Update on Bonniebots

 

 Of our article on the Bonniebots on Friday, there were two responses. One lengthy one from an anonymous reader felt there was little if anything to worry about, "I have to say the bots seem benign, maybe even beneficial ... after having spoken with the creator and the lengths they go through to keep the data benign I have to say their activity appears to be more responsible than most bot operators, the bots even now provide links to show what their doing, when I first encountered them, they may of been in the testing phase, but they offer no data that isn't easily obtained within SL beyond showing where they've last seen people at ... I think the only reason these bots attract so much ire is because they don't hide the fact they have the same origin by giving them diversely different names which gives haters a clear target making them a little harder to dismiss as random. ...the data they collect is publicly available and easy to collect and isn't anything newly generated that breaches actual privacy unlike that trash from ... zfire and Monkey."

 

Nydia Tungsten's response was shorter, feeling there had to be some changes, "They should leave the Avatar search off and let people Opt IN, there will be a lot of people that have no clue about this. But MY main concern as someone that owns multiple sims is I would LIKE to see a way to opt my sims out completely. I am getting so very tired of bots popping in when and where ever in residential area's. Granted this could be a boon for business areas and more power to them, me, I detest all bots and want them to stay out of my sims period."

Since our article, there's been two changes. Early this week, the Bonniebot website now had an "About" page, at https://www.bonniebots.com/about . There were four sections: Bonnie, FAQ API, and Opt Out. Opt Out gave the following, "To opt-out, send an in-world message to bonniebelle86 containing the phrase 'opt-out'. The opt-out applies to Top Merchants and Avatar Search." At the bottom of the page are the names of the Bonniebots.

 

The FAQ page had questions such as "What data is being collected?" "How do I prevent Bonniebots from visiting my region?" "Do other people have databases like this?" and others, and when clicked in would reveal an answer. 

Later in the week, the Search page was gone. So people could no longer search for information on certain avatars, at least within the website (searching inworld is still very much fair game). So those who complained about that no longer have to worry about it. 

In the meantime, the Bonniebots, and their less visible counterparts, are still going about their business, hopping around the Grid and collecting information. But unlike other bots, it's as simple as going to a website to look up the Bonniebots' names so you can block them from your land.

Bixyl Shuftan