Live Snapshots on Second Life.com

In an effort to capture the raw, spontaneous nature of Second Life, Linden Lab recently launched a cool new homepage featuring live snapshots taken by Residents. I know that some of you have questions about this. Here’s how it works...

Postcards from Second Life originate in the Second Life client, and can be pulled onto websites along with landmarks. For example, Cristiano Midnight’s successful webpage Snapzilla (sluniverse.com/pics) publicly posts snapshots from Residents who email the address [email]pics@sluniverse.com[/email].

In the future, Second Life’s postcard user interface will contain a checkbox asking postcard senders if they’d like to publish their images publicly. Until then, Cristiano Midnight has been kind enough to grant us permission to use the email address [email]pics@sluniverse.com[/email] as a funnel for our homepage snapshots, ensuring that the postcards are intended for public viewing. Linden Lab then filters the images by only selecting snapshots taken in PG sims, since our website (and PG sims) are not allowed to contain nudity or offensive language.

Please respond to this post with any questions you have. We’re really excited about the new homepage, and we want you to be excited about it, too.

You should make the pictures themselves "clickable".

The fact that the coordinates are not underlined it's not clear there is a link for new users to use.



Can you tell us how the "Transactions Today" are calculated?

Also, there is a very awkward looking big gap in my version of web browser (ie 6.0) between the slpics and the secondlife.com map.

The filter does not work. I took snapshots in a mature sim and they were shown on the webpage. They were not inappropraite pictures but they were taken in a mature sim. Just an FYI.

A couple points...

First off - I think the filter that Lauren is referring to is not in place yet - and pulling from slpics.com is just a temporary solution. That'd explain why your pics showed up, Beau.

Secondly - This is probably an argument I'm going to lose, but I'll make my point anyway:

I run a G-rated venue that happens to be located within a Mature sim. (What's Mature about the Shelter - is the majority of our regulars are over 30 in age).

What this means for me, is that no pics from the Shelter will be able to be displayed on the front-end website like everyone else. That kinda sucks - I wish there was a way for me to be included while still maintaining the website's PG nature.

That said, I respect that the needs of the community may outweigh the needs of the individual. Lauren - if there was another way to do this and accomplish the same goal, it'd be pretty awesome

When this filter is in place, what's to stop someone who happens to be standing in a PG sim from snapping a scene in a mature sim just across the border? Short of limiting our current camera function and draw distances, I think this idea is a bit short-sighted in and of itself.

And we know how effective that is.

All my pictures are immature - so I guess I'm ok

This is probably a knock on wood kind of thing to say, but Snapzilla has not been plagued by porn or offensive images - I can count on one hand the number of images I've removed since launch, and we are up to almost 10,000 snapshots. I think any concerns over the home page are probably fairly minor. There is a small risk of something showing up there, but as long as it is monitored it should be fine.

Hey there-

About 10 minutes ago we deployed our PG-sim filter as well as the "live pictures on map" feature (sweet!). Prior to that, we were still using pictures from mature sims.

Good point about the pics being clickable, Blaze. We're on it. Also, we're sorry for that awkward issue that occurred with your browser. It has been fixed. Please let me know if there are any other technical problems.

Just to be extra clear, we are not pulling images from Snapzilla. Rather, we are "CCing" our website on images that are sent to [email]pics@sluniverse.com[/email] to ensure that they are meant for public viewing. Cristiano Midnight of SL Universe has been really cool about this.

We would certainly prefer to show PG images from mature sims in addition to images from PG sims. However, until the "checkbox" feature is in place, we feel that our safest bet is to pull images only from PG sims. Hang in there, Travis. That feature will be here soon enough. Don't forget about Snapzilla (pics@sluniverse.com)!

[email]pics@slpics.com[/email] is less typing and works, too

A reminder to everyone that when you send a picture postcard out of Second Life to [email]pics@sluniverse.com[/email], the User Interface automatically pops in the e-mail address you supplied Linden Labs for the game in "my account" at www.secondlife.com. It pops it in and greys it out, so you can't opt to change it to an alternative e-mail.

When the postcard arrives at [email]pics@sluniverse.com[/email], the webmaster receives an e-mail that has your e-mail return address on it, and he can and does view it (this is how he was able to contact me recently in-game to say he noticed I was using his service and posting photos but without captions).

If there is some *other* technical way in which the webmaster can identify these e-mails, i.e. with letter/number IDs, that doesn't take away from the point that you can and will be identifiable when you write to this service, and identifiable with information that you had previously vouchsafed only to Linden Labs.

What that means is that if you have two or more accounts, with the same e-mail attached to them, the webmaster can and does view the e-mails and can match them and out an alt or a RL/SL connection if he so desires.

In previous threads, some closed, after much discussion, we received Cristiano's word that he does not store email addresses, he does not contrast and compare them in order to out alts or track people in RL, nor does he publicize e-mail addresses on his site without consent.

However, if you are concerned about this issue, as you should be with any third-party site that has not signed the Terms of Service of Linden Labs (regarding privacy disclosure of RL information among other things), then you should go into your account and change your RL e-mail to a hotmail/yahoo/anonymizer type of e-mail address so that you can keep your privacy. This is just common sense when you are on the Internet and many hands along the way can grab your information.

When using the send postcard feature from inside SL, you're sending an email. That's the purpose of the tool, so I don't think it's unreasonable for your return email address included. Since you could conceivably be emailing offensive things originating from from inside SL, it's a good idea to have a verified email address attached to it. If you're concerned about the privacy of your email address then save snapshots to your computer and upload them to sites where you'd like to post them. Then it will only be connected to whatever info you provided when you registered for whatever site it is.

hehehe

Prokofy,

I don't know why you are obsessed with spreading misinformation, but I do not see the email addresses. The mailbox is automatically processed and the emails are discarded. I contacted you in world because your pictures say Prokofy Neva on them. Not exactly rocket science. This has been covered clearly in the privacy policy from the start. Please stop spreading misinformation, it is tiring.

I decided I wanted to respond to this more completely:


Again, you are saying that I can and do view them. You are making a statement about my actions which is a lie, and I am tired of this Prokofy. You are so outraged about misinformation about you being spread, yet you have no problem doing it to others. Every single postcard that is sent out contains the avatar name embedded in it - that is how I know who the email comes from. This information is then displayed on the site. I know that is not as interesting as claiming I somehow cross check email addresses and IP addresses and involve Google satellite maps, but the information is in every snapshot. The email is not processed by hand, or even viewed - there is a program running on the web server that processes the email every 3 minutes, strips out the information it needs (the information clearly stated in the privacy policy), and deletes the email.




I do not know why you continue to make direct statements about what I supposedly do, but as with all of the previous statements you made, this is in fact a lie, once again. I do not view the emails, I do not match them, and I do not out alts. Quit making completely false and baseless accusations, Prokofy. I demand that you stop doing this immediately.

And thank you Lauren, for bringing this subject to better attention.

Cristiano,

Explaining my perception of something is not "lying" and I am persisting in questioning this because I think it is a matter of public interest what kind of partners Linden Labs signs up to receive information from inside the game, and what happens to that information.

Trying to evade responsibility for accountability by attacking me on some technical misunderstanding or some lack of grasp of "teh Intarweb" with its tinfoil hatted dogs just doesn't cut it. You and I both know you can and do take IPs and emails -- the only open question is whether you use them or not.

So please stop using loaded terms like "misinformation" or "lying" when what you need to do is clarify and commit to decent behaviour.

The fact of the matter is, the e-mail definitely pops into the user interface. It is definitely visibly there. So you get it. What you do with it is known only to you.



You claimed in those now closed and forceported-away threads that it was possible to post ANONYMOUSLY. And yet it is NOT anonymous, as you here state. When my picture goes up to the Linden Labs site, I don't see RANDOM UNSUNG or PROKOFY NEVA or anything written on it whatsoever. I don't see my e-mail, either. If I happen to be in the picture myself, having taken a picture of myself, well, ok, that's fine, but how do you know I took it?

If the pictures that go up on the game website show neither the avatar name, or the e-mail, or anyting whatsoever, then I do wonder why all that information remains encoded or embedded in the e-mail as it goes to sluniverse.com such that it then becomes your property -- and your property, without having signed the TOS of Linden Labs.



I don't care how many times you explain this (and the story changes a bit each time you tell it), *we have only your word*. And when I look at pictures on the website at sluniverse.com I see that it has names on it, like MrsJakal Sauvage is the one currently dispplaying this minute.

Well, MrsJakal Sauvage sent it from the avatar by that name, but she and everyone else has to be mindful of the fact that if she were to send a picture of herself logged in as an alt, that alt's name will show, and will then be linked -- the alt's name and the content of the picture.

Like I said in my post, it isn't important HOW the information is all linked. It isn't important whether it is done by recording and contrasting the windchill factor in Miami with the price of fish in China. Whether it is IPs and emails as well, again, we have only your word.

What IS important is that when you send something out of SL that you might think is anonymous, when you send it up to the Linden Labs webpage where it remains anonymous, by the time it comes to show up on your page, it now is traceable to the avatar name of the account from which you sent it. So residents should be aware of this when sending pictures.



I do not "lie," Cristiano, I make suppositions. If they are incorrect, you can correct them. But again, we have *only your word*. All I know is I have sent out information with my email, my avatar name, and the contents of a picture. It wasn't information that displays on Linden Lab's website. But when it gets to you, now that information is displayed. You then contact me in the game because my name is showing. It is NOT possible to send the pictures anonymously as you claimed (unless you mean that the SL avatar is the "anonymity" -- but we know how worthless that concept is.

Chip's comment is more on the money:



He says not only that it is not unreasonable, he assumes that it is the norm that the e-mail goes out, and SHOULD go out. And I agree. I actually think sending pictures anonymously outside of this game to a third-party website is an action that is fraught with unintended and even malicious consequences. Casinos, for example, have laws that you cannot photograph the patrons in them as they are betting. People don't want pictures of themselves playing in a casino. In the same fashion, even if the pictures are PG, not everyone wants pictures going all over the place so they need to understand how they are used and what is on them.

The answer to the problem is to use an email associated with this game that isn't your RL work or personal email that has your RL name on it, etc.

Let me say that the people from the IRC channel who hate me send me really horrible and vicious hate mail with anonymizers. That ought to be sufficient proof that they believe in the value of anonymizers.

May I remind Cristiano, the FIC, and the mods that this is a legitimate matter of public interest and it is wrong to suggest simple inquiries and suppositions based on past statements are "lies" and "personal insults" and all the rest.

What we need is a crystal-clear statement from both Linden Labs and from Sluniverse.com, it's partner, that they do not store or misuse the personal information contained in e-mails sent from inside the game. We can then only hold them to their word, but at least they and we will understand what their obligation is before we participate in the activity.

Learn to understand the difference between trolling, and raising matters of public interest which are critical and legitimate.

Meanwhile, I've since learned the use of the little red button for personal insults, especially vicious ones with obscene language in them.

Prokofy,

I am not going to respond point by point again because I am tired of your circular game that you always play. I will state the following:

I never claimed anywhere that you can send pictures to Snapzilla anonymously. I said it does not require registration, and that the IP addresses do not come from users - they are from the LL mail servers. It is easy for you to make comments about a closed thread, but do not misrepresent my statements. Your suppositions are simply accusations, and it is tiring, Prokofy.

Additionally, there is already a crystal clear statement on the use of the postcard emails that are sent to Snapzilla, so your demand for one is silly.

From the SLUniverse.com privacy policy:

4/2/2005 - Update to Privacy Policy

To support a change added to the email postcards in version 1.6 of Second Life, the location information (sim name and x/y coordinates) of each snapshot is being saved in addition to the information listed below that is saved as part of processing the email. The display of exact coordinates will be an opt out feature of Snapzilla - pictures will be filterable by sim name.

3/27/2005 - Update to Privacy Policy

A new feature has been added to Snapzilla that allows users to email snapshots to a friend. The names and email addresses the snapshots are sent to and from are not tracked or saved. The only tracking being done is a count of how many times each snapshot has been sent.


03/04/2005 - Update to Privacy Policy:

In regards to the Snapzilla photo blogging service, the email addresses that the emails are sent from are not being viewed, recorded or stored in any way. The emails are automatically processed and then deleted. The only information saved from the emails is the snapshot, subject, message, and sender name. Additionally, the location information of the image will be stored in the future as well to allow teleporting to a location - it is not currently available. For more information, please contact [email]snapzilla@sluniverse.com[/email].

Please refrain from personally attacking one another in the SL Forums. The personal attacks in this thread have been removed. Please remember that language such as "fraud liar, cheater, griefer, troller, jerk, scam artist" etc is strongly discouraged, but will not be removed"

Chris, I love your site and the updates you have made. I am sorry you are having to go through all of this explanation over and over again. Thanks again for providing such a nice service.