▷zfRedzone◁ BANNED!

See Also:

• zFire Hacking SL Passwords
• zFire's Database Hacked
• Passwords May be Unsafe
• zFire and Redzone are Gone!

Update 3/15/11- zFire Xue, creator of Redzone, is banned from Second Life.  The Redzone store in-world is empty.  While the Redzone prims are still existent in-world, the scripts inside are missing.  This means if you are using a Greenzone HUD, you could potentially get a false alarm.
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Update 3/2/11- Linden Lab has removed Redzone from both the Markeplace and the vendor in-world.  Soft Linden has come out and publicly stated Redzone was still in violation of TOS.  So what does this mean?

• Redzone can no longer even request consent to reveal alts.  It can not reveal alts, at all, period.
• If someone scans you, then asks for consent, AR them and Redzone.
• Redzone had a deadline of today to remove all functions that reveal alts, consent or not.
• Redzone has a deadline of Friday to remove all Redzone devices that have the ability to reveal alts, consent or not.
• Linden Lab has been clear they will deal with all current and future violations to the TOS by Redzone, and has asked for our continued support in ARing any Redzone behavior in violation.

From the Redzone forums:

Re: scanning
by zFire Xue » Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:56 pm
RedZones are not disabled.
"I was told to not display alts, and told that asking for consent is now forbidden.
Otherwise RZ still bans unlimited length banlists, alts of your banned, CBs and alts of CBs, only it cannot allow you to look at alts.
Someone else will make a system for that, and it will be some secret thing, but not part of RedZone."

Also keep in mind, zFire has already to threatened to make his database accessible on his website for a fee paid via Paypal:

So the synopsis?  Redzone is done.  It can still function in-world as a 'security device' (don't laugh too hard!) but it can no longer reveal alts either with or without consent.  Unfortunately, zFire doesn't seem smart enough to admit defeat, so in light of his own threats we should all be keeping a careful eye on Redzone in the coming days.

Also, the media exploit still exists.  Redzone, and others like it, can still harvest your IP address.  Please remember to keep media and cookies disabled unless you are 100% positive you are in a safe area.

On a personal note- thank you to everyone who made this happen.  This was truly a group effort amongst those of us who stood up to this violation of privacy.  So to everyone who took a stand, no matter how big or small, my heartfelt thanks goes out to each and every one of you. :)

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Update 2/24/11-  It appears there's been a change to the Community Standards portion of the Second Life TOS:


Disclosure

Residents are entitled to a reasonable level of privacy with regard to their Second Life experience. Sharing personal information about your fellow Residents without their consent -- including gender, religion, age, marital status, race, sexual preference, alternate account names, and real-world location beyond what is provided by them in their Resident profile -- is not allowed. Remotely monitoring conversations in Second Life, posting conversation logs, or sharing conversation logs without the participants' consent are all prohibited.

It seems to me Redzone is now official liable for disclosing alternate account names. Let the AR's fly :)

...and hot on the heels of this news, zFire posted this on the Redzone forums:

"Hello RedZone owners.
After talking with Linden Labs over the past month we have reached an agreement.
Effective now and retroactively the RedZone system will request Consent to display alt name information.
LL policy will reflect this change by tomorrow the 25th.
The zRZ HUD will now request consent much like a bloodlines bite.
The zRZ Website now offers a system to send an IM to request consent for a zF RedZone Alt Background check.
The system is already in place, new functions and consent methods will be offered as we discover how best to implement this feature.
Linden Labs has been good enough to suggest many ideas that settled on this one.
Alt names can still be viewed to settle disputes, run security background checks etc."


CHANGES TO REDZONE:

• Past logs from alt scans are now empty, and the scanner is instructed to click to get consent to access them.
• When scanned with the HUD, you are given 3 options: Yes consent, No decline, and 'stop asking me'.
• Using Redzone they can still ban all linked alts, but the user can't access the alt list without consent from the alts in question.
• Essentially to view any avatars linked to your avatar, consent must be obtained first.

When scanned by the HUD, you get this:

For the record, you do NOT have to 'opt out' unless you've already given consent.  When scanned by the land base, you'll receive a link to follow to give consent.  This is the page it takes you to:

Some fun Redzone reactions:

"by zFire Xue » Thu Feb 24, 2011 1:10 pm 

GZ did not win per say.

This could be temporary. If 20000+ Tier paying residents united against 700 GZers, I would expect yet another change.

The RedZone system will still ban alts of people on your ban list, as well as alts of Copybots.

Also provide a way for you to view alts if someone insists they are not someone else, ask them to prove it via a background check."

"Postby notahappybunny » 

Thu Feb 24, 2011 1:07 pm

Well this is great as noone is going to give permission for people to view alts..i probably speak for many redzone users when i say that i have wasted money buying this product to protect myself from griefers now i cant ...i think alot of people will ask for refunds,especially people who bought this product when he was in negotiations with LL"

"Postby badboykew footman 

» Thu Feb 24, 2011 1:19 pm

OMG

Does this mean we are no longer safe on our own sim ? what about security to our malls or stores if we use redzone

Does this mean we will never see the alts of other people ever again ?

Does this mean redzone is no longer worth the 4000 lindens for all of us that purchased this for our own safety and to prevent all issues like griefers and those that attack us

where does this leave us redzone owners for the future of this product.

Can we get a refund because this has now gone way out of control to protect the innocent.

So i guess we are being punished now for using redzone

Final question does this mean linden labs will enforce this way of requesting permission especially those who play HUNGER and abuse all others in SECOND LIFE.COM"

They're freaking out over there, folks.  I'm so happy right now I'm all tingly inside! :D

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2/22/11- With over 1300 votes, the Jira to close the media exploit has finally been assigned to WorkingOnIt Linden!  Keep voting and "watching" it here!
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Update 2/22/11- To clear up some confusion (& hopefully calm a few of the paranoid running around like chickens with their heads cut off):

Yes, the Rz HUD is out there and operational.  However, the only thing the Rz HUD can do is scan the area around the person wearing it and report back existing information already in the database.  The HUD can not collect your IP address.  Think of the Rz HUD as your typical scanner, only with drama whore abilities to pull up alt information. (that's all it's good for, too)

One other important note: While Greenzone is a good way to alert you to being in a Redzone area, nothing is fool proof.  The ONLY way to assure your IP address is not collected by Redzone is to disable media/music/cookies. (scroll down to the bottom of this page for details on how to do that).  It is up to everyone to protect themselves and take responsibility for their own security.  

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-I have to give a special thank you to my friend Rivan Dressler, who has made me a gadget to easily log the locations I visit for this blog.  Thanks to Rivan, I can now keep track of locations a lot more effectively.  My partner in crime and geekdom.  I couldn't do this without him.  Thank you so much for all you do, Rivan :)
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Update 2/17/11- Please scroll down to the bottom of this page for info on Greenzone as well how to adjust your viewer settings to prevent your IP from being harvested.


Also, listing the following addresses on your host file will block the most common alt detectors from being able to access your IP, including Redzone and Quickware Alt Detector:


On a PC, go to Windows/System 32/Drivers/etc/host

• Open the host file (using notepad is the easiest way)
• Go the first blank line at the bottom
• copy/paste this onto the host file:

      127.0.0.1 isellsl.ath.cx
      127.0.0.1 isellsl.com
      127.0.0.1 girlsofthevip.com
      127.0.0.1 hamlinpro.com
      127.0.0.1 syscast.net
      127.0.0.1 media.syscast.net
      127.0.0.1 apache2-blow.port-au-prince.dreamhost.com
      127.0.0.1 www.quickware.net
      127.0.0.1 quickware.net
      127.0.0.1 quickware.zapto.org
      127.0.0.1 wh0.zapto.org

• Save and close the host file

These changes are easily reversed if desired, just delete the lines and re-save.  Also, keep in mind should the servers change for these products, the sites to block will need to be changed, too.

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Update 2/14/11- It's public knowledge I am not linked in the Redzone database and I always take the necessary steps to make sure I don't get linked in the database.  So I've been asked (angrily) by a few of the Redzone people "If you're not in the database, and won't be in it, why cause so much trouble?  Why do you care?  It doesn't even effect you".


I care, and I "cause trouble" for Redzone, because it's a matter of principal.  It has nothing to do with me personally and everything to do with fighting for what I believe to be ethically right.  I'm one of the lucky ones who have managed to elude being linked in the Redzone database, but do you want to know what?  It shouldn't be a matter of luck.  NO ONE should be linked in their database!  Not a single person should have to have to suffer this violation of privacy, and I have taken it upon myself to educate as many people as I can on how to protect themselves so they won't end up linked in the database either.  Furthermore, none of us should have to give up our freedom to use voice, media, and music within Second Life just to keep our privacy safe.


Our right to privacy, our right to use Second Life's services such as music and media, and our right not have our have our information data-mined, is covered by the TOS.  It's time we make our voices heard loudly and tell Linden Lab to enforce their own TOS:


8.3 You agree that you will not post or transmit Content or code that may be harmful, impede other users' functionality, invade other users' privacy, or surreptitiously or negatively impact any system or network.


You agree to respect both the integrity of the Service and the privacy of other users. You will not:


(i) Post or transmit viruses, Trojan horses, worms, spyware, time bombs, cancelbots, or other computer programming routines that may harm the Service or interests or rights of other users, or that may harvest or collect any data or personal information about other users without their consent;


(iv) Engage in malicious or disruptive conduct that impedes or interferes with other users' normal use of the Service;


So please, click the links below and both vote and "watch" the Jira(s) to close the security breach and regain our privacy from Redzone and others like it!  (it's very important to click "watch" too, not just vote!)


Jira #1- "watch" and vote!  
Jira #2- "watch" and vote!
Jira #3- "watch" and vote!


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Update 2/11/11-  Rod Humble the new CEO of Linden Lab says..."People don't want other people to connect the dots from their avatar to their real life person or even, for that matter, to an alt. One of the ethical obligations we have is to protect people's privacy"

"See, there’s the me who goes to school meetings with my kids and that’s a very well established identity. And there’s the me who plays shooter games online and I don’t want those separate identities to mix up. It’s not appropriate."

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Anyone on the flogs have seen the endless threads about RedZone.  When it first became a hot topic, I had a bit of a "meh" attitude about it.  I mean, who cares if scans me?  Greeters all over SL scan people, list them on a 'recently visited' board, even post their profile pic.  But, it became apparent rather quickly that this is different.

RedZone logs your IP address, which in itself isn't bad at all.  Your IP address is logged on every website you ever go to.  What's bad is the fact your IP is then matched with your avatar and every other avatar that shares your IP address.  If you have a spouse, a child, a sibling, a roommate, a friend, anyone that shares your IP address- RedZone will either list them as your alts or you as one of their alts.  And yes, it also will match up your actual alts as well.  In fact, it's even been known to link total strangers as alts, thanks to dynamic IP addresses and public Wifi connections. And guess what? If anyone who is linked as your alt is banned?  You're now banned too.  Anyone who wastes the L$ on RedZone has access to this information, and they do not care about accuracy or your privacy at all.  

People will inevitably howl "Oh but if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide!".  Bullshit.  Say you do have an army of alts?  As long as you're staying within the TOS, that's no one's business but your own, regardless of the purpose for those alts.  I have mentioned more than once that I now have teenage daughter on the Main Grid.  So what happens if RedZone picks up her avatar first, lists me as her alt, then someone sees me on an Adult sim?  Am I then going to be AR'd for being under-aged because these idiots think I'm the alt of a 16 year old?  Or worse yet, would they put two and two together and go "Ohhhh this is Theia's RL teenage daughter!" and take out their grievances with me on her?  I have not told a soul exactly who my daughter is, and that's for good reason.  I do not want anyone using her as a pawn against me, nor do I want any creepers seeking her out.  In time, I will introduce her to a couple of my friends (Yes Ima and Chris, I mean you two) but again that is my choice to reveal her identity to them.  Not some asscrackers who use RedZone.

So, I will freely admit I am boycotting any and all sims that use RedZone.  I completely understand why Forceme removed her sim lists from her blog GreenZone.  However, I have decided to start my own list, but I am focusing on the great places that don't use RedZone.  You'll see two new tabs on this page, and on one of those tabs you'll find my favorite places that are RedZone free as well as slurls to their stores.

Also, there are three JIRAs currently taking votes to ban RedZone and other products like it here, here, and here.  Be sure to "watch" the Jiras, as LL is no longer recognizing votes. (yeah I know, how stupid to have a vote button that is meaningless.  Idiots.)

Below is what you need to do to assure your IP can not be logged by RedZone:

First, I encourage you to pickup a free GreenZone HUD.  This will tell you when you are in a sim using RedZone.  It also comes with the setting necessary to hide your IP address, a link to a location in the Wisconsin sim to test your settings to make sure your IP isn't detectable, and even an .exe file that blocks RedZone on your PC so you can listen to music and talk on voice without your IP address being detected by RedZone.  

To make it impossible for RedZone to detect your IP, you must:

• Disable all music and media.  Just having them switched 'off" on your player is not enough, they must be disabled entirely.  I suggest leaving it this way until your GreenZone HUD tells you the sim you're in is free of RedZone.  

• Disable cookies and do not allow pages to open in an external browser.

It's completely ridiculous that we have to do all this just to protect our privacy, but at least there is a way to do so at all.  I would like to specifically thank Fart Admiral, Forceme Silverstar, and all the techies behind GreenZone for helping us to reclaim our privacy.