EOTB: Embedded Youtube Videos Not Working

 

On Wednesday November 19, Linden Lab addressed a certain issue it the official Second Life blog:Youtube videos embedded inworld had stopped working. 

 

Many of you have recently noticed that YouTube videos embedded directly in Second Life no longer play. Here’s what’s going on, why it’s happening, and how you can keep sharing video experiences in-world.
First, let’s clear the air: this change is not caused by Second Life.

YouTube has begun more strictly enforcing the policy around video playback inside embedded browsers. These policy and technical restrictions affect any platform trying to use embeds stripped from the iframe, not just Second Life. As a result, YouTube.com embeds often refuse to load or play inside parcel media and shared media surfaces.

Our underlying media system has not changed. What has changed is how YouTube allows its content to be displayed. 

 

The embeds are breaking because Youtube has tightened various restrictions, so that the inworld media panels' inworld browser can no longer meet their requirements. So the videos are blocked.  

 

What to do? Linden Lab stated they are "exploring ways to improve overall media playback resiliency." But for now, they suggest either using Vimeo platform videos, as it is "currently the most seamless drop-in replacement for in-world video playback," or using a self-hosted webpage with an iFrame, "Many residents already use this approach for theaters, classrooms, and event venues."

For the blog post in full, Click Here. 
 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Access To Adult Regions Removed In Mobile Viewer

 

 The Newser has yet to go through all of the video of the Community Roundtable meeting (we are very busy). But we have heard one detail that will affect those of us who either already use or plan to use the Mobile Viewer. Access to Adult sims has been blocked on it. The reason for this is because of the Apple Store and Google Play requirements concerning content. The Lab does say they hope this can be changed in the future. 

More on the issue later.

Hat tip: Daniel Voyager, Inara Pey

Discord Issues

 

If you were having trouble getting on Discord on Friday September 29, you weren't alone. Numerous users using the client software were getting a while screen with the words "You have been blocked."

 

Someone posting on Twitter to Discord Support stated, "I suddenly get a Cloudflare "Sorry, you have been blocked" page when opening the Discord desktop client. Is something wrong on your end or am I false positive in some DoS detection?"

The problem is described as lasting for hours, and the company pinned the issue on the service experiencing "unusual traffic spikes."  It has been suggested that the reason was issues at Cloudfare, which Discord works with to improve it's service. 

The issue came up in a couple group chats in Second Life. Later in the day after the problem seemed to be resolved, it was suggested to users still having trouble that restarting the client, or their computers, would resolve the problem. A suggestion that Discord itself had been making.

 

Sources: Techcrunch,  Bleepingcomputer, Twitter,

Bixyl Shuftan

Firestorm Viewer Reminder

 

By tomorrow, Firestorm users using version 6.3.2.58052 will need to update their viewers. It was a few weeks ago on March 16 that Team Firestorm announced on their blog the release of their version 6.4.13(63251) viewer. Jessica commented that earlier, the team determined four updates a year was best, "We will try hard to keep quarterly releases on schedule from this point on, with 4 updates a year, and we hope the majority of you will appreciate this balance."

Team Firestorm has a "three version rule," dating from an agreement with Linden Lab years ago. So the team has to block older versions of it's viewer. The grace period for version 6.3.2.58052 ends today, and it will be blocked tomorrow.

The latest update promises bug fixes, and features including a "massive" RLV update, and a "New free-aim mouse and focus lock for Depth of Field" for screenshots.

Source: Firestorm blog
 

Eye On The Blog: Linden Lab Blocks "IM To Second Life" Android Client

On Friday, Oz Linden announced that the Android application "IM to Second Life" was being blocked. Oz cited "serious violations" to the privacy of users and account security.

Linden Lab has blocked the third party Android client “IM to Secondlife”; it may no longer be used to access Second Life. We did so due to serious violations of the Policy on Third Party Viewers relating to user account security and user privacy.
 

If you have ever used that viewer, Linden Lab strongly suggests that you secure your Second Life account, beginning with updating your password on the Second Life account page:

https://accounts.secondlife.com/change_password/

"IM to Second Life" as it's name implies is not a true viewer, but allows someone with a handheld device to access Second Life to just send and receive Instant Messages. Oz stated, "We may need to temporarily hold some accounts in connection with this incident." The reasons for this were not given.

It's rare that Linden Lab announces it's blocking a third-party client. It was September 2010 that Linden Lab announced it was blocking the Emerald Viewer.

Image source: Google Play

Giving Tranquility A Try, But ...

With the demise of InWorldz, and it's residents heading to other places, one of the top destinations is the Tranquility Grid. This required downloading a new OS compatible Firestorm. As Tranquility wasn't among the list of grids included, I had to add it in, and then register for a Tranquility account. And then ... this.

"Could not authenticate your avatar. Please check your username and password and check the Grid if problems persist."

After a couple of hours of frustrating work, I decided to call it a day. Anything related to Tranquility will have to be from someone else, for now.

Bixyl Shuftan

Firestorm Team Blocking Older Viewers, Under Pressure From Linden Lab

About a week ago, the Firestorm Viewer team began blocking older versions of it's Second Life viewer. These particular viewers "do not support the current rendering code," seeing other avatars as colorless and grey, and are considered obsolete. Jessica Lyon, the team manager, stated that they were also under pressure from Linden Lab to block these older viewers, "and we can either do it ourselves or adopt LL’s update system which allows them to do it instead. Either we update you or LL does, but either way, folks, updating is quite inevitable. The LL viewer enforces updates, as do most all software applications with a fair grace period. Our grace period will be three versions behind."

Jessica defended the Lab's position that the blocks were necessary to improve the user's inworld experience, "Second Life is not immersive if we see things drastically differently from one another. This is going to sound harsh, but in some respects if you are using versions that can only render avatars gray and/or versions without mesh, you might as well be—and perhaps should be—using a text based viewer."

The comments following Jessica's post were overall supportive, some thanking her and her team for their continued work. One did note these older viewers were still good for building things in private.

The following versions of the Firestorm viewer were blocked, with the number of users and dates they were discontinued. Note 4.3.1 still had over 40 thousand users.

3.2.1.24179 release – 166 users (Blocked Nov 18, 2013)
3.2.2.24336 release – 881 users(Blocked Nov 19, 2013)
3.3.0.24880 hotfix release – 571 users(Blocked Nov 20, 2013)
3.3.0.24882 maintenance release – 606 users(Blocked Nov 20, 2013)
4.0.1.27000 Beta – 4585 users(Blocked Nov 21, 2013)
4.1.1.28744 – 3334 users (Blocked Nov 22, 2013)
4.2.1.29803 – 60 users(Blocked Nov 22, 2013)
4.2.2.29837 – 14,120 users(Blocked Nov 23, 2013)
4.3.1.31155 – 40,451 users(Blocked Nov 24, 2013)

For Jessica's complete post: Click Here

Emerald to be Blocked From Accessing Second Life, Phoenix and Emergence Approved for Linden Directory

In what many Second Life residents thought was just a matter of time, an announcement was made on the Linden Blog:

As of 10am PT Wednesday, September 8, the Emerald Viewer will be blocked from logging in to Second Life as a result of violations of our Policy on Third Party Viewers. Residents who have been using any version of the Emerald Viewer will need to use a different Viewer to access Second Life. ... We take Residents’ privacy, safety, and security very seriously and will take action to enforce the policies that help protect it. ... we have decided to block logins from the Emerald Viewer in order to protect our Residents. All versions of the Emerald Viewer will be blocked from logging in to Second Life as of tomorrow at 10am. Please be aware that attempting to circumvent our blocking to access Second Life with a banned Viewer is a violation of the Policy on Third-Party Viewers and may result in the loss of one's account.



It didn't take long for word to travel, a few groups I'm in discussing about it in chat. Someone put up a link explaining how to modify one's Emerald Viewer to avoid being blocked. This was quickly followed by an announcement from the group leader that Linden Lab was not fooling around, and would not think twice about banning someone trying to get around the Emerald block.

There were still a few people confused as to what was going on, wondering if trying to simply attempt to log in with Emerald would mean a ban. To those reading, the answer is no. Trying to log into SL with an unaltered Emerald viewer after 10AM SL time tomorrow will not mean a ban, just unable to log in. But modifying it to get around the block very well may get you banned.

What got less attention, but still talked about some was the change on the Second Life Third-Party Viewer Directory. Both the new Phoenix viewer from the team led by ex-Emerald Jessica Lyon, and the Emergence Viewer from LordGregGreg Back (whom had left Emerald before the scandal) had been added to it with no comment from the Lindens. In a sense, LordGregGreg and Jessica had been vindicated, and Emerald condemned.

So is this the end of Emerald? Not necessarily. There are reports going around of the last update of Emerald involving “spoofer” programing to allow people to sneak in. Diehard fans of Phox and Fractured Crystal may keep it around in small quantities for some time.

Chatting with a friend, he felt that the shenanigans by the troublemakers of Emerald very well could land them in serious trouble. The night before, he had listened to BBC Radio 5, which talked about Second Life and the Emerald Scandal, and knew that the next day Emerald would be banned (and Emergence & Phoenix placed on the TPV directory). Linden Labs could afford to be a little lax as long as the debate was within Second Life. But once this began hitting more mainstream media, it’s reputation was on the line.

What Linden Labs does with the troublemakers he felt depends on how defiant they remain. The Lindens have a lot of evidence against them from the Directed Denial of Service attack , to the Emerald code, and then the spoofer, which he felt was their way of telling Linden Labs off. He didn’t think they realized Linden Lab could call the FBI on them, whom could work with overseas police for those living abroad. What the Emerald Team troublemakers did, he felt, could easily be classified as cyber terrorism. Which means if Linden Labs decided to pursue the “nuclear option,” those involved face years in prison.

Or perhaps the judge will be lenient, and give them twenty years probation, but among the terms, they can never again so much as touch another computer.

Bixyl Shuftan