I am not attacking the grid.

Moopf Murray launched a grid attack with roller skates. I hear it's still underway and the Lindens can't stop it.

Be sure to tell Kenny Linden that since he is the one who told everyone the name. Maybe he can suss himself...

You misunderstood, I meant their denial is useless, since if they're not guilty they (hopefully) won't be banned, and if they are they'll be punished. This merely draws more attention to yourself (meaning to Adohan).

Then again, I don't pretend to know exactly what happened either.

The only way I can see how to *fix* this, would be to remove valuable and valid functions from LSL. That would be both harmful to those of us who use our scripting powers for good, and only delay the next grid attack a little.

I am sure LL is working on a way to prevent self replicating scripted items from getting out of control without hurting the scripting community, but it isn't an overnight fix.

Is this an inconvenience? Yes. Is it the end of the world? No.

Don't forget, folks, LL does not want the grid to come down due to an attack, and they will look for a way to prevent it. This doesn't do them any good. Harping on them like a bunch of granny's trying to pay with a check in a cash only line with 47 items over the 12 item limit isn't going to help anything.

Deep breath... exhale slowly... think of a warm safe place...

That doesn't mean threatening people is acceptable.

Ahh, Walmart...

Don't call it terrorism until someone is maimed or killed. Some people have lost family members to terrorism and it's a tad bit insensitive to equate their losses to not being able to access SL.

That being said, yeah, it's a real pain in the ass for all of us.

Read the ToS.

The problem is that SL is not just a game. It is also a platform and in some senses, an OS. It can run programs, store files, etc. And as long as users can write code for SL, there will be exploits that can do this kind of shiznit.

That said, this is a recurring problem, so some additional safeguards need to be installed. But hacks of restrictions like those we need will always exist.

OMG!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo!!!!!!


*runs away screaming* WalMart is not a warm safe place!! WalMart is not a warm safe place!! WalMart is not a warm safe place!! WalMart is not a warm safe place!!

I don't mean to pick straws here... but hacking does fall under what is commonly referred to as cyber-terrorism. It is a term often used by the FBI.

I only mention this so that you may understand the term could be used, and is not intended to be inflamatory or offensive.

Refrence, please.

That blue thing that popped up in the upper right hand corner of your screen if you happened to have been inworld at the time....


I saw it... He named names.... isnt' that against the TOS? j/k

K, BusinessWeek has this huge article about SL... we weekend after, when the BW readers are at home ready to play with this newly discovered toy, thinking of how *they* can make money too, SL crashes.

D'oh!

This can't look good for LL. Great write-up, then grid crashes/is brought down because of some arsehat script kiddie (who may or may not be he who is named in the object). Whatever the cause, this is plain old bad business. If you want to attract people to SL with the idea of converting L$ to real $, you can't have a system with an inherent design that allows any random bugger to bring the entire system to its knees. Even if its only two hours. Hey, there's a thread: How much money do you actually lose when the grid is down?

I truly sympathize with the LL gang that's working on the problem. Been, there, done that. I just wonder when this is going to become painful enough for the LL folks that they finally say "enough is enough" and do something about these self-replicating scripts.

Maybe the timing of this attack so soon after that article will help make something happen. I'm hoping for limits on iterations of self-replicating objects. Like others have asked, why does anyone need replication anywhere near the scale that it can crash the grid? (Honest question, not a rhetorical one. Replies welcomed.)

Didn`t see it; can`t get in-world `till ma new hardware arrives Tuesday week after next, an` even then Ah`ll still need ta get the client WORKIN`!

Aah Perfectly said!

my other missing 4 cents!

Yes, it's ridiculous.

No. It won't stop. Not without crippling the scripting system, or adopting a draconian system of "cross the line, insta-ban, no appeal." A VR Hammurabi's Code, if you will.

The problem is, even if they get banned, nothing stops them currently from whipping together another quickie alt, and hopping on that way, because the current ban system, as far as I know, only bans the avatar.

Any decent firewall system in use by corporations these days has the ability to ban by IP address. "But wait Mo," you say, "What if they're on a dynamic IP, such as is provided by 95% of the ISP accounts out there?"

Simple. With a few tweaks, firewalls can be set to capture the MAC Address attached to any packets coming from a particular IP, and refuse access to that MAC Address, or to refuse access to any MAC Addresses except the listed ones. This is commonly built into home routers with wireless capability as a security measure to keep someone from getting onto your network.

Ban their MAC Address, and they have to do one or more of several things to get back in:
* Change network cards
* Change ISPs entirely
* Change computers
* Spoof their MAC Address, which can be an involved process, depending on the computer, and may or may not disable their network access with their ISP entirely. I've worked in the ISP field, and I can state with confidence that doing so also violates the Terms of Service of most internet providers out there, and will get your account turned off in a heartbeat.

Give people a system, and one or more of them will find a way to tinker with it in ways that were not originally meant by the creators and designers of that system. This applies to everything from computer software to modern telecomms to TV sets. Unfortunately, the malicious ones give the rest of them a bad name.

Prosecuting them does not always work, due to international laws and the existence or non-existence of extradition treaties between the USA and other countries. Not to mention the fact that if someone commits a computer crime, they will likely be tried according to the laws of their home nation, unless extradited to the nation of the victim... which can take months, if the local authorities even bother to follow up on the request in the first place. This also applies to civil suits as well, alas.

All told, the best solution is for Linden Labs to close the holes as best as they can. Unfortunately, this is a cyclical battle that can never be "won" by either side, until someone pulls the plug entirely. I doubt LL will take that step. I fervently hope they won't... but TOS aside, there is a responsibility to ensure the smooth operation of the system, and that responsibility lies with them. Responsibility for the attacks lies squarely on the shoulders of the person or persons initiating the attacks, and "slap on the wrist" methods clearly do not work. Therefore, the second half of the solution is to adopt a more hardline stance toward this behavior without slipping into "Insta-Ban" territory. Either that, or the community needs to be granted the ability to "vote them off the island," which comes with its own special blend of problems.

Anyway, I'm done rambling. It be time for The Mo to go to The Bed.

Well, for the purpose of identifying the item in question, it may have been necessary... and in a situation like this, it might not have occurred to the Linden person to explain the whole thing in a dialog box.

Of course... whether or not names were issued by a Linden, that certainly doesn't give cause for people to issue threats or grief someone. A ToS violation doesn't permit a ToS violation in response.

I got food poisoning the other night from a fast food joint. It cause me much more discomfort and problems than the grid going down.

If the grid going down, i.e. a griefer attack, is "TERRORISM".

Does that now mean that food poisoning is TERRORISM, and I should call in the FBI or the military and have them raid the restaurant, and questioning people as to why the meat was undercooked, or cooking utensils were used between cooked/uncooked meat?

Does that mean that that kid flipping burgers is now a TERRORIST?

And I agree, that crap did need to stop.

Food poisoning isn't defined as terrorism by the FBI. Hacking, however is.

Well... unless the food was poisoned... not just ill prepared... LOL

man oh man....take a nap so i can stay up a lil later come back to this...waaaaaa lol..this sucketh

I'm well aware of what it is. I knew somebody very well who was killed in a terrorist attack, and I couldn't believe somebody here had the gall to compare a few hours of downtime due to some bullshit shenanigans to the taking of a human life, or the potential bringing down of some form of the national infrastructure.

I was going to have some harsh words for them, but decided an anecdote was called for, as they apparently have no concept of just what a terrorist attack is, and what I was going to say would have been a violation of the TOS.

Unfortunately, this is all too common - associating something with terrorism that has not risen to nearly the level of a true terrorist attack, and what happens is that what truly constitutes a terrorist attack becomes diluted, and it becomes a shadow of itself.

Have I missed any posts worth reading? Looking for humor, please let me know if I should read. Starax, why are you in my closet?!

awwwww.....


With an accent like that .... yew mus be fraum Geawja.

umm what did they hack?