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SL v RL in the Future


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I have long argued that the future is in virtual worlds. There are many reasons for this, but I'd like to mention one of them now: privacy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16810312

I don't use Facebook, not because I fear the company (though I don't want my personal info used for marketing), but because I don't want to be perpetually monitored by the government, the media, the lawyers and the whackadoodles. My solution is to keep my RL to myself. I don't have a RL Twitter account. I don't have a RL G+ account, I don't have a RL Facebook account. I have no interest in the entire universe knowing my every personal detail. Nor do I wish to end up in jail somewhere because a tweet was taken out of context by a mindless bureaucrat, a mentally ill neighbor or a hungry lawyer.

I believe strongly that the age of RL net identities is coming to an end. I believe it is only a matter of time and a couple high-profile cases before people tone down their RL net identities and build up their VR avatar identities. Many people now have avatar identities they use for virtual worlds, games, blogs, Twitter accounts etc. I see this trend moving beyond a small core of smart people to the wider population. I also believe this trend plays well into the hand of Linden Lab, who have not yet grasped the concept of a parallel world of privacy. In the meantime, be careful what you tweet in RL, be careful what you say on your Facebook page. Big Brother and Little Sister are watching.

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If you googled me under my RL name you'd find absolutely nothing.  If you looked me up in any public directory, nothing would be found.  I guard my RL information fanatically, not only on the web but everywhere. I only give out personal information where I am required to by law or needed to complete a transaction for something I initiated and even then I am careful to be sure I only give the minimum required and that it really is required.  I don't have anything to hide, but my private life is just that - private.

I don't use any social media out there under my RL name and really don't understand people's need to broadcast all the details of their lives to the world.  Employers, banks and the government already troll the net for information that is damaging to a person.  It has turned around and bitten more than one person on the a**  when they were turned down for a job, a loan or even were arrested because of pictures or posts that they themselves put out there.

People rage against government intrusion in their personal lives then turn around and put it out there for everyone to see and track. It is as puzzling to me as people's willingness to give up their rights to the government for the illusion of security.  I wouldn't care and normally I'd say that they deserve the inevitable consequences of this except those of us not willing to follow along will suffer some of them too.

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I think it will be a long time before the majority of people cease using their RL identities online.  Colleges and potential employers scour sites for information on applicants.  Students are warned that stuff they post online can return to haunt them later.  I have not seen any evidence that the use of social networking sites has declined; just the opposite.  These companies want RL users for RL marketing purposes.  Virtual personalities hold no interest.  Until virtual personalities have the same income-producing potential as do RL persons, RL information will win out.

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Engaging in social media is not an all or nothing proposition.  Many people may set up FB or other accounts (not twitter since that platform is chiefly about spreading thoughts and ideas) just to remain connected with old friends or acquaintances they met earlier in life and they are otherwise physically apart from.  Many are separated from relatives also; given the mobility of the world population, there are valid reasons for this type of engagement.  Also just because one opens up a FB account doesn't mean he broadcasts everything to the world.  That's why there are different privacy settings available on those platforms and a user can choose to share as much or as little as he likes.  This type of media will not go away unless there is an enormous, widespread abuse of it that becomes recognized by millions of people. 

I see the main benefit of virtual avatar identites/networking in idea exploration.  Not getting pegged down by sterotypes; being able to argue and explore and even inhabit different types of perspectives with fewer consequences.  In an internet world where people are constantly allowing themselves to be polarized politically (by only engaging in reinforcing ideas and perspectives - for instance only ever reading the Huffington Post or Drudge Report, etc.), it's a very useful way to wrestle with ideas and words without necessarily having to claim them as one's own or perceived static "identity."   This can bring its own set of problems, but that seems to me one of its chief merits.  If used in this way, it can lead to a more understanding, less polarized population.   The "other" can become "me" and vice versa.  So for this reason I'd like to see virtual identity continue to be available to everyone and more widely taken up by the general population.  I would hope neither one nor the other would win out as I can see enormous benefits to both. 

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Deltango Vale wrote:

I believe strongly that the age of RL net identities is coming to an end.

I strongly disagree with this statement.  I think it's just the opposite.  

The article that you cited, and others like, do not point to a need to end RL identities on the net.  Instead they point to the need for better training for security people.  That's all.  The example in the article is for two people.  But, plenty of other people get stopped all the time in RL, for all manner of things security related, but it just does not get the news media attention. 

Personally, I'd rather have transparency, and if it means that a couple of vacationers are sent home for a false alarm, so be it.  I'd rather error on the side of safety, and if those two had actually done something in the US, those tweeted words would have come back to haunt the security people. 

I'm not interested in online alter-egos, and the only reason I have my SL avatar name is because that was the option given when I joined SL.   I've shared my RL name and identity with people in SL,  and have some SL residents as my Facebook friends, and we are using our RL names there.   Also, on G+.  I don't use those social venues often, but it's for lack of time, not my privacy that keeps me away.

I'd like to see people using their RL identities in a virtual world, and other online activities.   In RL when I walk down the street or go to the store, I don't go incognito, so there is no reason for that in online activities either.  If people are worried about their sexual activates, I would also like to see that opened up and viewed as normal, so people do not feel the need to hide by an alias.

My avatar is a not a made-up character, it's me.  Recent ads that LL did late last year, showed people's RL pictures beside their SL avatars.  That was brilliant marketing by SL.   I hope that trend continues.

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I don't have much choice, because of being a tiny tiny tiny bit well known I've made the media several times under my real name, so there is no hiding from that.

But perhaps because of that and because I am very old fashioned, everything I (have to) share on the internet I keep covered up, decent or polite.

In other worlds, there is a lot about me on the internet, but little of it is truly personal, private or something I don't want to share with the world anyway.

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It dont work like that, i know lots think they bug places like face book and such, but all emails are filtered, its the law, even if you sent an email to yourself they would know its contents, they have programs that search EVERY EMAIL sent for key words and phrases, this is done by the security services as it leaves your machine and before it gets to the person your sending it to..

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I don't know if I'd agree that RL social networking is coming to an end. I do think there will be, in fact is, an on-going reaction to all the negative things that have happened as a result of too much private information made public. People got carried away with the (indisputable) power of things like Twitter and Facebook. I think now there's a bit of a retraction going on.

 I really like the idea of VL networking expanding. I love the openness we are allowed when we can speak as ourselves but with some privacy. I realize that's not to everyone's taste. Everyone has a different approach. Celestiall's is practically the opposite of mine, for instance, but part of that is just the way I am. I value my RL privacy period, not just as it relates to my SL avatar. I take pleasure in the fact I've yet to find myself by googling my name. Even when I use first-middle-last, and include my home state in the search. I've gone deep enough in the pages so the results start to scatter and still haven't seen myself. I like that.

 The problem is that with the overwhelming acceptance of all this there's almost a need to be part of it. I can see a time when a job applicant will be looked upon with suspicion if she DOESN"T have a Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and all the rest presence. That time may very well be upon us. I am at a point where career moves  don't matter to me so the fact I have none of those doesn't matter.

 

Edited to reduce Celestiall's 'L' count (was four in the original)

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In my opinion, total anonymity (online or offline) is bad because too many take advantage of it. That's the reason we have passports, drivers' licenses and other forms of ID. Without them, too many humans turn into monstrous, hellishly evil beasts.

The end of all privacy on the other hand is something that's only good for companies trying to leverage that information for their own goals.

As a result there has to be a balance between these two. There should not be "no privacy" and there should not be "total anonymity". The latter would be nice, but not with the amount of mentally unstable idiots on the streets or even online.

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I am VERY well aware of the email monitoring and while I use email I don't say anything I wouldn't say in public in RL. 

Its not the government that is all people should be concerned about.  Read the TOS for FB for example.

FB has publicly admitted that they collect information on you collate it with other people's information.  They figure out who your friends and relatives are, where you work, who your kids are what bars you go to, what your religion is etc etc. Etc.   If a friend of mine posts a pic of us, they ask who the other person is and record it even though I have no FB account or have agreed to anything.  Then they peddle it to companies that then target my friend.  They may even target me if they glean enough from peoples posts to figure out how.  The "social network" is really just trolling for personal information from as many as they can about as many as they can to make money with.  That's bad enough so I won't even go into the danger of them being hacked and someone else getting all that.

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Jenni Darkwatch wrote:

In my opinion, total anonymity (online or offline) is bad because too many take advantage of it. That's the reason we have passports, drivers' licenses and other forms of ID. Without them, too many humans turn into monstrous, hellishly evil beasts.

 

In my post (and I know you're replying to Deltango's) I didn't actually espouse anonymity. I have a passport and a driver's license. LL knows precisely who I am and where I live, as do the companies that host my RL email addresses (and my avatar's, come to that). It's not anonymity I seek for my RL, merely privacy.

I am a hellishly evil beast, though ;-)

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I lean to choice in the matter.  Already we are able to be traced via isp cc payments etc.. For me that's more than enough.

If it came to "you have to put your real life ID online to have the right to use the net"  we've hit the end and I won't be interested.

 

I was talking to my brother the otherday about this, he was telling me, that in response to the attempts at control over the net there's now talk of making a new net running info the same way a torrent or napster would, peer tp peer...

I love it!!

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I use Facebook under my real world identity.    If you're careful not to upset any of your FB friends, it's unlikely that you'd be posting anything that would be of interest to governments etc. anyway!  

I don't use Twitter because I don't feel any need to.   It is what it says - twitter - for the most part! 

I think the trend will actually be towards greater use of real world identities, or online nicknames that can be traceable to an RL identity)  

I don't see that affecting Second Life, that seems to work perfectly well with account names.

But - I suppose one unknown is future legislation.  If a law were ever passed in USA or possibly even another country with a big SL population (e.g. Britain or Germany), requiring disclosure of real names by internet users, then LL would have no option but to comply.  

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I have no idea where the internet is going to, however there seems to be a clear trend that the US goverment want more control over it. Earlier bank details had been asked from Dutch banks which they have refused to give. And laltely there is a trend that certain sites are to be blocked for (so called) security reasons.

Another trend i see is that the use of virtual names has only grown. 

The latter can easily been explained. Professionals and students with high potential have become more careful using exposure via social media. I too don't want to connect my name and therefore the RL business brand to any unwanted internet thing unless i wisely choose so myself for branding and PR activities as part of the marketing strategy.

A mistake can sometimes be very small, so i really do guard my publicity on the internet like an eagle. One case i had that a family member had put up some party photos with me on it publicly in a position that wasn't too flattering, and unasked for. Of course she was very helpful taking it down, however it demonstrates a mistake is easily made by forgetting to mark a tick box in a setting of whatever socal media thing.

I advocate to be very careful with social media in geneal when you're a (potential) professional.

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Politically, the problem is worldwide. The United States at least has the Constitution. The UK has no such protection.

While I am very unhappy with Big Brother, I am far more concerned by Little Sister. No sane professional wants his RL splashed across the internet. As I said in a previous thread, many teenagers will have to change their legal names when they graduate university and start looking for work. "Ah, Ms. Jentsen, or should I call you EvilHateWitch, I see you have applied for the Customer Relations position."

"Is that a wild drinking party you attended in that photo?" "I see you are a smoker, we don't hire smokers." "Wasn't your acquaintance Doug arrested for cannabis possession? How well do you know Doug? I'm sorry, but we can't take the risk of hiring the acquaintance of a known felon." "I see from your blog (June 2008) that you didn't denounce the XYZ protest. Are you an XYZ sympathizer?"

And then there is the nightmare coming from the marketing side (watch the entire video):

http://www.g4tv.com/videos/44277/dice-2010-design-outside-the-box-presentation/

Combined, this is the hell that awaits us. It is why we shall seek shelter in virtual worlds..

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Hi, yes I didn't watch all but saw enough, I think there will be a world war by next year, so the internet as it now will be gone by then, it is all a case of timing, forget what the press say, just look at things like pipe lines and the movement of troops, movement of fiat currencies and the movement of gold, plus many new scandals that will come out before then, many things that some thought safe have been ponzi schemes, they are going to come all crashing down this year and will spark of war if it has not already started, it is all down to a simple sum, "resources / population", it is so low that this civilization only has a limited time at its current expansion rate, plus there is a huge difference in race reproduction, so has to end in war or plague to sort, our whole civilization runs on oil and our life styles are affected by its price.

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Lucinda Bulloch wrote:

I think we are in the twilight years of the internet, the USA is becoming a fascist state and fascist states do not allow freedom of speech, it is as simple as that.

I'm not sure about Facist state-lol......but certianly their civil liberties have been eroding over the last couple of decades.

All Governments & Dictatorships generally fear the power of the Internet. They can't control it.....a place where the masses can effectively organise themselves. Just read about the beginnings of the Arab Spring uprisings.

The Govts will try and control it via the ISPs and blocking filters.

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My name is Ceka. I worked for the Ubber Corporation in a secret laboratory developing experimental viral weaponry. There was an incident. A virus escaped. Everybody died. Trouble was, they didn't stay dead.


it's not like the warning signs were not sent to you all..

how many zombie movie clues had to be sent out to the public before  people would finally see the truth..

finally we figured those were not working ..so we had a plan.. Jesse Eisenberg..who better to reach people..

that's right we tried one more time with Zombieland..then we figured ok we need to reach deeper..so there was a plan to wake people up on the internet..so Social network was released..still nothing =(

so they finally sent me with this final reach out before containment gets breached and the situation out of control..

sorry i am a few minutes late..that happend like an hour ago..Ooopsies?? \o/

so this is a last ditch effort to let you all know what is going on..

well words can't explain it..so here we go..

i can't disclose the area because of top secrete reasons and nucluuure bombs n stuff..but this is pretty much the butter on the biscut..Ceka signing  out...........oh ya!! i almost forgot!! DOH!!

there is hope..there is a ship off the west coast called agni...i know a lot of you east coasters may become a sandwich before you get there..but just remember those important rules that Jesse gave you and you should be alright..

Aaaanyways..here is a little look at the situation as of an hour ago..Ooops..now it's an hour and a half..took some time to get this typed up while shooting at the door...those edit guys are awesome in a pinch i swear..also..look on the bright side..we all get to shoot zombies now!!! \o/

woot!!

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