SLStats Is Watching
Posted by Simon Lameth on August 8, 2006
Well, the asset server is down again, so I will take this time to write a story on SLStats.com.
Ahem…
The Second Life Herald has been covering the latest way for your private information to be posted for everyone to read. The new way: The SLStats Watch. This watch records and then publishes online how long you have been online, who you met and how long you spent with them, and information about your avatar (Even the payment information posted on your SL profile), and people that you saw/saw you. (It’s even supposed to tell the server your EXACT location, including what direction your facing) This has caused many people to post angry letters on the Forums.
What does Mark Barret, owner of SLStats.com have to say about this? Well, the SLStats Privacy Policy says “The information we collect could easily be acquired by other Second Life script and/or objects without your consent or knowledge.“
The watch also gathers most of the same information for avatars around you without their consent and adds them on your page. You can not opt out from this, although many residents were fooled into believing they were opting-out using a object at the SLStats HQ.
We will continue to cover this story.
August 8, 2006 at 5:04 pm
[...] SLStats is another interesting example of connecting Second Life to external web-services. SLStats requires users to wear a virtual watch (get it at the SLBuzz Store), which is scripted to send statistical data like current location, online-time and nearby inhabitants to SLStats’ database. all recorded profiles are available to the public, which seems to be ok since SLStats is clearly an opt-in service. however, privacy-concerns are justified, as the SLStats-watch also records the presence of other users, who won’t necessarily agree with such data-mining. besides these issues, SLStats is a great demonstration of what SL’s current interfaces are capable of. [...]