LL’s Super-Secret Corporate Facebook Network
by Pixeleen Mistral on 14/03/08 at 1:35 am
Facebook might not be totally secure from SL residents
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
Philip Linden’s page in the secret Lab Facebook network
After a time in the virtual news business a reporter starts accumulating stories that might be better left untold – and in the name of maintaining a generally civil society these stories are only mentioned inside the exclusive SL press club bar after a few rounds of Grey Goose martinis. But something happened that forced my hand. This blog entry by occasional Herald writer/conspiracy theorist Mr. Prokofy Neva makes claims that may not be entirely correct.
For once I am going to defend Linden Lab. I am generally known as a critic the Lindens, but this time I cannot stand idle as the good name of the Lab is besmirched with the accusation that it has an alleged griefer on staff.
Mr. Neva believes he has strong evidence that the Lab hired a Woodbury University student (indistinguishable in Mr. Neva’s mind from a hardcore griefer) as a “Governance Team Policy Tester” based on what he sees in Facebook – an infallible, unimpeachable source of truth. Mr. Neva’s Second Thoughts blog blares lurid accusations:
The Lindens put a Woodbury University on to the staff? In the Governance Team? as a Governance Team Policy Tester? with the title “Chief Executive Resident?” Does he deliberately grief to see how the system works or something?
But the truth is much, much simpler. Have you ever heard of really bad security?
It came to the the Herald staff’s attention months ago that Facebook’s security might leave something to be desired. Any enterprising resident of Second Life can easily join LL’s Super-Secret Corporate Facebook network – this has been common knowledge since December. Intlibber Brautigan left a note on LL’s corporate Facebook page suggesting that they close the e-mail security hole on December 25th. Longtime residents of SL will not be surprised to learn that the last time our source checked, the Lab simply ignored this security issue – an approach entirely consistent with their prevailing corporate culture.
Intlibber left a warning months ago…
What sort of security problem would allow ordinary residents access to the inner sanctum of Linden Lab’s corporate Facebook pages?
Facebook presumes that only employees are able to send e-mail from mail addresses ending in “lindenlab.com”. However, any Second Life account – including free unverified accounts – can be set to forward in-world IM messages to an e-mail account. The e-mail return address for those messages can then be used to in the Facebook sign-up form, and Facebook takes this as proof positive that the holder of this e-mail address is entitled to join the closed Linden Lab Facebook network.
after joining Facebook using an LL e-mail address
This means residents who can manage the copypasta of the offline IMs e-mail return address are indistinguishable Linden staff as far as Facebook is concerned. Does this mean we might not be able to believe everything seen in Facebook? Perhaps not everything found on teh Internets is entirely trustworthy.
deactivating a Facebook membership — too much drama
Prokofy Neva
Mar 14th, 2008
Yeah, I know all that. Which is why I put this:
“Of course, all you have with a Facebook find like this is a lot of puzzle pieces. Maybe they go together this way. Maybe they go that way.”
Woodbury students under Clift have been discovered and punished by Lindens for griefing numerous times. This particular individual has griefed me in real life even, so, um, let’s not be silly.
Facebook isn’t proof of lab employment; the Governance Team Lindens aren’t accounted for; we can’t know but that one of them could be this guy.
That’s why the headline is a question mark. The question definitely needs to be asked.
And I’m afraid there’s more to it than you’re letting on or imagine.
When Alyx Stoklitsky, non-concierge member, can say that he got on to the concierge party last year and griefed me with Spike Linden laughing and doing nothing, he did that because…a Linden TP’d him. And that isn’t surprising. We all know that. We all get that.
Even if Hazim/Tizzers/Jordan blah blah *did* hack into the Lindens Facebook network thingie (and that’s not so easy), what about the list of friends? That’s not force-friended.
Of course — duh, much? — when we see a title like “Chief Executive Resident >3″ we realize there’s more than a little tongue in cheek here.
But…you’re leaving out another component of this. It’s one thing to have hacking stupidies like their email security, which I first discovered was dreadfully atrocious even before Intlibber was born. In fact, my persistence in trying to get them to do something about that fact that the Community Roundtable was spewing thousands of people’s real-life emails out to the entire mailing list and linking to avatar names in some cases was met with…a banning from that List (another Pathfinder special). So duh.
But…how does it happen that Catherine Smith, Frontier Linden, Spike Linden, Kona Linden all separately, by their own volition, friend this guy? They’re going through thousands of friends like Scoble and clicking yes? No. Facebook makes you answer about each one, “do you know this person”? And Lindens aren’t going to click on someone they don’t know.
Uri who has his arms around Tizzers and Moo probably has more to be said about this. So let’s hear more about THAT, eh?
Alyx Stoklitsky
Mar 14th, 2008
The LULZ emanating from Prokofy’s crazy theories are so intense that my face has been seared to ashes, and my shadow has been permanantly burnt into the wall behind me, much like those of the hiroshima victims.
DinkyHockerShootsSmack!
Mar 14th, 2008
hah prok got pwnt
She’s not a girl who misses much
Do do do do do do do do, oh yeah
She’s well acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand
Like a lizard on a window pane
The man in the crowd with the multicoloured mirrors
On his hobnail boots
Lying with his eyes while his hands are busy
Working overtime
A soap impression of his wife which he ate
And donated to the National Trust
Down
I need a fix cos I’m going down
Down to the bits that I left uptown
I need a fix cos I’m going down
Mother Superior jump the gun
Mother Superior jump the gun
Mother Superior jump the gun
Mother Superior jump the gun
Mother Superior jump the gun
Mother Superior jump the gun
anon
Mar 14th, 2008
Prok: Jet fuel can’t melt steel!
IntLibber Brautigan
Mar 14th, 2008
I have to congratulate you Pix. Much as the British tabloid press kept their mouths shut about Prince Harry being in Afghanistan for 10 whole weeks before journalistic buzzkill Matt Drudge outed the story, thus endangering the Prince and his comrades, you keep the secret for the same time period. I am impressed.
Of course it is WAY to generous to compare Prokofy Neva to Matt Drudge, but thats another topic. I can say Prok likely wont be getting any kissypoos from Philip come next SLCC or VWC, were I he.
Now, LL can very easily close this security hole by making all resident offline IMs have a ‘secondlife.com’ domain on the email addy rather than lindenlab.com. I recommended this to them in a ticket back on Christmas Day. I called Concierge and notified them of this to make sure they were aware of the issue. Their response was that the Facebook group is not an official Linden Lab group, it is an off-duty social group and that if any staff members disclose their RL names/locations/dress size, that is their own get-out. There ARE some members of the group who keep their Linden names there, and some who do not. I suspect now that Prok’s let the cat out of the bag in her inane Prokofian Jihad against all things Woodbury (oh, Tizzers, you still owe me the WU t-shirt/sweatshirt, triple XL kthxbai) that more Lindens will change their facebook identity, if only to avoid the inevitable joining of the LL facebook group by perpetual troll-fanboi Prok.
PARTYS OVER PEOPLE MOVE ALONG NOTHING TO SEE, PROK RUINED IT FOR EVERYBODY…..
duh
Mar 14th, 2008
Bring back Tizzers!
IntLibber Brautigan
Mar 14th, 2008
Oh, Prok, as for the number of friends Tizzers has in LL now on Facebook: thats not surprising. Tizzers is a very personable person who is fun to be around. Nobody wants to be your facebook friend because they dont like your toxic spew.
Cai Pirinha
Mar 14th, 2008
“And I’m afraid there’s more to it than you’re letting on or imagine.”
No, actually there is nothing at all.
What a ridiculous discussion … you guys realize that you are spending way too much in time in SL?
Nobody Fugazi
Mar 14th, 2008
Intlibber wrote: “Nobody wants to be your facebook friend because they dont like your toxic spew.”
Intlibber needs a lobotomy. Nobody does NOT want to be Prok’s Facebook friend. I spend enough time dealing with the ripples of her little FUD-fanboyz.
BESIDES… does that ‘corporate society’ really matter on Facebook? No. Did anyone on Facebook really think it was important? No. Why did Prok publish it? Because someone fed it to her, knowing full well that she would wander in with her mouth open and her brain disengaged. Sort of like inviting a blindfolded monkey to a banana buffet.
ugh
Mar 14th, 2008
Prok- I’m tired of hearing you throw a hissyfit when things aren’t your way. I’ve got a totally novel idea for you- it’s called STFU. That’s right, grab some haldol and do the Metaverse a favor and shut up.
Ugh, social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook are lame.
Bring back Tizzers, srsly.
Prokofy Neva
Mar 14th, 2008
1. No one “fed me” this story. I opened up Facebook, and followed the trail, and asked a lot of questions, as always, and published the questions, because the public has a right to know: do the Lindens hire goons from Woodbury? And if they don’t, why do they individually friend a Woodbury goon?!
2. Intlibber is just engaging in stupid obfuscation and disinformation as usual. The Lindens can perfectly well have a Facebook network, keep Linden names or individual real-life names (they do both), and friend who they like. But it’s perfectly normal for companies to develop Facebook policies. And geez, even the dope-smoking technolib nutty Lindens could grasp that friending a known griefer from Woodbury isn’t so fabulous for their “networking”. It looks bad.
It makes them look bad if it seems that the hire griefers and collude in griefing. Well, we realize they do that, but gee, they could keep up appearances!
Every keeps talking about this “security hole” as if it is some fabulously complex or evil thing to expose because more people will do it. I love how the information-wants-to-be-free freaks come up with that kind of theory.
First, the Lindens can do one simple manual thing — they can file a protest with Facebook asking FB to remove this goon from their corporate network. That’s easy.
Second, re “However, any Second Life account – including free unverified accounts – can be set to forward in-world IM messages to an e-mail account. The e-mail return address for those messages can then be used to in the Facebook sign-up form, and Facebook takes this as proof positive that the holder of this e-mail address is entitled to join the closed Linden Lab Facebook network.” This is fixable in various ways, surely. This capacity of IMs to link to email has long produced problems. One of the things that happens for many people is that if they answer your IM or your offline IM, their entire email header, often showing their real-life name and real-life email, gets dragged back and copied into the reply. When you point this out, Lindens shrug and say that’s your email system’s problem. I have a feeling there’s more to this and it could easily be examined and solutions developed once you have the *political will* to examine them.
Pixeleen keeps talking about some Super Secret Corporate Network. But that’s the deep error here. There network isn’t secret. Anyone can see who is on it! You dont’ even have to friend them, because you can see people’s list of friends even if you aren’t their friend. And the list is merely: those people who chose to sign up showing their work email. So far from being secret, it’s public. And far from being “corporate” or exclusive, it looks to me like anybody who wants to friend Philip or other Lindens becomes their friend, merely because they likely want to promote their product, and some of those silly applications, like the “love machine” which they have on there.
I publish it for obvious reasons that most normal people understand, if they aren’t Herald freaks: if the Governance team that is supposed to curb griefing in SL is shown as friending the griefers and even allowing their official company network on Facebook be hacked by griefers to make it appear as if a griefer is an “employee,” then, geez, it’s like Eliot Spitzer cracking down on sex trafficking and then buying the hos.
IntLibber Brautigan
Mar 14th, 2008
Prok,
Perhaps the reason why Lindens have friended Tizzers is because Tizzers is not what you accused him to be? Have you EVER, ONCE even CONSIDERED the possibility that you may be entirely, completely, and utterly WRONG? Of course you haven’t, which is why everyone is laughing as you wander aimlessly down the dark alleys of self delusion, spewing inanities that become less and less relevant to reality as you go.
Prokofy Neva
Mar 14th, 2008
I’m glad we’ve cleared up that Hazim and Tizzers *are* the same person, and that Tizzers is a he? That’s good!
And I know *exactly* what the story is, and I’m not wrong, and Hazim/Tizzers/Jordan knows that I know, and so do you, which is why your propaganda barrage and disinformation campaign is cranked up so heavily.
Prokofy Neva
Mar 14th, 2008
I am about as wrong with regards to that piece of shit little deviant to the same degree as Columbus was about the Earth being round. Everyone in your morally bankrupt little organization is evil, and rest assured that I will make you fuckers pay for it!
Near
Mar 15th, 2008
What’s funny is that we discovered this long ago (Before even IntBlub), but after some data collection, determined it to be utterly worthless outside of that.
IntLibber Brautigan
Mar 15th, 2008
Prok sez: “I am about as wrong with regards to that piece of shit little deviant to the same degree as Columbus was about the Earth being round. Everyone in your morally bankrupt little organization is evil, and rest assured that I will make you fuckers pay for it!”
…. “AND YOUR LITTLE DOG TOO!!!!”
watch out for the flying monkeys!
Guess what? Youre wrong about Hazim too. I know exactly who he is, and he lives thousands of miles from Tizzers.
IntLibber Brautigan
Mar 15th, 2008
Oh, btw, Jessica corrected me here, or you rather: Columbus wasn’t wrong about the earth being round, he was wrong for claiming the circumference of the earth was only 10,000 miles, when everybody had known since Aristotle that the earth’s circumference (and yes that the earth was round) was around 25,000 miles.
I like to think that Columbus was just a creative salesman raising some venture capital…
Kalel Venkman
Mar 15th, 2008
Is it your time of the month prok?
whisper2u
Mar 15th, 2008
Holy cow, Phillip Linden stepping down as CEO of Second Life? What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO???
whisper2u
Mar 15th, 2008
Wait, scratch that last post. Its Phillip Rosendale that is stepping down. It seems to be breaking at the Reuters site now.
Marc Woebegone
Mar 15th, 2008
Good riddens! And hopefully Profky Neva will disappear as well and then maybe Second Life will have a chance at becoming something other than self-absorbing vapor.