Safety of Items?

I've had people just walk up to me and just hand me things (like t-shirts, etc). I'm guessing that most of the time these are pretty benign objects, but is there any way to tell for sure before wearing/rezzing it?

Can harmful scripts be placed into things like clothing? I'm guessing yes. I think you can tell if an item contains a script, but is there any sure way to know what the script might be doing?

How do I tell if an object in my possession is safe or not?

Scripts cannot be placed in regular clothing, skins or body parts. They can be placed in prim objects (the ones with brown box icon) but any script placed inside won't be executed until the item is rezzed in world (dragged and dropped onto ground)

unless the script is provided with modify rights which allow you to read its content, there's no real way to see what the script will do until it starts doing it. For extra safety, you might want to rezz items you suspect to be unsafe only in places like Sandboxes. It doesn't necessarily help to contain them, but they're hopefully monitored more closely than a random sim in some corner of world ^^;

Much as clothing designers would love to make scriptable clothing (imagine a 'multi-skirt' with several texture options!), it simply can't be done in SL. There is no 'content' area in a shirt, skirt, pants, etc. for a script to be added to.

Prim parts, including add-on soles for shoes and boots, certainly can have scripts, and those scripts DO become active when you attach the item to yourself, without rezzing the item on the ground. So as the previous poster mentioned, any item that has a box icon could, concievably, contain a script.

I believe there are a few public sandboxes that always have scripts turned off. Such places are a safe place to examine an unknown object, as any scripts in them would be unable to activate if rezzed or attached while there. A parcel owner can also turn scripting off on their parcel, to check a potentially unsafe item.

Thanks Ceera. If scripts are turned off, though, how can you tell if it's going to do something bad? Nothing at all will happen, right?

If scripts are turned off, you can look at the content of the item by editing it, and if the scripts are there and are not protected, you can examine the script first to see what it does. Mostly this would be useful for detecting an unexpected script. For example, if someone gave me a candle, I would expect a flame object and a 'rez flame' script. But if I found a script named 'Kaboom!', I'd be more than a little worried!

In the long run, if you're really unsure of the source of an item, it's best to delete it. It is quite possible to take existing benign content and make a griefing object that will do something harmful. It would show your name as the current owner, and the original maker's name as creator, but not who may have tweaked and altered it between those two people touching it. The Lindens are working on ways to make such changes more readily tracable, and they CAN trace the source of such objects via the asset database, even though the Players can not.

One suggestion: If you get an unsolicited free item, put it into a folder named "Gift from xxx", where xxx is the name of the person who gave it to you. Then, if the item is booby trapped, you have a record of where it came from! If something appears in your inventory and you don't KNOW who gave it to you, I would delete it. Too many griefers use that sort of distribution for their malware.

and if it asks you for debit permission, never ever ever grant it

Thanks guys. I'm not really that paranoid, just curious. In a game where pretty much anything can happen, I figure it probably does.

What are some really horrible things that scripts can do to you? They can't steal your stuff or destroy your stuff can they?

Nope. That's one cool thing about SL... you can't literally blow something up or steal rezzed objects.

If a script asks for debit permission, and you grant that permission, it could steal the entire L$ balance from that avatar. If a script asks you to provide your password, and you tell it what your password is, that script could send that info to a thief who could later log in as you and give every transferrable item you own, including any land you own, to someone else.

There are a few legitimate reasons why a script may ask for debit permission. Vending systems that you are configuring to sell your wares need this permission in order to make change if someone overpays for an item. There is NO legitamete reason for any script inside SL to EVER ask for your account password!

Other than that, it should not be able to take inventory or destroy in-world items, but could do things that could lag or crash the sim, or which can be seriously annoying, like launching you high into the stratosphere and forcing a log-off.

In general, it is a good idea to never accept or rez items unless you know the person. Clothing is the only place where one might make an exception, but there have been some instances where an article of clothing was dropped on a newbie that has some very inappropriate text on the shit. It is also common for griefer types to drop lewd animations or sound effects on newbies as well.

When in doubt...delete it.

I give out a ton of free items for new people, I can see where a greifer could give out a self replicator as part of a package.

Its a shame when items you give out to help get people started would be suspect because of all the damage that Greifers are doing to SL

If you are suspicious of Anything Given to you, Go to a Script Disabled Sandbox area so you can Safely bring it out of your Inventory for Inspection. If it is named one Object, but looks like a simple cube or ither prim, First Open it to see if the promised item is in Contents.
If all you find there is a script, You might want to Contact Live help to Discuss how to dispose of the item.(The Lindens might want to Inspect it before you do)

Any other suggestions?

Angel.