Keep Users Safe: Hide Names on Old Content and Photos
Asher Nightfang
I would like to suggest an improvement to user privacy in Second Life. Currently, even after blocking someone, it is still possible for them to track or identify a user through old items, Note cards. Old Calling Cards or photos that were shared in the past. This happens because blocked users can still see the user’s current username and display name on that old content and can still access their profile. Even changing a username does not prevent this, since those references continue to link back to the same profile. Blocking mainly stops direct interaction, but it does not remove access to previously shared content.
To improve user safety, I suggest the following feature:
When a user is blocked, any items, photos, or other shared content that display the blocker’s name should have that name removed or replaced with “Unknown” in the metadata. This would prevent blocked users from identifying or tracking someone through old content.
Implementing this change would give users stronger control over their privacy and provide better protection against harassment or stalking.
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Timothy McGregor
The problem with this, as with previous requests to turn the name change feature into a "hide from my stalkers" feature is that the feature was never intended to serve this purpose.
You'll even find this addressed in the FAQ:
"It's best to assume that your old name is not a secret, though once changed, your new name will be displayed everywhere your old one used to be."
That's just the way it is. Every object you create will forever be associated with your UUID, and anyone examining an object that you created will always be able to see the username associated with that key. This means that when you change your name, that new name will always be visible.
I absolutely want to know who the creator is of every single item in my inventory, so that I can use that information to make decisions about said item. I would go so far as to say that I am
entitled
to know who created any and all items in my inventory, even if one of them changed their name and blocked me. I would hold the same for items out in the world that I don't own for similar reasons. Obscuring this information is not a viable path toward privacy; it creates other problems, and doing so in the specific manner suggested is almost certainly
not
trivial as another commenter has suggested, and would be inconsistent with the purpose and scope of the name change feature.Haridsam Resident
Excellent idea, and I can't imagine this would be a difficult on for LL to implement. Hard to imagine justiiable grounds for objection.
Simone Wagstaff
I like idea i sent a photo to someone forgot that i uploaded on my alt accidentally revealing name .
Wicked Nightfall
SL is stalker paradise and I had to leave due to real life threats from the owners of a club here in SL. Does LindenLabs do anything at all? Nope - it's a police matter now and believe me when I say I am pressing them charge the company for facilitating a dangerous environment without any privacy protections. Lindens don't care - they just want our money - they don't do this for the love of SL - they do it for the love of $$$ - the days where the developers were excited about are long over and it shows.