Does anyone out there visit Second Life?

Hi ya'lls. Don't think I have checked in here yet.

I'm "Rik Riel" in-world and Rik Panganiban outside it.

I coordinate a program on media reform and media research at the Social Science Research Council. My SL interests revolve around effectively creating multi-verse RL/SL events for education and advocacy purposes.

Oh yeah, and I have a blooooooog at http://www.rikomatic.com .
:wink2;

Hi,
I'm Bella Conover in SL. Never thought I'd have a reason to sign on to SL but now learning to walk and fly. Looking forward to you all.

I have a friend who plays second life and I did sign up an account but have never downloaded the game or actually played it yet.Has been a couple of months. May check to see if I am still there as a character.
I am Demonium Darkes in the game.

Hi Folks,

TechSoup is hosting a Mixed-Reality Event on July 18th at 6:00 PST.

My blog post about it here:
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2006/07/announcing_the_.html

I'm gathering some "newbies" for a very very informal orientation this Friday at 2:00 PM EST in-world at the TechSoup office. This will an opportunity for us to play with gestures, chat, IM, and other basic features and not feel too stupid.

I've been experimenting for about a month now and I still bump into walls ... but I have learned to play the piano in world!
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2006/07/my_first_machin.html

AngelMOM Onlyone (SL) here
I started investigating this about 2 months ago-completely on my own - to see exactly what appeal it (online games) had to so many young people -I had been referred by the maker of a Cancer video game as a place I might be able to accomplish what I had asked about.

I've had only a few scary or inappropriate moments - both of which could have been avoided with either different sign in /set up - or prewarnng (as I am doing for you!)

My laptop - where the broadband is- is 3 years old - it really does not like to SL world - works to slowly and jerkily that it makes the visit unpleasant and I actually have a headach at the endof the time from trying to even make the avatar "walk" properly. so I will need a new computer to accomplish my actual goals for our not for profit within the SL world.

I was very nieve about the "adult" content (I thought X rated stuff would have been rated XXX not adult - (as opposed to the 'teen' area) I thougt it was an age indication -NOT a dirty content indication.

All but one ineraction with SL members has been absolutely heart-warming - very open, very helpful, courteous (as long as that is how I presented myself) I can see how easily young people pretending to be "older or mature" could easily get prompted into very inappropriate conversations. remember, I was not in the TechSoup environment at that time it didn't exist - I was in the open world - subject to what anyone else who is a newcomer would be. I still walk funny - fly only when I have to and don't get around much - but a faster computer will help that.

My fear is that it closes off the use of this environmnent for anyone NOT having the most current technology. Also - people who jst want to visit or NPOs or events wold need have "instrctions" sent to them before hand - and possibly "visitors passes" that use temporary avatars "guest" avatars that are transported and parked for the event?

The one unpleasant event was a time when I was speaking (chat) with someone - they offered to take me on a tour (which I had already done with at least 6 different poeple) and I said yes - I clicked on a teleport request and was taken to a large club like place (because my machine is so slow I was unable to see much beyond myimmediate area (so I couldn't judge the type of place) the other avatar sat down and ask me to join them on the couch (I had learned how to sit down - so I used the command - and ended up with my avatar (an angel) on the couch, straddling the other avatar and movingup and down! notexactly behavior I wanted or would have chosen. I tried to getup - couldn't get it to work - so I just exited (X) quickly out of the program. My machine did not like it - and I had a couple days of problems. I was amazed at how 'dirty" the interaction made me feel.

I am working on writing an AngelTOWN land - I can see now that I would want it to be G rated - only members would be allowed, or accompanied by a member- I wants teens and adults to interact together without fear - and I woulod want people to have their real names - transparent and above board. I think we can have a second life - and not hide from our first!.

I am 60 - but I have looked forward to fulfilling this particular vision for 14 years - via video online communities - AngelHEROS. This is very exciting for me - quite a learning experience - and I am soglad to have found this group to travel this unknown territory with! (safety in numbers!)

Iwill be coming to the meeting on Tuesday- 19- watch for me - but don't excpert me to walk very well!
Have a blessed day- it is a choice
Arlene Shipley

For those of you who are interested, I have blogged about my observations from the event here:


Observations from the Net Tuesday Event : Second Life for Nonprofits, a Mixed Reality Event

Has anyone seen this!!! The first broadcast to come out of Second Life, with guests Kurt Vonnegut and Suzanne Vega. Someone finally figured out how to bring broadcast to the virtual world!!! Very cool.

http://www.LCMedia.com/SL1.htm

Second Life Insider article

This is not the first time there has been broadcast in SL. There have been many other events that broadcast and simulcast in SL. However, the one you mentioned was not related to nonprofits. This is a nonprofit technology forum.

Thanks for staying on topic.

Hi:

As producers of The Infinite Mind, let me please clear up a couple of things:

1) The Infinite Mind is a non-profit production.
2) The Infinite Mind broadcast has been called (Boston Globe, et. al.) the first live, virtual 3D broadcast of a regularly scheduled program to emenate from Second Life. Hope that clears it up.

UPDATE:

The national, weekly public radio series, The Infinite Mind, is opening a virtual public radio broadcast center on Second Life, with the first live broadcasts from SL, that will reach our one million weekly public radio listeners. First guests include Suzanne Vega (performing) and Kurt Vonnegut, and Howard Rheingold. We have also formed a development/social marketing company to work with non-profits who want to get into Second Life, called Infinity Squared (http://www.infinitysquared.org)

You can see more at our website www.LCMedia.com and our blog about this: http://www.lcmedia.typepad.com/the_infinite_mind/

Also, if you want to see something very cool, this is a machinima animation of the making of Suzanne Vega's guitar: http://blip.tv/file/56120

If you want to know more, contact June Peoples at June@LCMedia.com or Drew Stein at Bo@InfiniteVisionMedia.com
Infinite Squared

These are good examples of what is possible now in "mixed-reality" events. The use of quicktime to broadcast the audio portion of the event, combined with IMed questions to the guests, does seem to work well. There is a time lag, which is kind of annoying.

But still it's great seeing this cutting edge use of the technology.

There's a certain irony although mostly dissapointment in having the fears I expressed earlier in this thread (copied below) come to fruition so soon after cautioning people about web resources that require you to enter personally identifiable information for access - (link) - SecondLife has been hacked and an unknown amount of personally identifiable information has been stolen. Identity theft is now an expected outcome, and anyone who uses SL is strongly recommended to inspect your financial transaction reports very, very carefully... It would also be a good idea to Google for your own name every few days over upcoming months to make sure your personal details are not being provided to other resources elsewhere on the Interent.

It's just so easy for the enthusiasm of a new game or other online activity to overtake caution and the knowledge there is really no such thing as a totally secure online resource - to ignore the advice of security experts and professionals - but please do remember that when we enter personal information into a web site we do so at our peril - especially if the web is a game that by design attracts the interest of people knowledgeable in script and programming languages.

Please be careful out there...

Don

"Identity authentication on 99% of webs requiring authentication (such as TechSoup, Yahoogroups, MSN etc. etc.), is a matter of Email address entry and verification. Reputable sites have NO requirement for users to enter Credit Card details - noting this company also requires potential users to enter a date-of-birth, home address AND the credit card security code, meaning anyone registering is giving this company full personal purchasing authorities - Linden Labs, a disgruntled employee, or even a hacker who spoofs the web and-or keylogs people registering could charge whatever they like to a users credit-card without the users knowledge. For Linden Labs to require this information simply for "identification" is an extraordinarily dangerous practice in today's age of widespread credit-card fraud".

Unfortunately, those of you who warned us against the Second Life site were proven correct. We just received a notice that there has been a breach of personal data, as follows. this is a quote from an email I received.

"We discovered that a database was accessed by the intruder, and we are able to determine the aggregate size of the data that was downloaded through the intrusion. The database accessed includes customer account information, including Second Life account names, real-life name and contact information in unencrypted form. Account passwords and payment information (consisting of credit card numbers and Paypal transaction IDs) are stored in this same database in encrypted form."

What should we do now, other than keeping a close eye on our bank accounts?

> What should we do now, other than keeping a close eye on our bank accounts?

Anyone who provided Linden Labs with personally identifiable information, and particularly if you provided credit-card details, should be watching your bank statements very carefully (my wife works for a bank and recommends notifying your bank of the potential for an informational security breach so the bank can also monitor accounts for anything suspicious).

Unfortunately other than this there is not a lot else you can do...

Some kudos should go to Linden Labs for notifying it's user base (at least those who provided legitimate email addresses) about this breach so quickly. This is demonstrative of good corporate ethics and citizenship, if also demonstrative of a less than good focus on maintaining the confidential nature of customer records - In turn it's now up to all Second Life users to similarly demonstrate concern for fellow users by communicating information about this breach as widely and quickly as possible.

The impact may be lessened if enough people are empowered with knowledge about the breach and forewarned to check their bank statements for any suspicious activity.

Don

Hey everyone, I just wanted to clarify exactly what was potentially exposed in the database breach, with the emphasis on potentially, becuase due to the nature of the attack, we're not able to determine which individual data were exposed.

You can also read more about what happened here: http://blog.secondlife.com/?tag=security

The data which was in the database included the unencrypted names and addresses, and the encrypted passwords and encrypted payment information of all Second Life users. Unencrypted credit card information, which is stored on a separate database, was not compromised. Again, no unencrypted credit card information is stored on the database in question.

We use an MD-5 hash (scramble function) and salt (additional data) to encode passwords and payment information, an industry standard technique that is commonly regarded as difficult to defeat. However, it is true that no hash or encryption is unbreakable, given enough time and computing power.