Lab Gab: Oberwolf Explains The Sale of Tilia

 

 

 In a special episode of Lab Gab on Friday April 26, Strawberry Linden interviewed Oberwolf Linden, the Executive Chairman of Linden Lab, about the recent announcement that Linden Lab was selling Tilia. 

So why is the Lab selling Tilia? In short, money. He explained it was "costing us millions and millions of dollars to run it." While bringing in other online places brought in some revenue, it wasn't enough to cover it's costs. So he was looking for someone to buy it, under some conditions, "The number one criteria was would they continue to support Second Life. ... That was more important than anything else I looked at. The second criteria was what could that company bring to Tilia that we could bring to Second Life." He was soon introduced to the CEO of Thunes, and in just twenty one days, "which is lightning fast and shows a few things," they were able to make a deal. It still needs Federal approval, which could take some time. 

More information is in the Youtube.

Bixyl Shuftan

 

 

Miss Suzanne Super Sweet Speaks About Burn2

 

 

Burn2 has been a part of Second Life almost since it's beginning, and remains it's largest annual art and music festival with spinoff events and many fans and volunteers. As with most large groups, there are inevitably some disputes. But this year there has been trouble behind the scenes with people leaving. Miss Suzanne Super Sweet (SuperSuz Resident) recently got with the Newser and offered an explanation of what's been going on. 

Read more in People.

 

 

Patch Linden Says More About Upcoming Gacha Ban

 

When Linden Lab announced they would be banning gacha machines in Second Life, there was quite an avalanche of responses on the forum thread created for the topic. Some were in support of the ban, some had mixed opinions, and many opposed it, sometimes strongly. Eventually Patch Linden saw the need to step up and offer a little further explanation.

I wanted to address a few themes I'm seeing so far.   

 One of the bigger one's is 'why'?   As we mentioned in the post, the regulatory climate around these sorts of selling mechanisms abroad have been under scrutiny for some time, as many have also already mentioned.  This includes the formation of some precedence already in place.  We did not make this decision without a lot of thought on the impact this has and sadly we know how burdensome this can be for many.  Through legal guidance, we are giving as much notice as we possibly can, but we also understand that it may not be enough is all cases.  While we will begin enforcement on September 1, we will not start this out with an aggressive approach.  Your account will not be at risk on a first offense basis.  Please don't take that as an opportunity to break the rules until you get caught, but we are committed to taking a proactive approach to any enforcement.

Next, is some of the comments on the mechanism or the gacha machines themselves.  It is the act of paying for something and in return the item/thing you receive back is based on chance.  The level of chance does not matter, or if you disclose it, including the ratios, percentages, etc, if the output is unknown (chance based in any way), that combination of mechanisms is what will be prohibited moving forward.

I have seen some interesting counter-points to how to handle the sales of the content themselves.  Of course any already purchased gachas will continue to be able to be re-sold by resellers so long as the sales mechanism doesn't use a chance based outcome to give you the item.  Limited quantity items is another that would be perfectly ok to do, so long as the item being represented for purchase is what you receive upon purchase.

Stay tuned for more information as it comes in.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

"The Shelter" Leaders Speak On The Closing

Yesterday, the Newser reported on The Shelter, a newcomer hangout that assisted those new to Second Life, announcing that it was closing after sixteen years as an active place and group. Earlier today, we were given the following message.

* * * * *

As I'm sure you will have heard by now The Shelter will be closing it's doors as of Sunday 30th August 2020 8 PM SLT,

The reasons for this are numerous and too lengthy for this note, but it is not all bad news as The Shelter building will be Archived by the Lindens and will remain in world for as long as SecondLife is around.

I know a great many of you have considered The Shelter home and I am sorry to all of you, I hope you will continue to enjoy you SecondLife's

The main Shelter Group will remain in place but no new members will be admitted the Infra group will be closed down and all members removed

The final Events will be:

Saturday 29th 1 PM Theme Dance
7 PM Pool Party

Sunday 30th 1 PM Voice Sunday
7 PM Formal Dance



The theme Dances will both have Double Prize Money for their final outing and Wacoede will be DJ'ing the final Pool Party as he was the first DJ for the pool Party

To all the Vendors of the Shelter you have until the 30th to come pick up your items or they will be returned as a coalesced object

To all the Tier Donors feel free to remove your tier contributions but as I said above all members will be removed from the infra group on the 30th


Regards

Shelter Leadership

Wacoede Unplugged
Shadow Pidgeon

* * * * *

The Newser wishes the volunteers of "The Shelter," and the people they've been helping out, the best of luck.

Eye On The Blog: "Information About Privacy and Security in Tilia"

Last Friday, Soft Linden, Linden Lab's Information Security Manager, posted in the Tools and Technology blog, "Information About Privacy and Security in Tilia."

A large number of you attended the Tilia Town Hall  last week. Aside from the many questions you had about how Tilia affects Second Life L$ and monetary activity, privacy was a common concern. Grumpity asked if I would answer a few of the questions about Tilia privacy and security which surfaced in the town hall and in our forums.

There were four sample questions and four lengthy answers.

Where did the Tilia team come from? And why should I trust Tilia with my personal information?
 

Soft answered, "The Tilia team is made up of people you previously knew as Linden Lab employees." He called the team "passionate about privacy and security," and that many had alts in Second Life and knew many of the residents there. They also promised, "the information you store with Tilia is never provided to third parties for purposes such as marketing, " and We won’t even provide that information to the US government unless we are compelled to do so through a legal process such as a subpoena or a search warrant."

 

Does Tilia change how my information is secured?
 

In short, yes. Soft stated, "Figuratively speaking, we locked the old vault inside a bigger, stronger vault." Of the 'new vault,' it "uses modern algorithms to encrypt sensitive information in a way that would require both enormous computing power and an enormous amount of memory for an attacker to crack… if they could even get a copy of the encrypted data. These algorithms are specifically tuned to defeat expensive decryption acceleration hardware." Their existing encryption technology was called "industry standard at the time."

It sounds like a lot has changed at once. Aren’t large changes risky?

Soft answered, "Tilia was designed with security and privacy as its primary considerations." They had people, "some of our key privacy and security practices and procedures," and that they pay a security company to attempt to hack into their servers to test the m.

What does Tilia mean for Second Life privacy and security in the future?

"We have many plans for Tilia," Soft stated. They are in the process of moving "additional forms of information ... Now that we have a new privacy and security foundation, we can extend the amount of information that enjoys this level of protection. If it pertains to your real life identity, we believe in leveraging Tilia protection wherever possible." It also mentioned their goals were ensuring, "compliance with upcoming privacy and security regulations."

To check the blogpost in it's entirely, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

Montecito Bay UFO: The Military Responds

Montecito Bay has seen no shortage of weirdness. But it was about six months ago since it's weirdest time, when one of the town's buildings was hit by what looked like a UFO. Following when the strange craft was removed from the building but before it was taken away, the Newser managed to get a closer look. It's being taken away and the weird building that appeared in the wrecked structure's place overnight might have been the last word on the story. But this week, the Newser finally got an explanation from the US Military about the incident. So did they give a reason other than "swamp gas?"

Read the story in Extra.

Update on Montecito Bay: The Holographic Tower

When I took a close look at the site of the UFO crash in Montecito Bay late last month, I expected the flying saucer and what appeared to be either a mannequin or a body that had somehow avoided decay to be taken away soon. And checking the place last weekend, as expected they were gone. But what I didn't expect was finding the site completely repaired and with a new tower that looked like it might have been made by someone not of this Earth.

The top of the structure was surrounded by what looked like a red holographic globe. Besides the structure was some bizarre-looking sculpture and unearthly-looking plants that had glowing leaves. Just beneath the top was a circular band that went around the tower, full of the same kind of symbols that were in club schedule updates prior to the Groundhog Day incident.

There didn't seem to be an obvious way up. I did see a pad that looked a little like those transporter pads in science-fiction shows. A way to the top of the tower? I hesitated to find out.

Another thing I noticed, or rather didn't notice, were the "street circles" in the pattern of crop circles that had been on town intersections for months. They were now all gone.

So what does this all mean? I had a few words with town mayor Lem Aiko (LemonPledge Resident), who told me that "Official statement, it was swamp gas," and wasn't in a position to say more. But he did get me in touch with someone who was willing to speak under a condition of anonymity, saying that they had been told to say nothing by the Feds, "I know what I know, and you saw what you saw. It was indeed E.T. but this time they waged war on our city. I was there when they shot the city up in their UFO's. why would they do that if it wasn't an act of war? We still don't know why the UFO went down, or even why they were here in the first place." Someone with him thought the saucer probably went down due to pilot error, though it was a guess. A second person joked, "I think they were going for the irresistible hot dog cart and totally missed, but that's just me."

Of the strange tower that suddenly went up, "The crazy guy who I made mention of before says the building was a peace offering. He was right last time, I would believe him about that. I just hope they don't do it again. It cost the city millions. That is also why we are redeveloping the area that was bombed. the UFO attack so severely damaged the infrastructure in that part of the city, it's cheaper to completely scrap the design and move on to something new."

So is this the last we'll hear about flying saucers around here? With that strange tower, I hesitate to say. Even so, Montecito Bay never seems to be quiet for very long. Something strange usually happens just after things begin to settle in a routine. There's already reports of strange small creatures that speak with a lisp and have a craving for clams and other shellfish. And of course, there's what will be going up in place of the torn town buildings, whatever it is.

Montecity Bay, signing off, for now.

Note: There was no actual alien attack, just people having some fun.

Bixyl Shuftan