The Meeroos™ open beta started this weekend with the first round being the challenge of delivering thousands of the HUD devices used to manage and control these cuties.

Today around 20,000 babies were delivered to squealing delighted beta testers. And they sure are cute.

And, just like real babies of all mammal species, they need lots of love and nurturing.

Sometimes 3 or more all asking to be held at the same time. Need more arms.

For more information on Meeroos™ please visit their website at http://www.worldofmeeroos.com/.

Good job Meeroos™ folks. Hope you get some rest soon.

So go take a read at http://alphavilleherald.com/2011/03/zf-redzone-security-breached-sl-passwords-compromised.html then come back here and continue.

Watch this video all the way through:

Here is some more information on the particular factors at play in this matter (IMHO): http://www.sarahtateauthor.com/Web-of-Lies.html and http://singlemumsal.blogspot.com/2010/08/impact-of-cluster-b-idiots-guide.html

Some of us easily recognize this personality type because our real lives have already been destroyed by one. So I want all of you to learn about these creatures so you can protect and defend yourselves in your real lives.

Now for the bad news. Millions of people in Second Life® have had their IP addresses logged by this guy along with SL account details like their names. Why is this important? Because he now knows what your residential internet service provider is. And he is an internet tech type fully capable of going from town to town getting a job at residential internet service providers and securing the exact addresses of anyone he feels in his mind made his life fall apart.

This is a serious matter. I advise everyone to demand the Federal Law Enforcement Authorities be called in on this matter so potential tragedies can be averted.

Hope I am wrong on this one. So far I have been exactly spot on.

For the long read on this to get a full sense of the entire story:
Summary thread: http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/general-sl-discussion/56056-notes-zf-redzone-disclosure-secondlife.html
Long detailed discussion with tons of facts:
http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/general-sl-discussion/47314-zf-redzone-disclosure-secondlife-alts.html
http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/general-sl-discussion/56364-redzone-epic-thread-part-deux.html

Linden Lab took some action to placate the rage over privacy invasion in Second Life® yesterday but the harvesting and collecting of data about other users without consent, disallowed under the Second Life Terms of Service Section 8.3(i) continues unabated and avatar names associated with IP addresses are still being collected by the same person who is not associated with Linden Lab so there is no oversight or control over what he does with the data. There is only a rule saying his customers cannot share the data nor can he in SL. But he still does albeit sort of masked by showing how many alts he has decided you have.

Since Linden Lab is likely to assume all is well and once again begin ignoring customer concerns then I am providing a list of associated issues logged in LL’s defect reporting system for you to add yourselves as a watcher to and comment to urge LL to take action.

First up is the root cause of the entire privacy invasion debacle. A defect report that has languished in LL’s system since September 17, 2008:
Automatically play media setting ignored plays anyway – PARCEL_MEDIA_COMMAND_PLAY
Yes folks this is the root cause. And LL was notified about it that long ago. Someone that has the code to repro this might post it but that would make it worse since every script kiddie in SL would instantly begin making and distributing more redzone garbage. Add your watches and demand LL address this issue.

Here are the other related issues you should add yourself as a watcher to and comment on:

Quite a list of privacy vulnerabilities isn’t it. Hopefully Linden Lab will become as adamantly concerned about privacy as their customer quite obviously are. To assist in this regard please add your watch to all of those issues and comment. Vote if you want but LL is turning votes off on March 8th to hide customer concern levels. You are required to watch and endure the edit wars by jira griefers in order to make LL aware of how many people are concerned about issues.

If you want to read all about the current privacy debacle in Second Life® then head on over and read the long discussion where all the gory details are recorded: http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/general-sl-discussion/47314-zf-redzone-disclosure-secondlife-alts.html#post986405
Or for a shorter summary try http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/general-sl-discussion/56056-notes-zf-redzone-disclosure-secondlife.html#post1169602

There is also the jira defect listing that is where the main body of rage landed: RedZone Security violates TOS, exposes private information and is being misused
However, because of the way that is framed up it is likely LL will close it off and consider it fixed when the real issue is the forced parcel media problem referenced above.

In addition there is still the problem of the databases unscrupulous users violated TOS Section 8.3(i) and have filled with data about other users. What can be done about that? Can LL file a lawsuit to seize the data?

Don’t let up on the pressure if you care about privacy.

Ah Second Life®! So welcoming to new users!

Welcome Resident!

Please note that to remain in this venue you must consent to a probe scan that will load publicly available information about your avatar, including your avatar name, your IP address, UUID, and status of payment information, on to a third-party web site outside of the jurisdiction of Linden Lab or its ToS, where it will be stored and collated against the IP addresses of other residents in order to determine what other accounts employ the same IP address as yourself.

Please note also that inclusion of your information within this database may result in you being banned from RedZone-using venues that have banned any account using the same IP address as you, and that, moreover, the names of your avatar and any others employing the same IP (including any of your alts that have been scanned) may be revealed to individual RedZone users if anyone using the same IP address as you consents to the release of this information. To gain access to these names yourself, you must purchase a copy of RedZone, currently retailing at L$3,999. Failure to consent to this scan within 6 seconds will result in the ejection of your avatar from this parcel.

- (slightly modified from Scylla Rhiadra’s original suggested consent form)

According to the Second Life® Terms Of Service Section 8.3(i) the above would appear to be required before scanning.

You agree to respect both the integrity of the Service and the privacy of other users. You will not:

(i) Post or transmit viruses, Trojan horses, worms, spyware, time bombs, cancelbots, or other computer programming routines that may harm the Service or interests or rights of other users, or that may harvest or collect any data or personal information about other users without their consent;

However it is unlikely anyone would agree to that were the actual truth told. Yet people are silently scanned by the thousands daily without any consent asked for. But not by Linden Lab. By another resident who is under no control of Linden Lab.

Yes that is right. Linden Lab has allowed a regular user of Second Life® to set up a forced privacy invasion system without any oversight, controls, or even a privacy policy.

Doesn’t that make you want to bring all of your friends and associates into Second Life®? What fun! Second Life® has it’s own version of TSA without any oversight! For all of you that thought all your alternate accounts were still safe and private? Well you are probably wrong. Everything about your activities is known and in the possession of some guy not under the control of Linden Lab. Bet that makes you feel real good.

If you want to know all about it then head on over and read the long discussion where all the gory details are recorded: http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/general-sl-discussion/47314-zf-redzone-disclosure-secondlife-alts.html#post986405
Or for a shorter summary try http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/general-sl-discussion/56056-notes-zf-redzone-disclosure-secondlife.html#post1169602

We keep hoping for Linden Lab to step up but as yet they remain silent. And the probing continues without consent.

If this bothers you then ask Linden Lab why they allow it. One place to ask is here: https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-24746

Update March 2, 2011 8:39 SLT:

Today Soft Linden made an announcement on the jira:

Soft Linden commented on VWR-24746:
———————————–

Hey, all. I got the go-ahead to give an update on zF Red Zone specifically.
Again, thank you for the ARs with specific info about violations. These have
been very helpful for letting Lindens know what’s going on.

Tuesday morning, we removed zF Red Zone from the Marketplace for a second time.
We removed the in-world vendor distributing the item as well. We determined that
zF Red Zone was still in violation of our Terms of Service and Community
Standards.

We asked for removal by no later than today of all zF Red Zone functionality
that discloses any alternate account names. That is, even if consent is asked,
the service may not act on the consent. In addition, we asked for removal by no
later than Friday of the interface for and any remaining implementation of the
zF Red Zone consent mechanism because it does not comply with our policies. If
these updates are not made, we will take appropriate steps to remedy the
violations.

As before, we appreciate your help in keeping an eye on content. If you find
that any merchant’s product is not in compliance with our TOS or our Community
Standards, please file an abuse report about the product. Do this even if you
filed against a previous version. Include a specific explanation of what you
believe is a violation, and ideally select and report the in-world object at
issue in case it behaves differently than what’s in the Marketplace. Before
reporting, make sure you have first-hand knowledge of the issue. Support can
best react if you explain specific steps to reproduce or confirm a violation.

However, this is not satisfactory because the redzone anti privacy system and it’s adamant supporters (that do not respect your rights under the TOS) continue business as usual. For one thing Soft removing one vendor when they are all over the grid is rather ineffective. For another thing the redzone devices will continue to violate TOS Section 8.3(i) because they collect data without explicit consent.

So LL hassled the redzone guy a little today but overall nothing has changed on this topic in any way that penalizes those who have been and continue to violate the Second Life® TOS Section 8.3(i).

That is worth a watch. A little humor is great medicine during a dark period in Second Life®

Itazura Radio rocks!

Don’t forget to watch and vote for https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-6793 Establish a do not track opt out system