DiSSENTiON in SL
by Alphaville Herald on 20/04/08 at 10:06 am
YouTube communique warns of asset server attacks and malicious code
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
A new griefing group – “DiSSENTiON” – released several YouTube videos over the last week illustrating new weapons testing on help island, and warning of “ushering a new era of chaos into the virtual world of Second Life as a result of Linden Lab’s neglect towards it’s customers”. This appears to be the same group that attacked the I-World island event for 30 minutes Saturday.
would you like some self replicating megacubes with your concert – or your Help island?
DiSSENTiON claims of “attacking the asset servers using recursive llHttpRequests to the asset server URLs” may be hard to verify – are these problems enemy action – or Linden incompetence ? A larger question remains unanswered as well – after literally years of griefer attacks, is it simply impossible to protect the the Second Life platform from determined troublemakers? Some observers speculate that the Lab has been willing to tolerate a certain amount of griefing of the platform as a inexpensive way of enlisting the griefers in bug and exploit identification – but with a stagnant premium subscriber base the indirect costs of this sort of “free” bug testing could become significant.
At the Herald offices, we see all sorts of metaverse residents with issues – orphaned babyfurs, virtual child models with speech impediments, Gorean masters tracking runaway slaves, virtual land rental agents — everyone with their own idea of proper gameplay in Second Life. If DiSSENTiON is more than YouTube posturing, we may soon learn how well the new Havok 4 physics engine and in-world economy stands up to the play of disaffected residents as the level of alienation between the Lab and the players grows.
a massive campaign to systematically dismantle Second Life – to save it?
Transcript of DiSSENTiON’s message to the Lab:
Attention Linden Labs, DiSSENTiON has been watching you silently as you have become increasingly bold, ignoring the pleas of your customers while slowly destroying the platform known as Second Life.
We have emerged from the chaos as a result of growing fury among the masses. Your unveiling of the new Corporate SL combined with the sudden emergence of so called “Trademark Guidelines” has prompted the founding of a new organization.
DiSSENTiON has come forth to bare the burden of unleashing utter chaos across the grid. How events unfold from here is up to you.
You will abolish said trademark guidelines and make a public statement apologizing to your customers for your ineptitude within seven days, or else we will release our malicious code to the masses ushering in a new era of chaos.
Furthermore, you will abort your plans to close Second Life to the public. We know of these plans to make SL exclusive to real world businesses and we are revealing them publicly here today and in the attacks that will proceed this message.
At this very moment DiSSENTION programmers are developing new code to attack your asset servers and exploit numerous vulnerabilities in your platform. Furthermore, we will make the infamous program known as Copybot public to the masses in effect devastating your economy.
This is your one and only warning. You will learn the error of your ways or DiSSENTiON will launch a massive campaign systematically dismantling the virtual world known as Second Life.
cube
Apr 20th, 2008
Take an already established format that ‘was’ funny around 3 years ago, sprinkle it with current ‘anonymous’ style and hey-presto. Use the ironic font button in photoshop and you have a freakin-revolution
Pauleh Kamachi
Apr 20th, 2008
ty for giving more griefers the spotlight
whisper2u
Apr 20th, 2008
Wow. In that first video, towards the end, did you see that nosey FURRY get crammed right into the ground by that big black cube? Thats Dissention for sure. Looks like the game is ON. I wonder where they will strike next…
Lewis Nerd
Apr 20th, 2008
Oh great, now Professor Stephen Hawkings becomes an SL griefer…
But seriously, what do groups like this actually achieve? Nothing. You don’t speak for the majority of SL’s users – most of us are either not having problems with the grid at present, or if we feel the need to speak out, will do it in an organised way (such as Project Open Letter was) or directly with Linden Lab ourselves.
We don’t need script kiddies who have copied a few lines of LSL off of a website and put it into SL to speak on our behalf, kthxbai.
Common Sense
Apr 20th, 2008
If the claims that Linden Labs wants to close “the Second Life World” to the public are true, don’t tactics like those described here just help the lab in this goal?
Could DiSSENTiON be a secret arm of Linden Lab?
Razrcut Brooks
Apr 20th, 2008
Funny stuff! So Stephen Hawking is the all powerful force behind this movement! I always knew he was in-world! (listen to second video)
Actually this part of their demands:
“You will abolish said trademark guidelines and make a public statement apologizing to your customers for your ineptitude within seven days, or else we will release our malicious code to the masses ushering in a new era of chaos.
Furthermore, you will abort your plans to close Second Life to the public. We know of these plans to make SL exclusive to real world businesses and we are revealing them publicly here today and in the attacks that will proceed this message.”
Sounds remarkably similiar to a story written in the Herald recently by a certain ex-griefer….hmmm..
Koor Lebaou
Apr 20th, 2008
@Razrcut Brooks
They might have just read that article. I saw the video on youtube days ago and it was released on the same date the article was published. Groups like this are always looking for new propaganda to recruit new members so they might have read the article, threw together the video and whammo, here we are. I have spoken to DC on a few occasions and I can assure you he wouldn’t have anything to do with this. He is still worried about legal problems from the stuff he did when he was in the PN and I’m pretty sure that video is illegal. I mean it’s basically extortion. Wasn’t there some guy on CNN who was arrested recently for making threats over the internet?
Aya Pelous
Apr 20th, 2008
I mentor on help island…and have had a few greifers come my way, but honestly…they are just making SL worse. Whats the point? All their shit is gonna be returned to them and they get the LSL blocked, then they get banned…so now someone has to make a new avie all over again. Make a new script and do it all over again.
Sometimes LL needs to just block IP addresses if they keep doing this stuff.
whisper2u
Apr 20th, 2008
LOOKS LIKE the PN website is UNLIMITED FAIL because its gone now it looks like… there was some good stuff on there too… something is cooking somewhere… something is going on… I bet DiSSENTiON doesn’t get a cool website going… well ya never know I guess, they might… I wonder if they will really step up… really be a CONTENDER or are they just all talk… hmmm…
nimrod yaffle
Apr 20th, 2008
Griefers are so uncreative these days…
Nidol Slazar
Apr 20th, 2008
Pft, PN wannabes. At least do something funny when you grief.
Cockhoenut Koala
Apr 20th, 2008
CUBES?! CUBES ARE EPIC!? WTF?
This was some of the lamest greifing I’ve seen in a while. Mainly due to the fact something so lame was labeled “epic”.
LL doesn’t care if you rez some stupid cubes on help island, fuck, the idiot could have at least used some mega prims so they would result in higher server load and greater annoyance, but no…
This was half assed and a massive failure. If you want to try and create a name for yourself, start flooding those sims with giant spinning glowing megaprims /w transparency that makes it look like the world is coming to an end. Not some stupid fucking cubes with a ugly ass logo that looks like it was made in photoshop in 1999.
“we will make the infamous program known as Copybot public to the masses in effect devastating your economy.”
IT ALREADY IS AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC MASSES AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN YOU FUCKING STUPID NEWBIES. JESUS CHRIST! HERE IS THE GIVE AWAY THAT IS IS IT SOME STUPID FUCKING KIDS WITH NOT A CLUE WHAT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED. COPYBOT IS ALREADY PUBLIC, IT IS ALREADY AVAILABLE TO THE MASSES.
Sorry about the caps, but heck, these kids should have tried just a little bit harder. Threatening to release an already released application? It is already out and available to everyone, yet you act like your releasing it will have some new effect. NOPE.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CopyBot <<– Copybot is so public there is actually a copy of it on wikipedia…
Tizzers Foxchase
Apr 20th, 2008
I got money in da bank, shawty what you drank?
Oxytone
Apr 20th, 2008
They were showing off their madd megacube making skillz out in the Moma, Togata, Algira and Lunaris sims earlier this morning until the owners of parcels I guess cleaned them up (it appears only parcels where the owners (foolishly) let anyone create items were affected (I could be mistaken). Chaos? More like minor annoyance mixed with amusement.
Cai Pirinha
Apr 20th, 2008
/me yawns
Anonymous
Apr 21st, 2008
Yes, Oxytone we were/are still testing our cubes on those sims. The weapon is still under construction and is programmed to spread from sim to sim much slower than other weapons that have been used to avoid early detection. It is also programmed specifically to detect build plots and replicate there. Copies then turn invisible and hunt for more plots to replicate on. Sometimes they get stuck, we fixed this problem having them compare their position every few seconds and if they haven’t moved when they’re in hunt mode they grow to 10x10x10 and fling themselves into neighboring sims by setting a random spinrate. After a few seconds this is deactivated and they go back into huntmode while checking every 2 meters for a build plot to replicate on.
We also just finished a self replicating nobuild sim crasher designed for havok 4 sims.
@whisper2u
Yes, we do already have a website but we’re doing most of our recruiting through youtube. When we recruit a new member through their message system they are given the web address to the sites. We are not a hate group. We are only Anti LL and only interested in inspiring change through the use of force because they don’t seem to get the message any other way. We don’t care if you’re a furry or gorean or anything else. If you can contribute and you are interested in fighting for change then you can join us.
http://www.youtube.com/user/DiSSENTi0N
GreenLantern Excelsior
Apr 21st, 2008
If rezzing a few cubes is now the definition of an “epic griefing,” SL residents have nothing to worry about. The incoming messages showed objects being auto-returned to the user, which indicates that SL is working as it should. The griefers have been defeated once more, if we can even call that griefing. It’s more like a minor annoyance that was quickly resolved. It was weak.
And what was the deal with the “song” in the first video? The “music” consisted of the sound effects from the old Pong game, and the lyrics consisted of some guy chanting the same words over and over. At least there was decent music in the second video.
Go back to the teen grid. We adults aren’t impressed with your antics.
Plot Tracer
Apr 21st, 2008
Another bunch of sillies aiming to… erm… do?
The real issue with the tm and the new tos is that it is a further enclosure of the web – under corporate law etc, the lab is entitled to do this – and throw you off if you dont comply. Read more about it on our group blog – http://www.slleftunity.com
We are a non griefing group – and one who exist outside of SL as well as in the platform.
DiSSENT
Apr 21st, 2008
GreenLantern, you’re an idiot. This almighty ‘anti griefer’ doesn’t even realize that anti autoreturn is only effective as long as objects don’t replicate faster than they are returned – which these do. I guess that just goes to show how effective an anti griefer you must be. Dressing up in your spandex and beating off at pictures of super heroes all day and then coming out periodically to file ARs on people while being ignored by lindens. Sounds like a pretty useless existence to me. You know what you should do.
Witness X
Apr 21st, 2008
One word: BORING.
shockwave yareach
Apr 21st, 2008
1, turn off scripts and turn on No Entry on the land.
2, autoreturn punkstuff – can’t outreplicate anything without scripts.
3, set build to Group Only and turn scripts back on.
4, enjoy a Jello pop.
Cockhoenut Koala
Apr 21st, 2008
DiSSENTiON??? … more like DiSSAPOiNTMENT
RedZergling
Apr 21st, 2008
What fail is this? There’s only one major griefing power on the grid. And it isn’t these lameasses. MOAR LIKE DICKSENTION.
DiSSENT
Apr 21st, 2008
UPDATE: Thank you shockwave for the new ideas.
Megacubes now spread a few hundred meters in the air so they work in noscript zones. They detect if a parcel they’re trying to move to is no object entry and if so will attempt to rez copies of itself inside the no_entry parcel to bypass the no_entry settings before picking a random direction to change to (See SVC-1042 on jira). They are also now nonphysical and temp_on_rez during the spreading process to avoid triggering the grey goo fence or alerting neighbors before they have spread significantly then after a certain amount of time they become physical and temp_on_rez is changed to false, they silently move to the ground, inflate, become visible and do the same crap they did before. Anyone else have any new ideas for us?
Witness X
Apr 21st, 2008
Now that we’ve seen the best DiSSENTary has to offer – great group name, by the way – let’s have a look at their report card:
On group name, I’d give them an ‘F’, because it can be made into dozens of humiliating jokes. Like DiSSENTary.
On purpose, let’s see – yes, Linden Lab has some fucked up shit, but the SLLA tried exactly the same thing last year and all that happened was that they imploded in a flurry of internal politics. The PN took on the grid and tried to show us how futile it all was, but self-destructed in an implosion of FURRY politics (as in, three fourths are furries, and gay furries at that).
So, points for a reasonable cause, but points taken away for not having bothered to research how well this has worked before. I’d give ‘em a “C” on purpose.
Let’s look at methodology now. Trying to DDoS the LL servers is like trying to overflow the Pacific Ocean by urinating in it, so that’s PHAIL, without question. “F” for methodology.
Now let’s look at citizenship. The PN were far far better at trolling people in public, and they’re complete failures. So, what’s below an “F”? A “G”? Does the scale go down that low? Fortunately for DiSSENTary, it doesn’t. So, “F” for trolling.
Alerting the entire SL grid to their presence before they’ve fixed all their lame-ass problems and gotten their act together? Sheer genius. “F” for – well, just “F”.
Final result? Rounding up to the nearest quarter grade, F+.
Come back when you can tap dance or play the national anthem by farting into a trumpet.
DiSSENT
Apr 21st, 2008
Our purpose is not to troll people and we have already hit the asset servers and caused grid closures. What do you think has been happening in the last week? LL no longer admits in blog entries that they are being attacked. Instead they post obviously transparent excuses attempting to prevent encouraging griefers. Unfortunately for them, though publicity is nice, we do not exist to get attention. We will continue to operate in spite of any measures they take and whether or not we are in the news.
We have been in existence before that youtube account came into existence as baba of libsecondlife would tell you, having received an email from us when we leaked the sl-bot and A1 bot source code to them and the PN (a disgruntled sl-bot developer is among us, A1 bot is the reason why PN copybot can now copy sculpties). It doesn’t matter when the grid becomes aware of our presence. Our ranks are swelling and we are becoming more and more organized by the minute.
It is unfortunate that you have to suffer during this time but you are only collateral damage. Everything we are doing is for the greater good.
DiSSINGaNT
Apr 21st, 2008
Letting everyone know in comments how their ‘weapons’ work and how exactly they go around the defences suggested by people, is also worth some minus points.
Something the Russians and Americans have been doing for years and years on end, and very basic knowledge. Its GOOD to know your opponents weapons and defences and how they work, its BAD if your opponent knows details of yours.
So next time you do a tweak to your weapons, PiSSEDoN, dont tell everyone.
of course unless you think you’re SO GOOD that noone will have any use of the info you’ve given.
As for getting the message across to LL… good luck with that. We’ll talk again in a week when you will have found out they completely ignored you guys, and then your attacks can start… Maybe you’ll be successfull and cause some mayhem, but the chance LL will acknowledge, let alone meet your demans, is smaller then the chance of SETI finding actual extraterrestrial life.
You seem rather intelligent, so I suppose you know this very well. Which makes me think that you’re doing this just to be able to grief and be a pain in the ass, and have a nice sugarcoating and be able to blame LL for your actions.
At least the PN losers admitted they did it just to be a pain in the ass.
Also; any use of the name anonymous or the words epic or whatever… you wouldnt if you would have any self respect. Perfectly valid English, but basterdized by your PN colleagues. Like the Stephen Hawkins voice in videos; it fails. Epic.
DinkyHockerShootsSmack!
Apr 21st, 2008
“On group name, I’d give them an ‘F’, because it can be made into dozens of humiliating jokes.”
Yeah like, “The wannabe griefer had abdominal DIStention from too many Red Bulls and not enough restroom breaks (because he is a faggot who has no life outside the internets).”
Dr. Wily
Apr 21st, 2008
Uh, no, I actually figured out the sculptie fix myself.
We’re having alignment issues though, plz contribute patch :<
DiSSENT
Apr 21st, 2008
We didn’t write 1A, we only reverse engineered it. The code was obfuscated and a total pain in the ass.
If we could have we would have moved that and the penetration packet shit over the sl-bot. I found the prospect of grid-stalking very promising. I’ll re-examine the code sometime this week and see what I can piece together. I need a copy of your updated CB source too which I hadn’t downloaded yet. Contact me on youtube.
Dr. Wily
Apr 21st, 2008
SVN code updated, have fun. Read the log though.
Razrcut Brooks
Apr 21st, 2008
@ DiSSent, Why is your agenda very similar to topics outlined in the Herald by D3adly Cod3c in his recent article?
@ D3adly Cod3c, why the silence ?
DC, I read your comment in Prok’s Second Thoughts concerning the “The Voice of Pix” . You mention someone using your name and past expolits/reputation in new grid attacks. Why not expound on that fact here in the Herald? Your silence leads one to believe you ARE DiSSENT. I , like many others, appreciated the fact you have the left the PN and were attempting to assimilate into Sl in a positive way. Your last article mentions LL figuring out you were back in-world and another ban. Your frustration with SL was evident.
The next thing we see is DISSENTION spouting causes you wrote about. Did you return to the dark-side?
Yawn
Apr 22nd, 2008
In 3 months:
“Hey, remember those DiSSENT guys?”
‘Who?’
“Nah, nevermind.”
Yawn
Apr 22nd, 2008
also lol at whisper2u and anyone impressed by PN’s shit-tacular coding. It might do the job, but you can also hammer a nail with a frozen cat, and both are just as retarded.
Cailleach Beara
Apr 22nd, 2008
@Plot – don’t even acknowledge that spandex covered idiot. The reason he posts at all is to get a reaction and feel self important. He does it even though Just Lamers United and the Gay Lameos have asked him not to. He thinks it’s all a “war” that can be fought and won because “good must prevail” without realizing that maybe the “good guys” are the ones shaking LL up a little and end up getting things fixed on the platform. Although “griefer groups” find more broke crap that LL leaves in than they fix with each update, so on the cycle goes. It will never end as long as the platform has holes big enough for a Mac truck to drive through.
Plot Tracer
Apr 22nd, 2008
Just to correct something- the SLLA did not self destruct because of internal politics… it was revealed to have been set up to pharm info about members. Intlibber had connections with it.
This kind of griefing is like cussing on a forum. It just gets annoying and achieves nothing. If you want something in the game changed, you have to go out of the game to do it. A good example was how the SLLU embarrassed the French Front National in the world press and those who had set up here lost the confidence of their party leadership. Another example is how the Italian union embarrassed IBM by using the rl press and sl together and won concessions (and the resignation of the Italian CEO). Griefing in the game just keeps this in the game. Think out of the grid.
http://www.slleftunity.com
d3adlyc0d3c
Apr 22nd, 2008
Why would I expound on that here in the Herald? You’re the only person who has brought up my name in your conspiracy theory here, just now. I posted on prok’s blog because I was mentioned there specifically. SLH is not my personal blog and there is a reason that you don’t see me covering many griefer stories.
My frustration with SL or LL would not have caused me to go back to griefing. I was banned almost a month before the last article I wrote was published. What would be the point in griefing? The time before then when they banned me in December I did that to make a point – it doesn’t work. Additionally, explaining myself here and everywhere else just encourages the people who are doing it which is why I have been relatively silent. Truth be told I am very irritated about this because I have worked hard to change my reputation.
Rip
Apr 22nd, 2008
Until Linden labs either stops free account access or severaly limits the privileges of free account types to nothing more than visiting the world as a newbie avatar, griefing will always be a problem. Until Linden Lab controls the free accounts the lag will also stay a problem as well. When you can bring as many free account clones in world as you like in order to bump up your search engines stats in a sim, Lag will only get worse over the whole grid. At the present time SL current clone log ins are very close to 30% or 40% of the total on any given day.
Reality
Apr 22nd, 2008
Rip, present evidence to support your claim or do not post such statements. acceptable evidence would be in the form of anything whatsoever that only a member of Linden Lab could get hold of.
Oh wait – I guess that means you have no evidence! How silly of me.
anon
Apr 22nd, 2008
OH NO! IT’S DR WILY’S ROBOTS!
Witness X
Apr 22nd, 2008
That doesn’t surprise me about IntLibber, seeing as how the PN have been invited to come back into Woodbury University at Friedman sim (again) by a combination of Int thinking he can actually control anything and Tizzers Foxchase having never stopped being PN himself and Int being the most amazing doorknob the world has ever seen for trusting him with anything.
Int trades stock of his own company on his own stock exchange, regulated by a trade commission he owns. I think that says everything right there.
DiSSENT
Apr 22nd, 2008
@Razrcut
Because codec is one of us
DinkyHockerShootsSmack!
Apr 22nd, 2008
Deadcrocdick – are you really asking US why grief?
Roffles.
Ask yourself, griefer.
UncleBill
Apr 22nd, 2008
Saying it doesn’t make it true, kids.
Close Second Life to the public? What possible reason would ANY company have to do that?
While IBM is showing much more interest than I would have given them credit for, SL is still far too unreliable and unproven to become the standard for ANY corporation to adopt it solely. Even if SL was a viable tool for training and meetings, it would need to get itself in the marketplace and push out standard tools like WebEx and MyMeetings.
Still, I can’t entirely fault your ambitious fiction, I remember when I was younger and brimming with self-righteous self-important naivete.
Tell you what… once you’ve got a job and a mortgage we’ll see how important any of this is to you.
Charity Stohr
Apr 22nd, 2008
We need a Wise Beard Man for SL. ;_;
Pierce Kronos
Apr 22nd, 2008
Dissention or Pretension?
I don’t recall a groundswell of SL residents calling for grid griefing to fix alleged problems much less very many folks getting upset over legal and legitimate Trade Mark issues. As to a new, corporate SL slant — Second Life is Linden Lab’s toy, they can play with it anyway they wish. The justification here by the Diss’ers is flawed and weak but I guess any excuse will suffice when one believes that the ends justifies the means.
If Dissention continues their attempts at unpopular and costly DoS attacks, the most they’ll get is indifference if not outright enmity from the majority of residents affected as well as deserved real-life Detention when they get busted. But I say go for it as things have been pretty dull since Tizzers got him/herself banned and the PN gave up, grew up, or whatever up they did.
Pierce Kronos
P.S. If Dissention didn’t want publicity, what’s with all the vids and responses to the Herald “article?”
Plot Tracer
Apr 22nd, 2008
Uncle Bill, how patronising! The enclosure of the web /end of the internet IS important. It is the first time people have been able to communicate unhindered and give real points of view across the globe- unhindered – ever. Anyone else who thinks this is important should go to this website – http://savetheinternet.com/
…and I have been in the workplace for 25 years and have had a mortgage for an eternity…
A video that explains the real issues can be found here:
http://www.slleftunity.com
I'm Watching You
Apr 22nd, 2008
An excellent display of losers with nothing better to do. I’m totally convinced because of big black boxes flooding the sim that LL is totally in the wrong on so many levels and I should try to exploit them in any way possible. Two Thumbs Up.
Um here’s a reality check:
If you don’t like LL then stop coming to SL. Go somewhere else with your loser self. I can think of a million better ideas than griefing innocent bystanders, making a video, and posting it on YouTube. Really, get a life.
Penance Sautereau
Apr 23rd, 2008
Cod3c; If you have any still not banned accounts, IM me in-world, I want to hire you to script something.
UncleBill
Apr 24th, 2008
@Plot Tracer…
Of course, the issue I was raising is against the pervading paranoia that corporate America is getting ready to co-opt the buggy, inefficient product that Second Life is. There’s no reason to believe this will happen. In addition, there’s no reason to believe that LL has some kind of agenda to eliminate the ‘public’ user base that has graced its frontiers since birth.
My issue is not with fighting for freedom of expression on the Internet. My issue is with taking these fights to the doorstep of a private company distributing its ‘product’ to whomever it sees fit.
If a private company wants to restrict or free up access to its products, that is its prerogative.
Its like the old story of why animal-rights activists spend all their time yelling at old ladies in fur coats instead of the biker bar with all the guys in leather. Its easy to fight someone who can’t fight back. LL doesn’t need to, they have no obligation to provide ANYTHING for free. Its their product. I can’t go to your house and paint it myself because I don’t like the color; I CAN, however, donate my time to picking up trash along the interstate or demonstrating against REAL VILLIANS like China.