Are Home Defense Systems considered abuse?

The ability to mark your land as protected has limitations because the protected area extends only 30 meters high or thereabouts. People can still hover just outside the protected range, zoom their camera in on you, etc. Even worse, if you have rooms or balconies or whatnot that extend up close to the protected boundary, somebody hovering just outside the protected range can hear your chat.

So, some folks choose to build skyboxes on their property, above the default flight layer (175 meters max for normal, unaugmented flight height). This gives you a little more visual and chat privacy. However, it's still not perfect privacy because there are dozens of vehicles and personal flight devices that make it easy to fly to and hover at any altitude.

I see there are several different home defense systems available, which can work in a variety of ways. Most of them can autoscan for AVs in a spherical range up to 96 meters from the location of the home defense system's prim object. Most can eject an unwanted AV from your land or teleport an unwanted AV to their home location. Most also feature a "push" that can be very strong or very weak. You could push an unwanted AV several sims away or just 50 meters or so from the boundary of the defense system's scan range.

For skybox privacy, such a system set to deal with AVs who aren't on an explicit access list, and who come within, say, 40 meters of your skybox, seems like an ideal solution. What I'm not sure of, however, is whether this constitutes a reportable abuse offense.

A. Your skybox is located outside of the normal lanes of travel (above 175 meters).

B. Your HDS sphere of influence is tuned to also be outside the normal lanes of travel (its sphere of influence does not extend below 175 meters).

C. Nobody can be affected by your HDS unless they fly above the normal lanes of travel and close enough to your skybox to trigger the HDS.

D. AVs flying within the normal lanes of travel can fly under your skybox, down onto your property, etc. without triggering the HDS and getting pushed away or whatever.

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Would using an HDS in this manner constitute an reportable abuse? I'm confused because of the wording of the applicable clause in the Community Standards (the "Big Six", which seem to apply to an AV intentionally targeting and harrassing another AV:

"Assault - Most areas in Second Life are identified as Safe. Assault in Second Life means: shooting, pushing, or shoving another Resident in a Safe Area (see Global Standards below); creating or using scripted objects which singularly or persistently target another Resident in a manner which prevents their enjoyment of Second Life."

What do you think? I don't want to get in trouble or mess with anyone's enjoyment of the game, but I DO want visual and chat privacy in my skybox, and feel that I'm entitled to that since SL's default privacy tools are rather lacking in capability.

It depends.

If your script gives appropriate warning and uses only an llUnSit() and llEjectFromLand(), then probably not.

If it beats the agent with llTeleportAgentHome() a few hundred times in a row, then most definately.

Personally, I'm sick of these scripts. Most are totally miss-set and missmanaged and reach out and swat passerby just because. Since no one can steal or vandalise your property anyway, keeping people off your land gains you nothing when you're off-line. There's no such thing as privacy when you're on-line, as any avatar can easily peek anywhere they like at any time (there's more than just swinging the camera around) so the scecurity scripts don't gain you much there, either.

The only time these scripts are at all useful is in combatting greifers, and then you can be specific to one or a group of avatars, and it doesn't need to effect passerby.

I don't abuse report people when they use privacy scripts. I respect their need to not associate with me.

On the other hand, they generally consider it rude of me to not bother ever replying to them when they want my attention. I don't get that really since it was their decision to lock me out of their existance in the first place.

The following two situations happen way too many times to be concidered "legitimate":

Situation 1:
Fly.
Fly.
Fly.
Fly.
Sudden black teleport screen with multiple error sounds as a script try to teleport you home 50 times a second.
Crash/limbo/teleport success.

Situation 2:
Fly.
Fly.
Fly.
Fly.
Dialog message saying you're going to be shoved in 10 seconds unless you go away.
Momentary panic trying to figure out where the hell the edge of the parcel is.
Teleport screen, crash/limbo/teleport success.

If the script is aggressive in its range or function I abuse report. If it does anything except -gently- push me away I abuse report.

There's nothing worse than to be leading a hot air balloon tour for a group of newbies only to hit one of these obnxious 'defense' systems and have everyone unseated and either thrown to the four winds or forced to relog because of aggressing teleport home. It has a way of putting a wet blanket over the tour, and tarnishes newbies' first impressions of SL's residents.

-Ghoti

If I want privacy I will IM... and keep my minimap out.

Fuschichou, since the Lindens have apparently not cared to intervene in abuse of push script HDS', I don't think you have anything to worry about if you get one.

I haven't gotten to the point where home security is a major concern for me, but I can definitely see how it might reach the point where I do NOT want certain individuals even coming close to my land. At that point, ARs be damned, I will defend myself from intruders.

What I want though, is the ability to add specific names to the script who would be auto-ejected (not teleported) after a few seconds' warning. Nothing violent or radical, and only within a limited range of my skyloft. I built my home that high for privacy sake, and if my privacy is at risk I will take it to the next step.

I don't mind a gentle shove to get the point across. I can take the hint. Getting blown across the sim and/or having to relog is fairly rude. It isn't really necessary.

I don't AR anyone for this kind of automated response system, though.

Secondlife is one of the most social-based programs I've ever seen, yet some people apparently join only to recluse themselves somewhere and severely punish people for the crime of trying to drop by to say hi (with no warning).

I have yet to see a really cool reason for a security script. I make it a point to poke around on the property with abusive security scripts after being forced to relog. So far, I've found nothing much beyond crappy porn-laden boxes and sex balls. All unattended, mind you.

I'm enduring the childish behavior of one of my neighbors as well. Perhaps I'll get an answer with my Hotline post.

Home defense scripts are probably the most silly invention I've seen in SL.

I think the main problem is that people are attracted to the whole "playing house" factor in SL, but fail to take into account that they are sharing the world with a bunch of other people. As much as nobody wants to admit it, everyone on one level or another has some voyeuristic tendencies.

This combined with the fact that SL has some very flexible camera controls (as required for building) and a rather powerful scripting interface means that there is zero privacy outside of IM or a private island that is hidden from the map.

We don't need the Lindens to intervene. We're well capable of dealing with antisocial people socially without crying to the parental types.

what the heck are home security scripts for? i don't understand them at all!

When a home security script teleports you home or launches you in such a way that you have to relog, teleport, or do more than just make a minor course correction when you are simply and innocently flying through a sim, MUST be abuse reported.

I've flown through a sim at 500m altitude at 150m/s (really, really, really fast) and had a so-called "Home Security Script" (aka griefer script) teleport me home without notice.

*shrug*
If it unseats me from a vehicle, or by push or teleport causes me to crash... it's abuse and I'll report it as such.
If there's little or no warning it's abuse and I'll report it as such.

The main issue is things take so long to rez that you can be caught in one of these things before you even knew you were over someone's land...

Yes

Just a reminder that Proposition 244 (Linked in my Sig) - Is designed with the intention of making security scripts irrelevant and unneccesary.

If you haven't taken a look at it already, please do!

Their primary function is to tell you that the owner doesn't want you around doesn't want to talk to you never wants to have anything to do with you just go away now what part of this do you not understand?

Their secondary function is to trick the owner into believing that the script offers some degree of privacy on The Grid All Hail The Central Grid so that the owner considers the script indespensable. There is no actual privacy; that's not possible on the mainland. But the illusion is the only tool the script has available to manipulate the owner into letting it live.

The Community Standards State:

***

3. Assault
Most areas in Second Life are identified as Safe. Assault in Second Life means: shooting, pushing, or shoving another Resident in a Safe Area (see Global Standards below); creating or using scripted objects which singularly or persistently target another Resident in a manner which prevents their enjoyment of Second Life.

Global Standards, Local Ratings
All areas of Second Life, including the www.secondlife.com website and the Second Life Forums, adhere to the same Community Standards. Locations within Second Life are noted as Safe or Unsafe and rated Mature (M) or non-Mature (PG), and behavior must conform to the local ratings. Any unrated area of Second Life or the Second Life website should be considered non-Mature (PG).

***
With this in mind, I would think that if you were super paranoid about people being on your land, all you would have to do is set your land as "Unsafe". If "Assault in Second Life means: shooting, pushing, or shoving another Resident in a Safe Area", then once your land is set to "Unsafe" it would no longer be considered "assault" or "abuse", at least that is my interpretation.

I filed my first-ever AR this week on a homeowner with a security script.

I lifted off from an adjacent property and was climbing fairly rapidly over their house. I was bounced immediately and with no warning.

I flew back to make sure I had the right property owner and then AR'd them. I also neg-rated the property with a notice that the AR had been filed and an explanation as to why.

The next day I received a whine-o-gram to the effect that I should've contacted the owner, helped with the system settings, yadda, yadda, yadda, "we can't all be as smart as you."

In a spasm of remorse, I pulled up the owner's profile, thinking I'd been unduly harsh with a new player, and that maybe I had jumped the gun and should back out the neg...only to discover that the player is about twice as old as I am. So the neg and the AR stayed.

But I did learn to think before I react immediately next time...in some cases, we may be dealing with a naive user, and maybe a single warning (with time to correct) before taking action is appropriate, since that's what we expect from their security systems.

-- jj

PS I should mention that the Lindens sent both the acknowledgement and closure notifications on this issue within two hours of my filing it. Either it was a slow day, or they take these bounce scripts very seriously...

No. Though the "letter of the law" may appear that way, the clear spirit of the law is "don't #*&$ with people who don't want to be #*&$ed with."
Trying to interpret it to allow useless security scripts to randomly and remotely greif passerby will, at best, result in having the TOS changed, runining it for those who want to be able to shoot one another an thier land.

I couldn't agree with you more about not $#%ing with people who don't want to be @#%ed with. I would certainly not interpret the rule within the context of griefing a mere passerby for the sheer twisted desire of it. Frankly, I find that incredibly obnoxious and distasteful. However, I would not consider a home defense system "abuse", if it is used within its intended sense (privacy from snoopers, stalkers, griefers, etc). Yes, nearly anything in the wrong hands can be turned into a tool of destruction. I know there have been situations where people have been completely blocked from their own land by a neighbor griefing with a home defense system. Nevertheless, setting your land to "Unsafe" is a Linden allowed option for any land owner and is clearly made known at the top of the screen to anyone who *chooses* to venture upon it.

I reported a security shove for the first time the other day because i am fed up. I was flying at normal default fly height over the sim of Blue when suddenly I was thrown 2 sims away and ended up off world at a sim edge in the water. This unpleasant boost was accompanied by the message that I was not on the parcel access list.

If I was on the ground and was pushed by someone more than 2 sims away there is no question that would be PVP abuse. Why is it different when that person employs a script to do it to me while flying at the LL default fly over height.

If LL is going to allow these overly aggressive push scripts to be used for home security then we should be able to have the choice for a hugher default flying height so avoiding the push is automatic.

I reported this damn script in Blue as too aggresive and I hope the owner is asked to remove it.

Bingo.

The best "security" is the mini-map. Anything else is a waste of system resources (and from my personal observations often poorly designed). If you want security, log off.

The security bouncers and teleport scripts are just paranoid griefing crap. Now, if you're online and you don't want anyone to bug you, then maybe, ok, I can see it ALMOST. But most of the griefing from these damn things are when you're peacefully flying somewhere where there are no people, the land owners offline, nobodies home and BAM! off you go spinning into the air.

What? I'm gonna steal your silverwear? Tomato your door? TP your house?

Paranoid griefer crap, all of it.