Spying Tracking and Stalking

[Moloch Redgrave]

There is a person who created over 100 bots that is roaming them around the grid for tracking people's movement.  These bots collect data on everyone in the sim. They normally come in for 10 seconds do a radar sweep of the sim and collect data then TP' out to the next sim. I would see this constitute as spying, stalking, and tracking of avatars.

Your thoughts on the matter?

Edited November 14, 2022 by Quartz Mole
Removed name of alleged bot.

[Quartz Mole]

I have checked, and posting the bots' name is contrary to LL's forum guidelines.   Please don't post the name again, or the thread is likely to be locked.

[Paulsian]

4 hours ago, Moloch Redgrave said:

Since when has Linden Labs started censoring posts. This is a serious matter that has to do with privacy and these accounts need to be shut down and exposed.

There's nothing we can do except voice our concerns within the scope of the rules set forth and have faith they will look into problems if any are found resolve them. Trust me, it's not worth getting frustrated over, because after this you will notice something else and something else and it will slowly destroy you, don't let it do that to you. We already know they are aware of concerns, mission accomplished. It's that simple. 

Edited November 15, 2022 by Paulsian

[Love Zhaoying]

On 11/14/2022 at 7:52 AM, Moloch Redgrave said:

Your thoughts on the matter?

Report the profile using the in-world tools.

[Moloch Redgrave]

There's nothing to report other then the same bots show up at my house, my business, and various other places. This method of using 100's of bots to scan 1000's of sims over and over hourly is being used legally I suppose . They know where I live and where my GF lives and where I do business using this method. SO the only option is to turn privacy on and ban the bots from the sims.  I was even told by a friend these bots are not being used for good purposes.

Majority of the linden homes are being scanned as well so if someone wants to know where you live and you see that bot name and variants in your sim know for sure they aren't doing it for your benefit.

Whats the odd's of that happening? And some of these sims are not mainland sims but privately own sims.

 

What we need Linden Labs to do is hide avatars from radar if privacy is enabled on the parcel or lot. Good luck with that request.

Edited November 17, 2022 by Moloch Redgrave

[Nick0678]

Well.. if you have your own region just enable access for your Group and whoever you like, thats the only way you get to have maximum privacy.

Only Linden accounts will be able to enter it uninvited.

[Wulfie Reanimator]

1 hour ago, Moloch Redgrave said:

What we need Linden Labs to do is hide avatars from radar if privacy is enabled on the parcel or lot. Good luck with that request.

Log into the Jira (https://jira.secondlife.com, there's a blue Create button at the very top of the page) with your SL account and file a ticket, posting a suggestion here won't do anything really as it'll just get lost in the sea of posts.

Edited November 17, 2022 by Wulfie Reanimator

[Rowan Amore]

4 hours ago, Moloch Redgrave said:

I was even told by a friend these bots are not being used for good purposes

What purpose?  Honestly, I'm curious as to what evil purpose they could possibly have.  

4 hours ago, Moloch Redgrave said:

some of these sims are not mainland sims but privately own sims.

They may be owned by the same large real estate company that uses bots to monitor their regions.  There is one company that owns both mainland regions and private estates so...you'd see the same names in both places.

These threads come up on a regular basis.  The same answers are given.  Bots can be annoying but they are NOT out to get you or any personal information.  Regardless of what 'your friend' tells you.

 

[Lucia Nightfire]

INB4 "Some of my best friends are bots!" 🤖

[Moloch Redgrave]

On 11/17/2022 at 9:53 AM, Rowan Amore said:

What purpose?  Honestly, I'm curious as to what evil purpose they could possibly have.  

They may be owned by the same large real estate company that uses bots to monitor their regions.  There is one company that owns both mainland regions and private estates so...you'd see the same names in both places.

These threads come up on a regular basis.  The same answers are given.  Bots can be annoying but they are NOT out to get you or any personal information.  Regardless of what 'your friend' tells you.

 

I told you before these bots can be used to track avatars movements. Find where you live, where you work, and where you like to go. Same group of bots showing up in my Linden Home Parcel, my work area on a private sim in 2 sims, and sometimes in places I shop. So whats the odds of that happening on a private sim in 2 areas. So yes they can be used for nefarious purposes as well.  An example is,  they could find where you are and lag or crash your sim  or business or whatever these people want to do.

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Moloch Redgrave

[Rowan Amore]

8 minutes ago, Moloch Redgrave said:

these bots can be used to track avatars movements. Find where you live, where you work, and where you like to go

No, they can not track you unless you are wearing a scripted item that allows it.   Period.  

[Moloch Redgrave]

On 11/17/2022 at 6:53 AM, Nick0678 said:

Well.. if you have your own region just enable access for your Group and whoever you like, thats the only way you get to have maximum privacy.

Only Linden accounts will be able to enter it uninvited.

That doesn't fix the problem. Radar scans will still show avatars in the area. Point is to hide your avatar from radar scans to remain hidden and anonymous from these type of scans. Think about it. If I want to know where every person lives on linden land I'll send out 100's of bots to cover all linden land. If you happen to be home on your parcel and one of these bots comes along and scans your linden home now they got a location and possible location of where you live. Just dump the scan to a searchable database and you can track avatars and do investigative stalking, research or whatever. Completely destroys privacy. Like we have any privacy anyway.

[Lindal Kidd]

3 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

No, they can not track you unless you are wearing a scripted item that allows it.   Period.  

Well...but if you have an army of bots, and they flit around collecting data on who is in what region when, a pattern of your movements could be developed. It's not "tracking" exactly, but it could produce the same end result.

[Moloch Redgrave]

9 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

No, they can not track you unless you are wearing a scripted item that allows it.   Period.  

Wrong. Send 100's of bots to 1000's of parcels take the data dump it into a database and you got last location information on avatars. May not be the same as a script or updated like a script. But it's possible to do it that way. And I'm talking about tracking everyone's movements now in SL not only 1 avatar.

Edited November 19, 2022 by Moloch Redgrave

[Rowan Amore]

2 minutes ago, Moloch Redgrave said:

Wrong. Send 100's of bots to 1000's of parcels take the data dump it into a database and you got last location information on avatars. May not be the same as a script or updated like a script. But it's possible to do it that way.

Now you're just getting silly.  Enjoy your SL.

[Moloch Redgrave]

1 minute ago, Rowan Amore said:

Now you're just getting silly.  Enjoy your SL.

No you just can't grasp the concept of what they are doing here. If I was a private detective agency in SL and someone came to me and wanted to know if my SL spouse was cheating this would be the way to go to grab location data on a subject or person or interest.

[Rolig Loon]

14 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

25 minutes ago, Moloch Redgrave said:

these bots can be used to track avatars movements. Find where you live, where you work, and where you like to go

No, they can not track you unless you are wearing a scripted item that allows it.   Period.  

I suspect that "track" is being used here in the same sense that the police in RL track suspects. They don't typically attach electronic devices.  They put out an APB and then watch the reports that come in from a wide network of policemen. ("I just saw him over here!")  I suppose someone could create an army of bots for that purpose in SL but it seems a a huge waste of resources for a bot master and rather far-fetched worry for all but the most confirmed paranoids. I can't imagine that the army of bots is going to gain much useful information by watching where 99% of the avatars in SL are going. I certainly don't care to work myself into a frenzy worrying about it.

Edited November 19, 2022 by Rolig Loon
typos. as always.

[Nick0678]

2 minutes ago, Moloch Redgrave said:

That doesn't fix the problem. Radar scans will still show avatars in the area. Point is to hide your avatar from radar scans to remain hidden and anonymous from these type of scans. Think about it. If I want to know where every person lives on linden land I'll send out 100's of bots to cover all linden land. If you happen to be home on your parcel and one of these bots comes along and scans your linden home now they got a location and possible location of where you live. Just dump the scan to a searchable database and you can track avatars and do investigative stalking, research or whatever. Completely destroys privacy. Like we have any privacy anyway.

Read again, i speak of private regions and your reply is related to mainland parcels.

NOBODY can visit a Members Only private region, unless they are Linden personnel, hence no such thing as radar scans or whatever.

[Moloch Redgrave]

5 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

I suspect that "track" is being used here in the same sense that the police in RL track suspects. They don't typically attach electronic devices.  They put out an APB and then watch the reports that come in from a wide network of policemen. ("I just saw him over here!")  I suppose someone could create an army of bots for that purpose in SL but it seems a a huge waste of resources for a bot master and rather far-fetched worry for all but the most confirmed paranoids. I can't imagine that the army of bots is going to gain much useful information by watching where 99% of the avatars in SL are going. I certainly don't care to work myself into a frenzy worrying about it.

 

4 minutes ago, Nick0678 said:

Read again, i speak of private regions and your reply is related to mainland parcels.

NOBODY can visit a Members Only private region, unless they are Linden personnel, hence no such thing as radar scans or whatever.

Hence why Linden Labs should should allow the ability to hide avatars from radar when privacy is enabled on that parcel or land. Just like Linden employees hide themselves from view concept.

[Rowan Amore]

11 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

I suspect that "track" is being used here in the same sense that the police in RL track suspects. They don't typically attach electronic devices.  They put out an APB and then watch the reports that come in from a wide network of policemen. ("I just saw him over here!")  I suppose someone could create an army of bots for that purpose in SL but it seems a a huge waste of resources for a bot master and rather far-fetched worry for all but the most confirmed paranoids. I can't imagine that the army of bots is going to gain much useful information by watching where 99% of the avatars in SL are going. I certainly don't care to work myself into a frenzy worrying about it.

Yes, the confirmed paranoids are always convinced they are important enough for 100s of bots to care what they do or where they go.  

Bots can keep track of where I go all they'd like.  Useless info but they're welcome to it.  

[Nick0678]

Just now, Moloch Redgrave said:

Hence why Linden Labs should should allow the ability to hide avatars from radar when privacy is enabled on that parcel or land. Just like Linden employees hide themselves from view concept.

Linden employees hide themselves?

Hmm interesting and that statement is based on .. ?

[Rolig Loon]

3 minutes ago, Nick0678 said:

Linden employees hide themselves?

Sure!  Isn't that why they have bathrooms and broom closets?

[Rowan Amore]

Linden Lab Official:Bot policy - Second Life Wiki

Many mainland bots are used by real estate companies who constantly monitor regions for sale and such.  Private estates are also monitored in this way.   I live on Horizons.  There are constantly bots looking to buy up rare parcels set for sale.  

 

[Moloch Redgrave]

2 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

Yes, the confirmed paranoids are always convinced they are important enough for 100s of bots to care what they do or where they go.  

Bots can keep track of where I go all they'd like.  Useless info but they're welcome to it.  

Ha ha ha talking like a true perp now. Seems you people are just playing ignorant on purpose  or you just can't understand the concept and applications that these bots are doing for nefarious purposes. So you rather call me paranoid. See how you like it when a criminal syndicate or gang in SL tracks your movement and crashes your sims where you live and work. It's a problem and it violates TOS.  I'm done with the stupid comments.  Lock the thread.

[Rowan Amore]

35 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Well...but if you have an army of bots, and they flit around collecting data on who is in what region when, a pattern of your movements could be developed. It's not "tracking" exactly, but it could produce the same end result.

Sure, to what end?  Finding that ONE person you want to track and then sending 100s of bots around to find them?  Let's not feed the paranoia.  

[Wulfie Reanimator]

9 minutes ago, Nick0678 said:

Linden employees hide themselves?

Hmm interesting and that statement is based on .. ?

It's called God Mode.