Snooping Friends!

[Liramaril]

I apologise if this is the wrong channel for this, I tried to think what it would come under, but it's not really a technical issue.

 

I just found out yesterday that a friend gets notifications when I take snapshots of things, though I'm not sure what viewer he uses. Apparently there's a lot of stuff they can track/see, and I'm fascinated. Are there other browsers that allow you to see things like that? I only have ever used firestorm and the standard viewer, so I didn't know such options existed.

 

I only found out in the last few years that my camming people with impunity wasn't as undetected as I thought. Consider my huuuuge retrospective embarrassment!

 

For some reason firestorm likes to reset my preferences to not broadcast my lookat targets, so I'm in constant paranoia, checking from time to time XD

[MoiraKathleen]

I'm not aware of browsers that let someone track that kind of stuff about other people, which just means that I've not encountered it or heard anyone talk about it before, but I would think that it's not possible.  I do know that there are some things that can be tracked by scripting - such as whether you're online or not, for example, but I don't know how many types of things that encompasses. 

Sometimes nefarious or snoopy people will give someone an object to wear that the person has put custom scripts into to capture information made available to scripts, that they normally would not be able to capture.  I'm not sure if this also applies to items that someone has given you to rez out on your parcel. 

If you're concerned, I would take a look at the things you wear and not wear anything given to you by that friend, and if they had given you any decor, etc., to rez out on your parcel, I would pick those things up - scripts don't run in items that only are in your inventory.  

There are others in the forums who are more knowledgeable about what is possible through scripts - hopefully you'll get some more definitive responses. 

[Rowan Amore]

1 hour ago, Liramaril said:

I apologise if this is the wrong channel for this, I tried to think what it would come under, but it's not really a technical issue.

 

I just found out yesterday that a friend gets notifications when I take snapshots of things, though I'm not sure what viewer he uses. Apparently there's a lot of stuff they can track/see, and I'm fascinated. Are there other browsers that allow you to see things like that? I only have ever used firestorm and the standard viewer, so I didn't know such options existed.

 

I only found out in the last few years that my camming people with impunity wasn't as undetected as I thought. Consider my huuuuge retrospective embarrassment!

 

For some reason firestorm likes to reset my preferences to not broadcast my lookat targets, so I'm in constant paranoia, checking from time to time XD

You could open your advanced menu and tick "quiet snapshot".

[Janet Voxel]

Also, people don’t realize lookat is enabled by default. So if you enable see other people’s look at....well you can see exactly what they are looking at.

[Alwin Alcott]

40 minutes ago, Janet Voxel said:

well you can see exactly what they are looking at.

no that's not true, you can see only that they look in a direction. If that is behind or in front of you it still can seem to be locked on you, but isn't

[Janet Voxel]

3 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

no that's not true, you can see only that they look in a direction. If that is behind or in front of you it still can seem to be locked on you, but isn't

Ok...let me rephrase: If you enable see other people’s look at YOU HAVE A GOOD IDEA of what they are looking at.....and if it’s IN YOUR NECK they are looking at you.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

32 minutes ago, Janet Voxel said:

Ok...let me rephrase: If you enable see other people’s look at YOU HAVE A GOOD IDEA of what they are looking at.....and if it’s IN YOUR NECK they are looking at you.

I really only use this feature when I'm working in a sandbox, because I tend to be focused there, and not paying a great deal of attention to what's going on around me. I have found that having someone cross hairs locked on my face, and their name hovering above, is often a pretty good predictor that I'm about to be interrupted. It works better than radar, because they often don't physically approach.

And actually, I'll sometimes turn it on during the relatively rare occasions I go alone to a packed club like Fogbound, just for giggles. Again, someone's cross hairs locked on to you for longer than about 30 seconds is usually a pretty good indication that an IM will shortly be coming your way. It's kind of a fun game to play.

[Janet Voxel]

23 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I really only use this feature when I'm working in a sandbox, because I tend to be focused there, and not paying a great deal of attention to what's going on around me. I have found that having someone cross hairs locked on my face, and their name hovering above, is often a pretty good predictor that I'm about to be interrupted. It works better than radar, because they often don't physically approach.

And actually, I'll sometimes turn it on during the relatively rare occasions I go alone to a packed club like Fogbound, just for giggles. Again, someone's cross hairs locked on to you for longer than about 30 seconds is usually a pretty good indication that an IM will shortly be coming your way. It's kind of a fun game to play.

100%!!
 

I only mentioned it because, I’ve seen people get into arguments over it. One time a woman went nuts because I cammed her shoes. They were nice shoes!

Also...there’s the Peeping Tom thing....

[KT Kingsley]

If there's one thing worse than being looked at, it's not being looked at.

[LittleMe Jewell]

Mommy, she looked at me.

Mommy, she's spying on me.

Mommy...........

 

Drama

[Scylla Rhiadra]

19 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Mommy, she looked at me.

Mommy, she's spying on me.

Mommy...........

 

Drama

Weirdly, I've never had anyone give me a difficult time about looking at them.

And I've certainly never snapped at anyone I caught looking at me. Why would I? I expend a great deal of effort to look fabulous, dahling. The poor dears deserve an occasional treat.

[Phil Deakins]

5 hours ago, Liramaril said:

I just found out yesterday that a friend gets notifications when I take snapshots of things, though I'm not sure what viewer he uses.

I had that happen yesterday - twice. I've been trying different viewers in the last 2 days, and yesterday I settled on Alchemy. The day before, I settled on Singularity. With both of them, I went through some Preferences, and I noticed one that opted to inform me when someone takes a snapshot. I selected it for some reason.

Then yesterday it happened twice. I was informed in local chat that <name> had taken a snapshot. My radar showed that he hadn't been anywhere near me and I wondered why I was getting notified that he'd taken snapshots. Only now, when I read this thread did it occur to me that it might have been because he took snaps of me. I don't know though.

I've just searched the Prefs in Alchemy, which I'm logged in with, and I can't find that setting, so I assume it's in Singularity. But it's certainly there in one of them.

Edited December 31, 2020 by Phil Deakins

[Maryanne Solo]

I ask before I cam anyone. 😇

[Rowan Amore]

25 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

I had that happen yesterday - twice. I've been trying different viewers in the last 2 days, and yesterday I settled on Alchemy. The day before, I settled on Singularity. With both of them, I went through some Preferences, and I noticed one that opted to inform me when someone takes a snapshot. I selected for some reason.

Then yesterday it happened twice. I was informed in local chat that <name> had taken a snapshot. My radar showed that he hadn't been anywhere near me and I wondered why I was getting notified that he'd taken snapshots. Only now, when I read this thread did it occur to me that I was informed because he took snaps of me. I don't know though.

I've just searched the Prefs in Alchemy, which I'm logged in with, and I can't find that setting, so I assume it's in Singularity. But it's certainly there in one of them.

In firestorm it's not in preference but the advanced menu quiet snapshot to disc

[Phil Deakins]

1 minute ago, RowanMinx said:

In firestorm it's not in preference but the advanced menu quiet snapshot to disc

I have that in Alchemy's Advanced menu. It doesn't sound like it will inform me when someone takes a snapshot though. It sounds like it's about me taking snapshots.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

12 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

I have that in Alchemy's Advanced menu. It doesn't sound like it will inform me when someone takes a snapshot though. It sounds like it's about me taking snapshots.

Yes, this sounds like something new and different. Quiet snapshots doesn't stop notifications -- it just means that there is no "clicking" sound when you take a snap.

I'd like to find out if this is a thing in FS. I'm not sure if it's better or worse for privacy, to be honest.

 

ETA: I'm not seeing anything like this in the "alerts" under FS preferences. Maybe it's not in FS?

Edited December 31, 2020 by Scylla Rhiadra

[Phil Deakins]

Found it. It's in Singularity. In the Vanity>Main tab - "Announce when someone takes a snapshot".

I've tested it and the avatar is informed when someone, who is in the same sim, takes a snapshot. It's nothing to do with what the snapshot is of. So it's not when they take a snapshot of me.

Singularity also has the "Quiet snapshots to disk" option, but in Prefs, not under the Advanced menu.

ETA: It seems that Alchemy also has it, but I haven't been able to find it. I did find it yesterday because I have it turned on. I know that because I'm now being told when someone takes a snapshot - even when I am the someone lol. But not just me. A few minutes ago I was informed that someone had taken snapshots. So both of Alchemy and Singularity do it. It has to be in the same sim, of course.

Edited December 31, 2020 by Phil Deakins

[Scylla Rhiadra]

10 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said:

I've tested it and the avatar is informed when someone, who is in the same sim, takes a snapshot. It's nothing to do with what the snapshot is of. So it's not when they take a snapshot of me.

Ok then, that's actually just intrusive. I can get the point of alerting someone if a photo was being take of oneself (although I query whether scripting would even be able to determine that), but to simply announce that someone is taking pics that are none of your business is . . . well, none of your business.

I really don't see the point of this, or an upside to it.

[Phil Deakins]

I don't see any point to it either @Scylla Rhiadra.

I want to turn it off now, but I still can't find it in Alchemy, although I definitely saw it yesterday and turned it on. I remember that lol.

[Phil Deakins]

I've managed to stop it with help from someone in the Alchemy group. I had to do it in Debug though, but I definitely didn't set it there. It's weird - but it's stopped now.

[KT Kingsley]

So does this snapshot notification work when the person taking the picture has silent snapshots turned on?

My first guess would be that the viewer gets told to apply the snapshot animation to a particular avatar (it's UUID is published in the wiki), and thus knows what's happening. Presumably, if the picture taker has silent snapshots enabled, other viewers aren't told to play the animation and don't know about them taking a picture. At least, Firestorm doesn't show me the snapshot animation when I take a snapshot silently, but now I wonder if that animation information is still broadcast by the simulator to other viewers.

It'd also be interesting to know if playing the snapshot animation by script would trigger the notification. Well, maybe not that interesting, but what the heck.

ETA: or maybe it's that my AO animations have a higher priority than the snapshot animation so it gets played but doesn't show, and the quiet snapshot setting only turns off the sound.

Edited December 31, 2020 by KT Kingsley

[Liramaril]

—

Edited December 31, 2020 by Liramaril
double post confusion

[Liramaril]

2 hours ago, Phil Deakins said:

Found it. It's in Singularity. In the Vanity>Main tab - "Announce when someone takes a snapshot".

I've tested it and the avatar is informed when someone, who is in the same sim, takes a snapshot. It's nothing to do with what the snapshot is of. So it's not when they take a snapshot of me.

Singularity also has the "Quiet snapshots to disk" option, but in Prefs, not under the Advanced menu.

ETA: It seems that Alchemy also has it, but I haven't been able to find it. I did find it yesterday because I have it turned on. I know that because I'm now being told when someone takes a snapshot - even when I am the someone lol. But not just me. A few minutes ago I was informed that someone had taken snapshots. So both of Alchemy and Singularity do it. It has to be in the same sim, of course.

Nice! So that’s what was happening. I may actually ask my friend what else he was saying other people can see, just out of interest!

[Phil Deakins]

@KT Kingsley @Liramaril

I've tested it with:-
av #1 in Singularity, and the snapshot notifications turned ON
av #2 in Alchemy taking the snapshots

I found that when the snapshot taker (av #2) has 'Quiet Snapshots to Disk' turned on (under the Advanced menu in Alchemy), the taking of a snapshot is NOT notified to avatar #1. But with 'Quiet Snapshot to Disk' turned off, the snapshots are notified to av #1.

I'm not going to tests with all combinations of viewers, of course, so the best thing to do is test it with whatever viewer you use.

Liramaril. If it bothers you, find 'Quiet Snapshots to Disk' in your viewer if it's there, turn it on, and test it with your friend. I don't know what viewer you use but, if it's there at all, it's likely to be either under the Advanced menu or somewhere in Preferences.

Edited December 31, 2020 by Phil Deakins

[Sister Nova]

4 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Weirdly, I've never had anyone give me a difficult time about looking at them.

And I've certainly never snapped at anyone I caught looking at me. Why would I? I expend a great deal of effort to look fabulous, dahling. The poor dears deserve an occasional treat.

If I see crosshairs lingering on me at any time, I just hit my hud and give a smile and a wink 😉