Questions for the Lindens

[Ivy Mysterious]

*I understand that you don't want anymore forums created concerning the bonnie bot situations, but I hope that at least before you lock this thread, you'll answer some questions concerning it. Please don't ban me, I just want some more clarity on it all! and I'm sure I'm not the only one*

1. In concerns to you saying the following: "Any information, content, or communications, including personal information, you provide when you use any of these features will be available to the recipients (dependent on the nature of the tool) and may be publicly posted and otherwise disclosed without limitations as to its use by us or any third party" and "Given the nature of the tools, we have no obligation to keep private any information you made available to other users or the public using these functions"
   What exactly would you consider information that bonnie bots, if they were to share it, would be a breach of the LL ToS on Privacy?
2. Is the credit/ Debit card info we provide to obtain a premium or premium plus membership, to purchase lindens safe? What about the government info People/ Creators have to supply to cashout their earnings? is that info safe or would that also be considered info that the Lindens have no obligations to keep private?
3. and Lastly, would you consider, in light of recent events, making your privacy policy more transparent so users, both old and new alike, can make informed decisions so they can better protect themselves?

[EliseAnne85]

15 minutes ago, Ivy Mysterious said:

(dependent on the nature of the tool)

I think "dependent on the nature of the tool" is a rather odd phrase and leaves a gray area.  However, a Linden advised you contact them directly via a support ticket if you have any privacy concerns.  I plan to do the same and will open my support ticket soon. 

[Ivy Mysterious]

Just now, EliseAnne85 said:

I think "dependent on the nature of the tool" is a rather odd phrase and leaves a gray area.  However, a Linden advised you contact them directly via a support ticket if you have any privacy concerns.  I plan to do the same and will open my support ticket soon. 

If this thread gets locked that'll be my next step ❤️ 

[Gwin LeShelle]

LL we need to talk.

 I have kept really quiet about this in the other threads. And all I have to say is, it's a shame how LL is treating us and handling this situation. 

I don't mean they should ban the bots or such but how they are silencing those threads, instead of really talking to us residents, they chose the road of copy and pasting the same ToS section to us. Thanks we can Google that, too.

That's not how you clear the distrust of your user base. Open talk and I mean open talk, that includes hearing things from the users that are not only favorable. And maybe it's also time to really take the concerns of your residents serious. Cause at the end of the day we, the residents, are what makes SL what it is. And maybe it's time to admit that the ToS needs some newer changes. Or at least it's time to admit that you guys allow it because you are relying on the bots on the grid and actually you guys seem to have no clue how to handle and limit them.

I really am sad because for the first time ever in my 16 years on the grid I have the impression that they are hiding something and just try to silence us, in hopes it will all go away. Because SL residents rage loud and quick but also forget quickly. But they won't this time, those bots are popping up several times a day at my region alone. People won't even be able to forget. And if LL won't fix it someone else will find a way, to fix it how it always went. And I am not sure if they really want that to happen.

And also those bots are showing all the residents what data is possible to get scraped, and I bet that's just the tip of the iceberg. So instead of silencing us, you better sit down with us and have a talk.

You banned the girls from Virtual Secrets (no not a fan) for life but those bots guys get a sit-in with Patch and a pat on the back really? Talking of double standards...start listening.

[Sparkle Bunny]

My reading of it is that Lindens consider payment details, email addresses and other RL info submitted upon registration to be 'personal information'. This is not available to other users or bots unless there is a serious data breach, and if that were to happen they would be obliged to inform all vulnerable customers as soon as it was discovered.

They do not, apparently, consider your account status, location info, or anything you post in your profile to be 'personal information', and so it is fair game for anyone to republish and redistribute as they wish. If you were naive enough to think that the '1st life' tab was intended for RL info... nope, that is not the case.

Since profile info is now searchable, I would strongly recommend removing any information that identifies you as a member of any marginalised groups in RL or SL, and/or restricting your IMs to friends-only. Opting out of one specific site is not a solution as it does nothing to prevent copycat sites springing up, as they surely will now this kind of data-gathering is explicitly permitted by LL.

[Rick Nightingale]

I'll open my mouth too...

While I'm undecided on some of the non-discussable issues raised, what I have seen is that LL seems to be ignoring the obviously very strong concerns of some of its userbase. Whether the issues can be likened to RL privacy or not, many people are unhappy about what is happening and being allowed to happen.

To the extent that it seems to have cost a valuable (to me at least, even though we have barely spoken) member of SL and contributer to the forum.

It all comes down to what is considered important, and made policy. That can be changed by a single meeting. Or not.

While only a tiny proportion of people on SL come here, if we were to take the proportion of unhappy people and apply that to those who don't, that's a lot of unhappy people. And word does spread!

I'm really quite surprised about the above... well, not really. I'm used to how companies operate, but I was trying to be optimistic that decency and sense would prevail. I am a little taken aback by what has happened.

Telling people to stop talking about it and contact support if they have a problem (typical divide and conquer technique I've seen used, and as a manager been told to use) is bound to sow more distrust. Especially with me.

And that's probably the last I'll say on the matter, otherwise I might end up voting with my wallet and joining Sid with my four premium accounts (was thinking of making it five) and L$150,000 per year sales turnover all of which stays in SL. This is something I do for entertainment; that money could go elsewhere.

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by Rick Daylight

[animats]

We used to have Governance meetings to discuss this sort of thing.