Is there really an unbannable viewer now?

So, I've heard several rumors lately that there are modified versions of the Second Life viewer that can let banned avatars get in-world. (That is, avatars whose accounts were banned by Linden Lab, versus just banned from individual properties.)

I have also heard one account from a friend who's currently being tormented by an avatar who was supposedly banned from a certain property, and can not only get onto the property but taunts that nothing can be done to stop it. Supposedly there are known methods to skirt property bans (that is, avatars NOT banned from the game who ARE banned from a given parcel of land) that don't require a modified client.

I'm just curious- who else has heard of this, and have you any first-hand knowledge to confirm the extent to which banned players are currently able to continue griefing people on the grid?

Here's the thread (on another forum) that started it all.

While I enjoy drama as much as the next person, this is one thing I'm hoping isn't true. SL is frustrating enough with the chunky rezzing times of the past week.

I am no expert, but I think it is not true.

Years ago there was a story like that going around on Ultima Online. It was proven not true. As I did understand it (and I can be wrong here), it is extreme hard to get around the login servers (and those give enterance to the game.... or not if you are banned).

Maybe a IP ban that some griefers got around?

Morwen.

Well I've learned a little bit more about it, and there is one confirmed method to get around certain bans. As far as I know, there are three ways you can be banned:

1. Property ban - A property owner places you on that parcel's ban list. You still have a SL account, but you're not allowed on the property. I'm currently trying to confirm whether my friend who first brought this up (and who is having first-hand experience with this 'banned' griefer) is seeing an avatar not allowed on a property able to get on.
   
2. Account ban - Linden Lab freezes your account; your avatar is not allowed on. It does NOT seem like there would be a client-side way to get around this. And I don't know that anyone's reported such.
   
3. Hardware ban - Linden Lab blocks any attempts to log on to Second Life from a specific computer. This is apparently easy to get around either by tweaking some settings in your operating system or by modifying the Open Source Second Life client to just spoof the hardware hash when you log on.

Like I said, I'm still gathering info...

One does exist. It's called Shooped Life, and is created by the PN griefers. I hear that LL is now permanently closing anyones account who attempts to log in with it now, and that the client also steals passwords. I recommend NOT using it if you want to keep your account. It was supposed to have allowed accounts who are IP/MAC/Hash banned to regain access.

What is the reason to hardware ban?

For someone's account that has been hacked into? What if the hardware ban the original account holder and not the hacker? (as it sounds like happened to Simone).

Generally you hardware ban if someone's obviously creating alts to come in and grief people or do other naughty things.

Doing a hardware ban - using a hash of IP address, MAC address, and/or other identifying information for the hardware itself, is intended as a way to prevent a griefer from spawning lots of alts from the same system. In theory, once added to a hardware ban list because one account coming from that system was a banned one, the detected hardware is not allowed to create more accounts or to log in from any account.

In practice, it seems pretty easy for a determined griefer to bypass. Supposedly the hardware checks LL was doing were a bit more effective than just checking one readily-changable method. But the bottom line is that it is still a poor replacement for actually requiring valid, verifyable ID for every account.

It appears that the hardware hashing method is pretty easy to circumvent, though I've never had occasion to test that theory It certainly looks easy, though, from perusing the code.

I have personally seen people that I have banned re-enter the parcel within mere minutes. I do not know what allowed this, and don't want to speculate, but I have seen it on at least 5 occasions. Perhaps SL was being glitchy (that would not surprise me at all, at all), or perhaps there is some known method for getting around parcel bans, couldn't say one way or the other.

So I've learned what the specific situation was in my friend's case. There is an avatar who was banned by the owner of a private island. She was not banned from the entire island, just a large portion of it where a club resides. This avatar has not been banned from Second Life (you can still look her up in Search People).

I checked the parcel in question and she definitely IS on the ban list there, however she has repeatedly been able to enter the land and taunt the owners and guests.

* eyes go wide *

Wait a minute. I'm pretty sure the club in question is pretty high in the sky. Aren't ban lines only effective up to a certain height? Perhaps she's only able to get into the club, and would be ejected if she tried to go down to the mall at ground level. * runs back to check... *

yes bans are effective by height if they aren't applied, at the estate level

Good point. This person is NOT in the Estate ban list, she's only in the parcel ban list. And I just learned that if you are explicitly banned from a parcel, the ban is only effective up to 768 meters. (This is different from parcels that have ACCESS lists instead of ban lists. If you simply aren't on the access list, you can supposedly enter the parcel once you get up over 200m.)

Also, I just logged in and went to the club. It's at 400 meters. Considering that she shouldn't be able to get into the parcel at heights under 768 meters, I'm still thinking something weird is going on here.

it is not clever at all to use a client not released by Lindens? those are not checked and could contain anything bad?
people use those because they are promised "god like" features?
a good friend told me once: "when something on the Internet sounds too good to be true, then most likely it is!". guess that also goes here.

I never used it on any of my accounts of which i cared about. i used it 1 time for research reasons. I tested it with a friend to see if it could do what it claimed. Then i ARed it and it's creator.