My summary of how CopyBot works and what it can and cant do

I collected this information from a developer from libsecondlife, who was helpful in answering my technical questions and getting to the bottom of what it can and can't do. Thanks to Ishtara for pointing out some deficiencies in my original account.

CopyBot is a program written by libsecondlife to debug an open-source Second Life client API. It intercepts and interprets communications from the Second Life server and the custom client. This information includes descriptive information about primitive shapes, body shapes, baked avatar textures, and primitive textures. Using this information, avatars and primitives can be duplicated and reconstructed by the client. The creator of the new object will be that of the account used to log in with the custom client.

The CopyBot client is a primitive SecondLife client. The avatar will first appear as the basic Ruth female avatar, until it copies the form of another avatar. The CopyBot avatar can not move. It can only teleport. It is not designed to speak in vicinity and only responds to IMs. The CopyBot operates through commands IM’d to it by another avatar, and can only duplicate items in the direct vicinity, so its operator is likely to be close by. The target of a copy operation can be another avatar, or a prim object. If the target is an avatar, it gets the avatars shape and all prim attachments, which appear in the inventory of the CopyBot. Note that it does not get any clothing items — it only gains the baked texturing of the target avatar. If the target is an unattached object, the object is created 3 meters above the CopyBot avatar’s head. Note, this will not be successful in sims where object creation is disabled. The CopyBot client can not pick up the object. The thief must log out of CopyBot and log in with the standard SecondLife client to pick up the object. Avatar shapes are not maintained when the CopyBot logs off, so can not be saved.

In summary:

What can the CopyBot create a copy of?
- fully textured objects attached to avatars in proximity
- fully textured objects in proximity
- prim clothing, like shoes and skirts
- prim hairstyles
- all custom avatars (furry), without special features like eye blinking

What can the CopyBot not copy?
- any object contents, including scripts, animations, sounds and textures
- clothing
- shapes
- textures (objects are textured but the CopyBot does not get the original textures)

Implications:
- If CopyBot copies you, only your attachments can be transfered, not your shape, clothing, appearance.
- If CopyBot copies your attachments, the attachments will be simple objects without any special functionality since they will not contain scripts, animations, etc.
- If CopyBot copies your product vendor, it will only get an object that looks like your vendor. It will not contain your product or any of the vendor scripts.
- The same is true for unattached objects.
- You can turn off object creation in sims containing unattached objects you do not wish to be duplicated

I hope this helps to answer some of your questions.

~Szentasha

And - to quote from another poster on the blog:

1. Ishtara Rothschild Says:
   November 15th, 2006 at 1:10 am And since you can wear any linkset as an attachment, the CopyBot can not only create fully textured full perm copies of regular avatar attachments but also any decorative prim object. The summary should read like this:
   
   What can the CopyBot create a FULL PERMISSION copy of?
   - Prim clothing like shoes or skirts
   - Virtually every hairstyle in SL, since everyone uses prim hair
   - Every furry avatar, without the trivia like scripted blinking eyes
   - Every linkset that doesn’t essentially need scripts - including houses, prim plants and trees and furniture
   
   Szentasha’s summary reads way too harmless.
   
   

What can't the copybot copy?

- Every little bit of functionality built into your attachment including

-- even the simplest bling
-- the menus and customization options most halfway sophisticated attachments have
-- the update functionality that is used by many for customer service
-- the attachment to supporting systems like for example cooperation with combat sim systems

All it gives you is a hollow shell ( that can look quite nice )

Sorry, pedantic I know but it's nice to see a summary. Thankyou Szentasha.

Since CopyBot sees exactly what any SL client sees, it can copy just that.

It does not copy scripts because scripts are not downloaded unless requested, like to edit. If the person does not have permission to view a script on a normal SL client, it can not be duplicated by CopyBot.

With that said, this leads me to point out that the CopyBot is really blown out of propotion from all the hype.

First, has anybody found out if anything what CopyBot has done has actually been saved, duplicated, distributed, and resold?

Second, how many people have taken pictures from the Internet or photographs of real life items that may be copyrighted and uploaded them to Second Life?

There are people who have scanned or screenprinted real life clothes into Second Life, and they sell them!

I more than suspect that CopyBot was used just for learning, fun, or to make a professional tool move your objects from SL to a local design studio (Yes, it can copy more then just yours...), and that there is very little to no actual copyright infringement.

Also, I suspect that there is lots of potential infringement for the images that many people upload.

Lastly, the final solution to this is to realize that bottom line concern here is the same in both instances described above. The effort to point fingers at CopyBot is a waste of time. Because the hype has gone way out of hand, many businesses have shut down "until fixed." Any attempt to ban CopyBot or act likewise may settle hype, but I believe more will be lost if businesses do not try to stay open.

I posted my own experiences with Copybot here, and everything I figured out how to do with it jibes with Szentasha's post.

I would like to point out from a user standpoint:

1. its not a piece of cake to use. I couldn't get copy by UUID to work for the longest time, apparently it has to be something the copybot is looking directly at.
   
2. And when I say directly, I mean directly. There's no way to make copybot walk (without pushing it with your main av) or to control its camera. Whatever/whoever you're copying has to be within your line of natural sight.
   
3. You need control of two accounts simultaneously to use this, and while theoretically they don't need to be in the same place as the commands run via IM, I don't see how you could work it with the control av in one sim and the copybot in another.
   
4. the creation time seems to heavily depend on sim speed and lag. One instance I let copybot run trying to copy a heavy primmed skirt and it still didn't complete the job before I gave up and copied someone else.
   

Overall, its an extremely clunky and certainly not foolproof way of trying to get illegitimate copies of items. In my personal opinion, shutting down any shop to prevent theft (protest is different situation) is pointless, UNLESS your store presents the final items unboxed, i.e. prefab housing displays. Anyone using Copybot to steal items for resale will have to either purchase a copy of your item in order to have access to it to copy (and even then they can't copy the contents), or chance across it on the grid being displayed or worn. If you run a prefab display, turn off Create Objects on your land and that will prevent Copybot from creating a duplicate.

So what is taking on the shape of the targeted avatar?


A dummy bot, or an actual avatar?


if its an actual avatar has anyone tried going into "appearance" and getting the # positions that make up the shape?





when it copies the prims, like from a furry, its theres to keep?


new word out is that theres a version that can save all of this stuff. Blah.

The targeted avatar is mirrored by a legitimate avatar account that you previously created (let's call him Joe Avatar) which is logged in via the copybot program - which isn't the full client of SL.

Go to Start -> Run and type in "ping secondlife.com". See the black box that comes up? That's what the copybot client looks like. Its a black box with a command line, you type in Joe Avatar's name and password and it connects to the server. Joe Avatar appears inworld but you'd only be able to tell if you ALSO have the SL client running, being logged in as a different avatar. You can't control anything you normally could on Joe Avatar copybot because the SL program doesn't run simultaneously with the copybot program - if you have one running and then try starting the other with the same account information, it'll turn the first one off.

Now because you can't access Joe Avatar's inventory etc. with Joe Avatar logged in as a copybot, in addition to the fact that relogging as Joe Avatar with the SL client will revert the shape that Joe Avatar copied back to Ruth/default, there's no way to get the slider numbers for the shape that you used Joe Avatar copybot to copy.

I hope that made sense, its kinda confusing if you aren't seeing it in person.


*EDIT: rest of your post: Joe Avatar copybot can copy a furry's attachments, but not the scripts inside them. Anything that makes it blink, change color, brings up a HUD, etc. will not come through the copy process. I don't know anything about any other versions, I only tested the one I found that was still available around 5PM SLT.

Ah I understand, someone offered to show me- not sure if it was you, gonna go in world and see if theyre on.

Now that I know my avatar shape can be copied but not kept I dont really care. I only have a problem if someone can get it and keep it



Should I be concerned about the new talk of "omg theres something new that can save everything!!111"

*edit* ah ok @ the "newer version" response. I felt most save closing my shop, I will wait a few days to see. I dont know what to believe right now

That was probably me, I sent you an IM inworld since I was demoing it people at the time anyway. If you want to see it tomorrow drop me a line.

Re: something new that can save everything!!1eleventytwelve - no idea. Basically at this point I'll believe it when either I see it, or libSL/LL says its so. You would need the source code for the copybot program as opposed to the compiled version which I have in order to modify what commands it responds to, and even then you're still limited by what specific information gets passed to the SL client, a subject upon which I have the only the most general knowledge of.

Yep, sure id like to see it whenever you get a chance.

thanks

Copybot needs to be blocked somehow. I understand LL is baffled as to how to do it, but a solution needs to be made. No other MMO allows stealing of content. If your cought duping an item on EQ or WoW, you could get more then baned... You risk being sued. Doesn't matter what country your in. This isnt RL so RL regulations should not have any say in this. This should not be treated like some DVD Recorder you can record your favorit movie with. Owning one is ok but using it for this is ilegal?

This is a MMO. Other MMOs do not allow this and rewrite their games/programs to block it. 3rd party applications that hack the client and cause you to do harm should be 100% ilegal. BLizzard Entertainment use spyware to detect if their users are using such a thing, and deletes their account, then sends them a email telling them they are being fined. SOE just does the last 2. What i want is for LL to try and counter this hack.

Spyware is ok if used in terms as a anti virus or Potentually Unwanted Program killer. I don't believe LL knows how though. LL didnt script this bot, so they probably can't re-engineer it to only work on your land on your objects... But take this example for hand. Poeple make avatars of cartoon characters all the time, aswel as replicas of things from games and movies. thats copying by hand. There's no way to stop that until after it's been done.

This bot was scripted for the aoul purpose of taking exact copies and claiming it to be yours. LL considers wrongful uses of it to be ilegal. So if they wish to protect content they should find a way to block it. I've seen complete replicas of things from movies, like the car from back to the future. It might be a copy, but it was done by hand. i see that as different then making a program to hack into another and steal it. Even though both are sorta just as bad.

One last thing i need to add, is if LL turns their back on us about protecting copyright, doesn't that put THEM in risk? When lawyers get involved that is..

This is what i don't get about LL. They released all these griefers on us by allowing any old fool to make a free account repeatedly with no end. They force us to have to deal with them. We have to put up our own blockages and security. Not them. Now if they allow these programs to do stuff like this it's about the same thing. Their leaving it up to us to handle it... My way to handle it is to just delete all my content and go out the same way Starax went.

Sorry for bothering, everybody here, but I'd like to ask Cory to read the PM from me because it is hard to notice.
The substance is about asking her to allow me to translate her article for Japanese people.

Thanks.

.. it can't copy anything made with flex prims. A friend demonstrated CopyBot for me, and it was unable to duplicate the flex prims in my clothing, only the rigid ones.

Also, it may not be possible to detect the use of a CopyBot - since it uses the identical protocol as the regular client does, and talks to the servers in exactly the same way, attempts to block its use would only result in a game of Catch-Me-If-You-Can, which Linden Labs could never win. For every change, the CopyBot code can be updated to compensate. The Lindens would always be playing a game of catch-up, and always one step behind.

Thanks for posting this Szentasha.

I had the same problems with the UUID's, Cory, it wouldn't catch things unless a scanner was used in some cases.

Also this thing needs to build stuff over the head of the bot, which makes use of it pretty obvious to everyone in sight. I don't know if it does this with everything but it did when I watched it and it was just copying my avatar. And it needs to be close to what it is copying.

If you can turn of build on your land, it will prevent the bot from copying anything. This is good news for once, not the final answer, but one prevention. Spamming everyone with !quit isn't going to be any longterm solution, especially since they can just mute it.