contrary to RealNetwork's privacy policy and direct statements on the matter. Presumably, this data would be used internally or externally by RealNetworks for marketing purposes, but that is beside the point. The article was compelling enough to make me never use RealPlayer again. (I once found a stripped-down version of RealPlayer, called RealStripped, intended for use in the UK to comply with their privacy laws. I used that for a little while.)

Despite this, I decided to go ahead and get involved in SL, and thats another story. I had no evidence that Mr. Rosedale had anything to do with this apparent violation of consumer rights. All I knew is that he once worked for the company, and I was not about to go digging to find out if that meant anything substantial in terms of SL. However, with the recent questions about protection of RL info, this concern has bubbled up to the surface again.

I do not have that specific article I read in 1999. But I do have some potentially relevant links. It seems that the controversy developed into something even larger than what I recall, eventually leading to some class action lawsuits. Does anyone recall this controversy, or how it went down, or what, if anything, Mr. Rosedale had to do with it?

Junkbusters -- RealNetworks' Privacy Intrusion
http://www.junkbusters.com/real.html

CNET News -- RealNetworks faced with second privacy suit
http://www.news.com/2100-1001-232766.html

E-Commerce Times -- Is RealNetworks' Privacy Violation The Tip Of The Iceberg?
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/1658.html

Google "realnetworks privacy" for more.

Golly, Adz...and I already gave 'em my verification data and credit card.

Is it time to close all my accounts and re-open with manufactured data?

/me fidgets nervously.

hmmm....I don't use real player... and if anything bad comes of me verifying oh well
'



I say it's time to stop being paranoid =P

enjoy life

I like Winamp. Does it have a homing device in it which tells the human devouring aliens where I sleep so they can slip a plate under me and feast?

Do you want it to?

as long as the inside of the alien's tummy has a computer and internet connection so I can play SL as I am digested

I *hate* Real player with a passion-there are many alternatives out there, such as...Real Alternative I didn't even KNOW Philip used to be with Real....that is SCARY. And I'm not easily scared by such things. Let's just hope he's doing his own thing now because he finally, erm, saw the light and left Real.

From: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070201/hidi-rosedale.html

"Philip Rosedale quit his job as Chief Technology Officer at RealNetworks to realize his lifelong dream of building a virtual-reality environment."

Time to stop Being Paranoid everytime SL has to make changes...As it grows it will change...as it becomes more popular it will change...So we change along with it or leave...That's the Choice we make...


I Choose to Stay and change with it...It's a great Place to Be ))



Kurt Ludd
" The Gesture Maker "

QFT

Its no accident that Robin Linden's signature contains the quote from Mahatma Ghandi: "Be the Change".

Second Life is all about change, and the longer you stay here - the more those words ring true. Those who can best adapt to change have a greater chance to be successful (at whatever you do) here than those that don't.

It wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that Second Life was involved in some sort of collection of private data. Of course, it wouldn't surprise me to find out that any or all of the other software I have on my computer is doing the same thing, whether developed by a small company or large company. Since I don't have any good way of determining which of my computer's software is naughty and which of my computer's software is nice, I just can't worry to much about it. I just try to read computer news every now and then to see what has been exposed.

One of my first experiences with an internet-like network was with Prodigy, when it first came out in, oh, I'm guessing late 80s. It had social things like forums (bulletin boards), but they were hard to use. Shopping was easy on Prodigy. I didn't use it long.

A few years later, I got a check in the mail from Prodigy, for about $2.00 US or something like that. Along with the check was an explanation that this check was my portion of a settlment in a class-action lawsuit against Prodigy. Apparently, the Prodigy front-end software was sniffing hard drives and sending the information back to Prodigy's corporate parents. That was the first that I had heard of the service sniffing hard drive information.

While I haven't checked through history, I think Prodigy was probably a pioneer in stealing private information from personal computers. I think it was one of the first cases of its kind. And if that's true, I was one of the first victims ever of information theft from a personal computer.

So, nothing surprises me. And I know that there's not a lot I can do about it, except take reasonable steps to protect sensitive data stored on my computer, and read about the next software company is exposed. The mere fact that a Linden Labs corporate guy was a corporate guy with RealNetworks approximately 8 years prior to RealNetworks being discovered for data theft doesn't really mean a lot to me. That, by itself, doesn't make it probable that 8 years ago, he was somehow involved in the current RealNetworks data theft scam.

Thank you!