Cookies

[JoJo Aurelia]

I'm getting notices everywhere that Linden Labs is now collecting cookies, tracking, what we buy, how we use MP, etc. I'm not sure I like them knowing what I'm doing in Second Life--privacy is what I loved the most. Anyone else have thoughts?

[Orwar]

   You pretty much don't have any privacy from Linden Lab, as far as what you do on their platform is concerned. Never did. 'Tis even in the big print before the fine print: https://www.lindenlab.com/privacy

[Theresa Tennyson]

12 minutes ago, JoJo Aurelia said:

I'm getting notices everywhere that Linden Labs is now collecting cookies, tracking, what we buy, how we use MP, etc. I'm not sure I like them knowing what I'm doing in Second Life--privacy is what I loved the most. Anyone else have thoughts?

Theresa Tennyson wonders exactly how someone would keep their activities private from the company whose service they're performing those activities on.

[Janet Voxel]

http://e.lvme.me/9mctd8h.jpg

Edited May 10, 2021 by Janet Voxel
jeez

[Fritigern Gothly]

14 minutes ago, JoJo Aurelia said:

I'm getting notices everywhere that Linden Labs is now collecting cookies, tracking, what we buy, how we use MP, etc. I'm not sure I like them knowing what I'm doing in Second Life--privacy is what I loved the most. Anyone else have thoughts?

Cookies are used for all kinds of purposes. One of the most common uses of a cookie is to store your password in your browser. When you are asked if your browser should remember your password, this is usually stored in a cookie. Clear your cookies and you will have to enter your password again. Clear your cookies all the time and you will have to enter your password all the time. 

Yes, some cookies can also be used for tracking your habits but I can not say if cookies are used for tracking your browsing habits on the MP. Then again, if LL wants to know what products you are interested in, all they will have to do is take a look at your purchase history.

But do they? I doubt it, otherwise we would see targeted advertising on the MP and I still see mostly ads completely unrelated to anything I like to do or to wear.

[LittleMe Jewell]

25 minutes ago, JoJo Aurelia said:

I'm getting notices everywhere that Linden Labs is now collecting cookies, tracking, what we buy, how we use MP, etc. I'm not sure I like them knowing what I'm doing in Second Life--privacy is what I loved the most. Anyone else have thoughts?

Everything you do in SL is logged somewhere.  LL has your L$ transaction history, so they know what you are buying and where you are buying it.  TP history, chat & IM logs, etc... have always been there.

Not sure how you ever had any idea at all that LL didn't already know everything about your SL.  

Edited May 10, 2021 by LittleMe Jewell

[Sid Nagy]

Think of it, they even might log our favorite bedroom exercises.
How long, how often, how diverse, with whom present ........

🤪

Nah........

Edited May 10, 2021 by Sid Nagy

[Rowan Amore]

3 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

Think of it, they even might log our favorite bedroom exercises.
How long, how often, how diverse, with whom present ........

🤪

Nah........

With video?

[Eddy Vortex]

I come in with a plate of biscotti thinking this thread was about baked sweet things of the crisp crunchy types and soft chewy kind.

[Bree Giffen]

It's not just Linden Lab. Every website is announcing they are using cookies. You can thank the EU GDPR (European Union general data protection regulation) and the CCPA (California consumer privacy act) which require disclosures from websites when they collect your data. 

[Sorciaa]

I like Snickerdoodles.

[Phil Deakins]

15 hours ago, JoJo Aurelia said:

I'm getting notices everywhere that Linden Labs is now collecting cookies, tracking, what we buy, how we use MP, etc. I'm not sure I like them knowing what I'm doing in Second Life--privacy is what I loved the most. Anyone else have thoughts?

First, cookies are not collected, as you seem to think. They are small files placed on your computer IF you have specifically given permission. You can set your browser to automatically remove them all when you close it. Also, you can have your browser remove them without even closing it.

Second, you NEED LL to record some things that you do in the marketplace if you want to actually buy anything.

Third, if you really don't want a system owner to know/record what you are doing in their system, then LEAVE the system, and don't go back. Every website records every page your IP address requests in their log files. If you don't accept that, because you think it encroaches on your privacy, then LEAVE the web entirely and don't return.

Finally, the only privacy you get from LL, when using their systems, is as a Basic account where you don't provide your details. They record your IP address, but they don't know who you are. If that's not enough for you, I suggest you leave SL.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Phil Deakins

[Skell Dagger]

16 hours ago, JoJo Aurelia said:

Linden Labs is now collecting cookies

A cookie is a small text file that stores your login data (encrypted) for each website that you visit and have logged into. Cookies all have an expiry date - some of just weeks and some of many years (Google's cookie expiry used to be notoriously long, expiring in 2038, and it's now still something like 2 years) - which is why after a while you may need to re-enter your login information into a website again. If - as others have mentioned - you set your browser to clear your cookies at the end of each browsing session, you will automatically be logged out of every website and have to enter that information all over again each time after clearing cookies.

Every single website that you log into will have placed a cookie on your computer. It's highly likely that you have thousands of them. Cookies have been in use for a long as websites have had logins. Some cookies contain only login information, and others contain tracking information. You will often find these referred to as Session, Permanent, and Third-Party cookies. Third-Party cookies tend to be the ones that track other things, and are used for targeted advertising.

There was a recent issue with cookies on the Second Life Marketplace, where people were constantly being logged out - even mid-purchase. This has now stopped, so it's fair to assume that Linden Lab have changed the cookies so they now retain login information correctly, as they are supposed to.

This may be why your browser is showing you new notifications about cookies, as you may be required to re-accept them. Or perhaps your browser has updated and now includes additional privacy features which shows you every time a website collects information from you (which the browser didn't show before - although most major browsers have had privacy options for a long, long time now), hence the slew of notices.

16 hours ago, JoJo Aurelia said:

tracking, what we buy

If Linden Lab didn't track what you purchased on Marketplace, how would you redeliver those items if you lost or broke them? Same with anything you order online; you can't go back to your order to even check it if there is no record of it.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Skell Dagger

[BelindaN]

12 hours ago, Eddy Vortex said:

I come in with a plate of biscotti thinking this thread was about baked sweet things of the crisp crunchy types and soft chewy kind.

Triple choc chip are the best.

[Skell Dagger]

In addition (and to inject a little levity) - I'm amazed that nobody has posted this yet. For shame!

[Maitimo]

Speaking of log-in cookies, is there a way to extend the time they're held on the Firestorm internal browser? Outside of the viewer, in an external browser, is fine, but I notice that every few weeks, I get logged out of the in-world browser which means Search doesn't work any more. Given that I've already logged in to the viewer, it doesn't seem necessary on the internal browser to have the password expire at all.

[Silent Mistwalker]

1 hour ago, Maitimo said:

Speaking of log-in cookies, is there a way to extend the time they're held on the Firestorm internal browser? Outside of the viewer, in an external browser, is fine, but I notice that every few weeks, I get logged out of the in-world browser which means Search doesn't work any more. Given that I've already logged in to the viewer, it doesn't seem necessary on the internal browser to have the password expire at all.

 

That's not a cookie issue. Let's see if we can get @Whirly Fizzle in on this. She should know something since she is QA.

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

Now I'm hungry for some "Real" cookies!

[Rowan Amore]

Mmm.  Chocolate chip cookie Smores.

[JoJo Aurelia]

Thanks for replying.  I did read their TOS, so no need to throw things at me. I hadn't seen the popups stating they collected cookies until recently and got me thinking. I really thought we were somehow immune to Sarons eye. Silly me. Thanks for those who provided tthoughtful answers.

Made these today. Peanut butter chocolate chips. . 

[Paulsian]

On 5/11/2021 at 6:25 AM, Phil Deakins said:

First, cookies are not collected, as you seem to think. They are small files placed on your computer IF you have specifically given permission. You can set your browser to automatically remove them all when you close it. Also, you can have your browser remove them without even closing it.

I was going to start another topic: How To Clear The Second Life Official Viewers' Internal Browsers' Cookies?

I know how to disable cookies in the debug settings, which prevents access to the Second Life Marketplace. I didn't see anywhere in the debug settings for an option to clear them? Also, wonders which browser Second Life is using as it's internal browser? 

They are small files placed where on my computer? That right there is what killed Sansar for me. Got it all installed and loaded made my account and went to log in and got this notification that to log in Sansar will install cookies on your hard drive. 

I'm cool with cookies in a browser but when cookies are on the hard drive that is a red flag for me. 

Edited June 15, 2022 by Paulsian

[Phil Deakins]

2 hours ago, Paulsian said:

I'm cool with cookies in a browser but when cookies are on the hard drive that is a red flag for me. 

Cookies are not "in a browser". They are stored on your hard drive - always.

Browsers don't store them. Websites do.

[StarlanderGoods]

On 5/10/2021 at 5:50 PM, Sid Nagy said:

Think of it, they even might log our favorite bedroom exercises.
How long, how often, how diverse, with whom present ........

🤪

Nah........

Hey, if its to improve the "service", its welcome.

[Paulsian]

1 hour ago, Phil Deakins said:

Cookies are not "in a browser". They are stored on your hard drive - always.

Browsers don't store them. Websites do.

After I posted that got to thinking most browsers are installed on computer, when I installed the second life program the built in browser was included. I know where the cache file is but not sure where the cookie file/s are and if that is something that can be cleared, or by disabling it in the debug clears it, if disabled then enabled?

With Sansar I was prompted to accept their cookies to gain access to their platform after they had already been installed on my hard drive. Are they still there after I uninstalled the program? 

When I see cookies will be placed on the hard drive I wonder where exactly are the cookie/s? and what are the file names. & what exactly the Second Life cookies are used for? Do they run when the viewer is not being used? Do they collect non viewer related data? Do third parties have proprietary cookies they use as well? Has the data collected from my cookie history been sold, if so how many times and to whom and for how much?

The generic "we collect data that is not associated with your personal information yadayada" it's not going to cut it forever. Anonymous data or not they are still a virtual implant that I do not fully understand and to me that is dangerous. I would not allow anyone to implant something into my real body without knowing exactly what it does and how it works. Virtual brain implants...

I don't think cookies should be associated with hard drives. 

Edited June 15, 2022 by Paulsian

[Polenth Yue]

4 hours ago, Paulsian said:

I was going to start another topic: How To Clear The Second Life Official Viewers' Internal Browsers' Cookies?

I know how to disable cookies in the debug settings, which prevents access to the Second Life Marketplace. I didn't see anywhere in the debug settings for an option to clear them? Also, wonders which browser Second Life is using as it's internal browser? 

They are small files placed where on my computer? That right there is what killed Sansar for me. Got it all installed and loaded made my account and went to log in and got this notification that to log in Sansar will install cookies on your hard drive. 

I'm cool with cookies in a browser but when cookies are on the hard drive that is a red flag for me. 

It was said in the old thread you bumped up, but to repeat, it's not that the cookie behaviour has changed. It's that some places set rules that meant they had to add a popup to tell you the cookies were there. The cookies are functional and needed for sites where you have user accounts. Deleting them and refusing to let them be set means you can't use the services. The only way to fully avoid all cookies is to not use the internet.

They're stored by each program in that program's folders and they will be managed by that program. They're not being randomly spread everywhere. They are deleted when they expire without any action required from you.

If you just want to look at them for fun, in Firefox you go to "Tools", "Browser Tools", "Web Developer Tools". A thing pops up at the bottom. Then you click "Storage" on the bottom window and "Cookies" on the side menu that pops up. You can then see a list of the cookies for the current website. You'll notice that none of cookies store a lot of data. They're a short line of text and they don't contain things like your password and personal details.

In theory, you can now use that window to delete all the Firefox cookies. Just right click a cookie and it'll offer you various options. I don't recommend it unless you're having issues with a site, because all it really means is you have to log back in everywhere.