Suspected Listening Satellites

I've been seeing these red white and blue satellites at 500m around SL... they have like 20 scripts in them and have all of 3 particle rings.

I suspect they are listening devices, I have reported abuse to ask for immediate investigation.

They are Owned and Created (including scripts) by Chance Small.

If you see these above your land please don't return; that will just send back Chance Small the data he's collecting. Report abuse with a picture and location, then delete!

Ah, crap, Chance, we thought you had reformed!

He never took down ALL the land monitoring devices.

Not again Bullwinkle, that trick never works!

*getting my popcorn - here we go again*

Siggy.

I think there is still one in Ebisu and definetly one in Abbotts.

I have seen a few around. The ones I have seen are on 4x4 plots of land that he owns. It is rumored that they search for public land so that it can be purchased as soon as it becomes available.

Hiro...

They are "land scanners", that look for land becoming available in a sim. They were used back in the day when LL placed released land up for sale for L$1/m2, rather than re-auctioning it.

A) I don't know why Chance would leave them up, since they serve no useful purpose anymore.

B) Chance was taken to task for surreptitiously placing these objects up and out of sight on other people's land without asking permission.

If you see one on land not owned by Chance, I would suggest IM'ing the landowner. He/she can abuse report Chance. If its Chance's land, then there's not much that can be done, even though these objects serve no purpose other than to waste sim resources.

- Ace

Oh Chance Small you fucking tool!

As of my last test released land still goes public...my last test was less than a month ago. I'll do a test tonight to check but I assume those land scanners are still being put to good use.

Released land is still going public. I just released 16m and it reverted to owner=nobody and was purchasable for 1 dolla per meter. I would post a screen shot but for some reason I can't.

Has anyone played baron pong yet?

If you have a largish plot, set it ban all.. release a 4x4 plot in the middle....

I'd be curious to watch such a game.

Siggy.

baron pong. lol. brilliant siggy!

How do we delete it? All I get is the option to return other's objects.

Try looking under More on the pie menu maybe.

I still think they should incorporate my "holding" idea, where land released public by a user, doesn't really go public, it goes into "holding" where they can change their mind within 24 hours, if at the end of 24 hours they don't cancel the selling and buy back the land, the land then automaticly goes to auction. No one would be able to buy the land while its in holding except for the former owner.

This would eliminate public land... sadly... but I think it'd be worth it.

You could sell land to others for 0L$ and sell land directly to others.

Are these scanners being placed onto other people's lands?

If I wanted to get away with something, I'd place my scripts in a small, transparent object.

The mere fact that these things are highly visible with particle effects and multicolored suggests that they are not totally evil in nature.

Some were placed on people's land by Chance Small, but the majority are on his own empire of distributed 16sqm plots of land scattered throughout SL. Other lang barons have similiar networks of these plots, and they still have their land scanners sucking server resources after their rein on sucking land resources from the populace was ended.

If you goto the MegaTower in BonnyDoon, you can see one of them from the observation deck on the 47th floor (500m).

Someone left such a device on my land: transparent, scripted tube. I don't know what it did, but I hope they enjoy the fact I deleted it. Was left there by some lady with the last name Torgeson I think. I like doing 'highlight transparent' and checking out my plot every so often.

There's a transparent scanner on a 4x4 lot in Isere too - not owned by Chance. I placed an identical, but non-functioning prim on top of it that squeals when you touch it... it's kinda funny

Released land still goes public. It's only land belonging to cancelled accounts that now goes straight to auction instead of turning public. So land will only go public via "act of avatar" and not suddenly in the middle of the night when no-one is around.

They *were* being placed on other's land w/o permission, but that fiasco was a while back. Chance technically did nothing wrong, as people had left thier land set to 'Build'. Morally, it stunk and he was chastized on the forums for it.

They were not totally evil, as you stated, just sneaky and underhanded, but he now has them on his own land... or so they should be on his own land.

Oh, sure, make them look all pretty and "they're just land scanners".... meanwhile 20 scripts are chugging away and could be doing anything. If I wanted I could make a land scanner script and not need 20 different scripts to do it.

Something STINKS.

I've seen that object in Metis, I highly doubt them 20 scripts are just land scanners, and plus, what's the point? It just eats up resources and annoys neighbors. Reminds me of the billboard wars.

Correcting my own post.

I noticed that land that is purchased but the purchase is not completed (i.e. the purchaser does not confirm the tier increase), also reverts to Linden-owned fairly quickly - about a week or so. I have seen this for land won at auction and then claimed (in Afton), or First Land lots (in Hanson), and for lots bought in regular player-to-player transactions (in Ohno).

Land bought at auction but not claimed lasts much longer currently, but I would expect LL to tighten up on that soon. I see a huge number of "still blue" parcels won by at least one large purchaser sitting there for weeks on end. One way to avoid tier fees, I suppose. I'd like to at least see a rule added where you can't bid on any more auctions if you have unclaimed auction land over 7 days old.

And yes, I spend far too much time repeatedly checking About Land windows All the above examples were on land next to land I owned, though - I swear!

If I remember right the 20 scripts were a matter of speed, sharing the work so they could scan the entire sim and report quickly.

It eats resources, but you gotta put it in context Eins, these are people that don't think like you, me, or many many other people.. These are the folks of the 'I can therefore I will' camp. I mean the crux of the last argument was 'You didn't expressly deny me ability to build on your property, therefore I can do as I please'.

And with those words, another grain of freedom slipped through the hourglass of community.

I remember that thread each time I have to fly 5 minutes to rez a vehicle, when my animator hits a no-script property line, and when I bounce over a grid or red bars.

Times, they are a-changing my friend.

Siggy.

Well, a few of us could get together and threaten to super-script sims if this kind of thing isn't moderated...

Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.