Map Privacy & Appear Offline - Would You Like This Feature?

[Rowan Amore]

Is it any wonder...oh nvm.

[Love Zhaoying]

OMG!

If you got what you want..

WE couldn't see YOU sneaking around..

..watching US..

Eww!

Thats just creepy!

 

[Cinnamon Mistwood]

4 minutes ago, Paulsian said:

The only other solution to provide true privacy would be for linden homes to also include a linden home office instance to an island office that is completely private and I would still like to appear offline. That's so grose. 

Right now SLusers do not have privacy. Only the Lindens have that. 

I'm not sure I understand sure what you're describing here. A home office?

The ONLY true privacy is to not log in and delete your account.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

I'm wondering what the need for all of this privacy even is.

[Paulsian]

7 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

OMG!

If you got what you want..

WE couldn't see YOU sneaking around..

..watching US..

Eww!

Thats just creepy!

 

yah true, this is so much better. 

[Love Zhaoying]

I did have a "brilliant" idea: an option where you can log into SL BUT nobody can see you AND you can't see anyone else.

[Rowan Amore]

28 minutes ago, Paulsian said:

I'm following the current LL SL business model, premium users already get "more privacy via linden homes."

What it says is...

A Linden Home is your introduction to home ownership as a Premium member of Second Life. Many Residents live in their Linden Home for years. Others use it as a private space to decorate and entertain in for a shorter time while they explore long term options, becoming familiar with all that Second Life has to offer.

Definition of Private...belonging to or for the use of one particular person or group of people only

They don't say anything about privacy only that your home can be set to only allow certain groups or people meaning...private.

[Paulsian]

2 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

What it says is...

A Linden Home is your introduction to home ownership as a Premium member of Second Life. Many Residents live in their Linden Home for years. Others use it as a private space to decorate and entertain in for a shorter time while they explore long term options, becoming familiar with all that Second Life has to offer.

Definition of Private...belonging to or for the use of one particular person or group of people only

They don't say anything about privacy only that your home can be set to only allow certain groups or people meaning...private.

Ty for clearing that up. The linden homes used to use the words more privacy while back. Having hard time finding those exact words again. 

I would personally have worded it: personal space. 

[Paulsian]

at least users with nothing better to do can still remotely track the online status and locations of "private" linden home users. Unless your a Linden, because only Lindens are currently allowed privacy... (or at least the Lindens who know better, the other Lindens can have such power when they are trusted?... 

I've learned way more than I should have. 

Edited October 16, 2022 by Paulsian

[Kathlen Onyx]

1 minute ago, Paulsian said:

at least users with nothing better to do can still remotely track the online status and locations of "private" linden home users. Unless your a Linden, because only Lindens are currently allowed privacy... (or at least the Lindens who know better, the other Lindens can have such power when they are trusted?... 

I've learned way more than I should have. 

You should log out of SL. I seeeee you are logged in. I"m coming for you!

[Paulsian]

Just now, Sam1 Bellisserian said:

You should log out of SL. I seeeee you are logged in. I"m coming for you!

that would be so cool if your telling the truth. tp next to me so I can take screen shot and post here with your permission. 

[Rowan Amore]

3 minutes ago, Paulsian said:

at least users with nothing better to do can still remotely track the online status and locations of "private" linden home users. Unless your a Linden, because only Lindens are currently allowed privacy... (or at least the Lindens who know better, the other Lindens can have such power when they are trusted?... 

I've learned way more than I should have. 

You CANNOT remotely track the location of anyone in SL unless they have allowed you to see them.on the map.  Seriously dude, log out.

 

[Paulsian]

Just now, Rowan Amore said:

You CANNOT remotely track the location of anyone in SL unless they have allowed you to see them.on the map.  Seriously dude, log out.

 

I'm going by information provided in this topic. I'm not going anywhere. 

[Rowan Amore]

1 minute ago, Paulsian said:

I'm going by information provided in this topic. I'm not going anywhere. 

What was said is, you can see anyone's online status.  Who cares?  What you can not do is randomly find that person on the grid.  Sure, I can tell.if any forum people are online.  Yep, I know some of them own Linden homes.  Can I find them there?  No.  Unless I travel to each and every Linden home region and see who is around.  Who the hell has that kind of time?   

[Paulsian]

1 minute ago, Rowan Amore said:

What was said is, you can see anyone's online status.  Who cares?  What you can not do is randomly find that person on the grid.  Sure, I can tell.if any forum people are online.  Yep, I know some of them own Linden homes.  Can I find them there?  No.  Unless I travel to each and every Linden home region and see who is around.  Who the hell has that kind of time?   

Thank you for clearing that up. I submit. 

[Kathlen Onyx]

13 minutes ago, Paulsian said:

Thank you for clearing that up. I submit. 

Maybe you should actually KNOW what privacy options are available and how to use them before suggesting something that is not needed.

[Rolig Loon]

Some people clearly need more privacy to feel comfortable than others do. I am not a crowd person, for example, so I tend to avoid clubs and huge gatherings that many other people seek out.  I also live on a private estate rather than the mainland.  On the other hand, I share that estate with a group of long-time friends and I have no problem with them wandering through my parcel or camming around to figure out what I am up to. On the sliding scale between wide open and isolated, then, I figure I'm on the "loner" side but not a hermit.  That pretty much describes me in RL too, come to think of it.

SL gives us many tools to help us find a happy place on that sliding scale. We have ban lines, security orbs, "busy" status, move lock, and a pile of other options, all mentioned in this thread. We can turn our voice system on and off. We can ignore IMs. We can use parcel settings to restrict access or to keep people outside the parcel from looking or listening in.  We can teleport instantly to a safe, isolated corner of the grid and pull the covers over our heads.  Or, when frustration or paranoia get the better of us, we can log out.  We have more than enough ways to get as much privacy as we want.  In the end, privacy isn't about controlling what other people do; it's about deciding how to configure walls to keep them at a comfortable distance.  I don't really think we need more tools.  We just need to learn to use the ones we have.

[Jaylinbridges]

1 hour ago, Rowan Amore said:

Unless I travel to each and every Linden home region and see who is around.  Who the hell has that kind of time? 

Be careful to not tell Paulsian about the grid survey bots, that visit mainland, unblocked regions, including private and Bellisseria regions daily.  They record your presence on a region and add it to their database.  Then they sell that location information to porcupines, so we know where to find you!

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by Jaylinbridges

[Sid Nagy]

If you can't stand the idea that someone is in your neighborhood who can see that you're online, I would suggest a sim on a stick. A social platform with other people on it, just isn't the right place for you then.

[Istelathis]

@PaulsianI wouldn't worry too much over your privacy in SL, not unless you are doing something illegal which I highly doubt you are.  Most people are not going to have very much of an interest in any of us, outside of a quick peek into our profile, they will probably just look over it and then ignore you.

I know that is easier said than done when anxiety is in play, which can easily distort our view of the world and make it feel as though there is more at play than there really is.  As others have suggested, if you start feeling such anxiety it is best to step away from SL, give your mind a break from the worry and then return here once such an episode has subsided.  Not to say I want you or anyone else to leave SL, but for your own mental health it is usually best.

It is a tough card to be dealt in life, to have to deal with such anxiety and you and anyone else that has to deal with it has my sympathy.  I don't think LL is going to make SL any more private to alleviate your symptoms, because realistically the scenarios that you may have running through your mind, are very unlikely to ever occur - no matter how you may currently feel that they will.  

If you are feeling particularly anxious at this time, just take a break for a short time, come back to us when it passes, and most importantly take care of yourself my dude.  

[Rowan Amore]

4 minutes ago, Jaylinbridges said:

Be careful to not tell Paulsian about the grid survey bots, that visit mainland, unblocked regions, including private and Bellisseria regions daily.  They record your presence on a region and add it to their database.  Then they sell that location information to porcupines, so we know where to find you!

 

Damn those porcupines!  

 

[Solar Legion]

M'kay - not gonna bother reading past where I was quoted ....

Point blank for you: The current systems do not truly allow you to appear offline - scripted systems can still see you and this is by design. That is how it was set up - Deal. With. It.

Unless there is some specialized coding, even a Linden Account is under these same strictures.

Main or minimap? Who cares? The dots are not marked.

Beyond that there are existing controls already in place that work quite well enough - use them.

[Alwin Alcott]

14 hours ago, Paulsian said:

I've learned way more than I should have. 

"sim on a stick" might be better for your privacy needs .

[Lindal Kidd]

19 hours ago, Paulsian said:

yah true, this is so much better. 

Now you're just being absurd. The current situation does not allow positional tracking, as you imply with this image. As others have reminded you, the only "tracking" that's universally available is to see whether or not you are on line.

If I'm relatively close to you (in the same region or within a few thousand meters at most), I can see you on my radar, and cam to your position. But if either of us has the privacy flag set on our parcel, we cannot actually see each other.

If you really feel you need more privacy than that, I recommend you set up an OpenSpace region on your own computer. No one will bother you there.

[Qie Niangao]

It drives me crazy when privacy (which is a real concern and needs protecting) is confused with "privacy" of one avatar from other users' avatars. The latter and how it's provided may be a product feature of interest to some but it is totally irrelevant to any real world legal consideration.

This crucial distinction is lost if your real world identity is associated with your avatar (which is Zuckerburg's wet dream, possibly literally). Regardless of what other apps do, that distinction has always been carefully preserved in SL, and there are few violations more serious than disclosing another user's RL identity. (I can think of exactly one.)

On 10/16/2022 at 2:00 AM, Madeline Mysterious said:

It's feature most online media has, you can hide, block and disappear from some and not others if you want or maybe you just want to log in one night and not be bothered.

This is surely true of apps such as Zoom, VoIP networks, etc., where RL identity is (usually) the whole point of using the app. But it may also be true of purely fictional identity social media such as SL. Earlier on, somebody said it was true of WoW (you couldn't pay me enough to find out for myself). If so, do they truly hide all presence information?*

Or do these WoW-like media apps only provide the kind of "map privacy" the OP describes?

I have to say, personally, I don't see much point in  "map privacy" although I'd see some value in the opposite: being able to hide my online status except to those in mini-map range of my avatar. It would just be a modest social convenience to be able to script in peace without needing to use an alt who lacks my inventory (as @Lindal Kiddmentioned above) without actively ignoring folks to whom I'd really want to respond if they messaged. Don't think I'd pay a Plus premium for the feature, though.

(This reminds me of a tangent: There could be utility in having a "connected" status distinct from "in-world" if there are useful things to do without actually having any grid presence associated with the avatar. Messaging, maybe, or Inventory maintenance, or anything else that needs SL services but not necessarily connection to any particular region simulation. I'm not especially interested in the "privacy" of that status, only observing that it might have different considerations.)

_______________
* That may be the case for the Linden "God" mode, I'm not sure. I think normal user scripts can't detect their in-world presence in that mode, but that may be wrong.