Second Life 1 Facebook 0

[Deltango Vale]

Why Second Life is the future and Facebook isn't:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15069858

ETA:

http://www.economist.com/node/21524829

[Madelaine McMasters]

I need more explanation, Del. Are you thinking that SL's anonymity is an advantage over Facebook? 

[WADE1 Jya]

I've read that facebook has recently lost 30% of its users, probably because of exactly these kind of issues.

[Ishtara Rothschild]

Soon everyone will wear glasses with heads-up displays that show all our personal information floating above our heads. Name, relationship status, occupation, interests, biological / birth gender, criminal record etc. 

But when it comes to this kind of technology, Google is a much bigger privacy threat than Facebook imho. At least Zuckerberg and his henchmen rely on people to voluntarily provide their photos and personal information, whereas Google just takes whatever it wants. 

[Bandito Razor]

Here is the thing. Anyone wanna raise their hands who believe Linden Labs wouldnt sell the same info if offered the right money? Tons of people on FB have their RL pics as part of the 1st life profile. And if you don't put your real pic on FB, they can't bring up your RL info on FB.

Also, FB has lost people because of Google +. G+ is the "new hotness", and there are people who will always race off to the "newest shiny".

[Deltango Vale]

What on Earth has gone wrong with the Fora software? Is it just me? I can't find anything in this giant wall of noise. I don't even know where this post will end up.

[Venus Petrov]

It is back to normal now, Del.

[Madelaine McMasters]

So much for the score, Del!

[Ishtara Rothschild]

That happens occasionally. The forum software starts to choke, coughs up some weird html, and recovers again within a few minutes.

[Deltango Vale]

Whew! That was weird. For a while, I thought I had been redirected to a scam site. Rebooted PC, ran virus scan, rebooted router. Did San Francisco get hit by an earthquake or something?

[Deltango Vale]

What's the term? Fumble? Interception? Could be a close game

[Dillon Levenque]

---

Deltango Vale wrote:

Whew! That was weird. For a while, I thought I had been redirected to a scam site. Rebooted PC, ran virus scan, rebooted router. Did San Francisco get hit by an earthquake or something?

---

 

No. Not a big one, anyway. Latest California Earthquakes

[Madelaine McMasters]

---

Deltango Vale wrote:

What's the term? Fumble? Interception? Could be a close game

---

Let's call it a fumble. Facebook has had some big ones.

[Deltango Vale]

Yes. One of the many huge advantages of Second Life over RL social networks is anonymity. The days of plastering our RL information over the internet is rapidly coming to an end. Privacy is not only a big plus for SL, it is the Achilles Heel of RL social networks.

[Deltango Vale]

Let me put it another way. In the past, only celebrities had to build a wall of privacy around themselves. They were the target of stalkers, fraudsters, photographers, trial lawyers and journalists. Their personal, legal and financial affairs were gone through with a fine-tooth comb by just about everyone. They could hardly order a meal in a restaurant without someone identifying them. What applied only to the rich and famous ten years ago will apply to everyone ten years from now. Call it the democratization of public scrutiny. There will be the inevitable backlash.

This will be the gravy train for Second Life: a parallel world with a metaphor-based economy in which we transact free from RL constraints. Linden Lab sort of understood this back in 2006, but I believe the company was impatient, sacrificing many of SL's core strengths for a quick buck - always a mistake in business. If Linden Lab would take a longer term view, it would realize that the petroleum oozing up out of the ground is not a problem to be bottled as 'medicine' but the 'oil' of a whole new economy.

[PeterCanessa Oh]

But, but, surely it's a GOOD thing if everyone knows everything about everyone.  Surely the government* NEEDS face-recognition on every street-corner able to identify the whole population.  Police states atates are a good thing.  The Army is your friend.  We are not here to hurt you, ....

Only people with something to hide have anything to fear.

(Yes, I'm kidding)

 

[* remember this is international** so that doesn't mean any specific government

** I know it's a difficult concept for USA citizens but try]

[Dilbert Dilweg]

Facial Recognition technology could probably be used to also track textures in SL. Bust Stolen wares in Sl. Hehehe

Kind of like http://www.tineye.com/   Reverse image search. Track down images and view all the websites the image has been used on. Kind of funny to bust phony profile pictures.

It is being used everywhere

Big brother is tracking you lol

Oklahoma had a project going for 3 years. Test program for tracking drivers licenses. Scanning drivers license images every night. FBI and CIA have used it in places like Las Vegas where heavy traffic and big money comes into play.

[Eloise Baily]

I used to really like your dance place Dilbert but I feel watched if I go there now, so I don't go.

People really aren't that interested in tracking down your history you know. Nearly 3 years in and no one gives a toss.

 

[Void Singer]

---

PeterCanessa Oh wrote:

** I know it's a difficult concept for USA citizens but try

---

are you kidding? you Bits are even more screwed than we are... most places here won't even allow stoplight cams.... let alone CCTV on the street corners.

[Eloise Baily]

Thing is Void, we have that and we know about it...but we still don't don tinfoil.

[Deltango Vale]

I have a question. I find it intriguing that the UK - home of the George Orwell and the setting for 1984 - has ended up with the most CCTV cameras on Earth. One would expect the exact opposite. Is it possible that 1984 desensitized the British population such that they embraced rather than rejected social surveillance? In other words, did Orwell unwittingly promote rather than prevent aspects of the dystopian future he feared?

[Void Singer]

History teaches that for every great ability and noble cause for having it, some schmuck will come along and abuse it it to the detriment  of others.... americans are by nature allergic to being controlled (when they can notice it =X), the british are inured to it. (and we're all wrong on some points).

I don't do tinfoil either.... if I'm going to stop something I want something that's actually effective, otherwise, why bother?

 

@Del:
could be, although the brits have always had a stronger belief in the inflexibility of social class, so I'm sure that doesn't help. You could take that to mean that Orwell was simply prophetic and not dystopian =D

[Dillon Levenque]

---

Deltango Vale wrote:

I have a question. I find it intriguing that the UK - home of the George Orwell and the setting for

1984

- has ended up with the most CCTV cameras on Earth. One would expect the exact opposite. Is it possible that

1984

desensitized the British population such that they embraced rather than rejected social surveillance? In other words, did Orwell unwittingly promote rather than prevent aspects of the dystopian future he feared?

---

Without even attempting to answer the philosophical question, I know that you, like I, get at least some of your news from the BBC online (as in the link in the OP). And so you must have seen as many articles about people getting busted as a result of CCTV captures as I have. Walk into a store in Britain, punch someone in the face, you're gonna be on TV.

As an American I have always hated being watched through cameras. Well maybe I shouldn't have said 'As an American'; we do have some diversity. But I think the bulk of us really don't like that kind of thing. There was an array on the freeway next to a CHP checkpoint that I used to pass on my way to work and I almost always flipped them off on the off chance anyone was watching.

I'm still not decided, but I have to tell you that I think it's at least possible that video surveillance is more good than evil.

[Void Singer]

if you're an american, you have have the innate right as an american to say "as an american". heavens know all the fundamentalist and nut jobs take advantage of it without implicating all of us =D

[Celestiall Nightfire]

Deltango, in the early 1990's I read David Brin's "The Transparent Society".   It appears Brin has accurately predicted this current loss of privacy, but it's still to early to guess if the outcome he speculates about will transpire.

If you haven't read that particular book, I urge you to do so, as it addresses this very issue. 

 

BTW, I use my RL name and picture on Facebook.  I also use my RL name and picture on G+.....and  I'm very close to that in SL, as I do post a RL picture on my SL profile.    In my RL, people see me and know my name.  So, in RL anyone could do those things...look up information, etc.   It's not like any of us actually have "privacy" in RL, it is an illusion.  

Privacy is an illusion online too, and SL plays into that illusion, by giving people the impression that they are "anonymous" here.  But, all it'd take is a court order or legal subpoena, and anyone's RL name, address, and personal information could be gleaned and mined from the SL data systems..  It's all stored there.  (With the exception of someone who uses a "friend's" computer, and gives a fake name, and maybe even uses a proxy server to lessen IP tracking, but most people in SL don't go to all that trouble.)