Emerald In Disgrace!!! Philip Linden Warns Against Malicious Viewer!!!
by Pixeleen Mistral on 24/08/10 at 10:45 pm
Philip Linden took pen in hand today to warn Second Life players the controversial Emerald Viewer has been removed from the official list of third party viewers stating "We will not tolerate a viewer that includes malicious code, nor will we tolerate development teams with a history of violating users’ trust or disrupting their lives" on the Second Life blog.
Underlining the gravity of the situation, the Linden Lab CEO also sent virtual world residents personal e-mails – a task would could not have been fast, easy, or fun – encouraging players to flee the to other viewers: "If you have been using the Emerald viewer, for now we would encourage you to consider either one of the Linden Lab viewers, or an alternative third-party viewer".
The Herald contacted the Lab for comment, and Linden Lab PR specialist Pete Linden provided this statement:
We may remove viewers from the Third-Party Viewer Directory when they violate our Policy on Third-Party Viewers. The Policy prohibits the distribution of harmful functionality like denial-of-service attacks or griefing attacks. It also requires a published Privacy Policy that specifically describes what user data the third-party viewer collects, stores, and uses and how it uses, displays or shares that data.
As a result of multiple violations of the Policy, we have removed the listing of the Emerald viewer from the Third Party Viewer Directory.
We have insisted that the Emerald development team make transparent to the Second Life community the functionality of its viewer code and the user data that the Emerald viewer collects. We strongly urge all Residents who continue to use the Emerald viewer to make these demands as well. We also caution Residents of the potential risks involved in using certain versions of the Emerald viewer. Although we have not at this time disallowed use of the Emerald viewer entirely, we may do so if the problems with the viewer are not appropriately remedied by the Emerald development team.
Of note is the requirement of a published privacy policy specifically describing the user data collected by third party viewers and how this information is stored, displayed or used.
This requirement could be a problem for the Emerald viewer, which has a history of gathering full directory path names (which can include real life typists’ names) and baking these into avatar textures without the knowledge of the users. A dispute over this practice led to the departure of LordGregGreg from the Emerald gang recently after Lonely Bluebird (a.k.a. Phox) promised to remove the privacy leak, but did not. Lonely Bluebird remains on the Emerald development team.
The Lab’s statement supports claims by reliable sources that removal of the Emerald viewer from the third party viewer list was a unilateral action on the part of Linden Lab. This contradicts Emerald developer Skills Hak’s assertion that Emerald asked to be removed from the third party viewer list to transfer ownership of the listing from Fractured Crystal.
Mr. Crystal was thrown out of the gang in the wake of an Emerald viewer-based DDOS attack — although the Emerald gang leadership told the Herald this was not really a denial of service. Arabella Steadham – who does not lie – may want to consult with the Lab on their definition of a denial of service attack.
With Linden Lab cautioning players against using certain versions of the Emerald viewer, it may be only a matter of time before some or all versions are banned – unless appropriate remedies are enacted by the Emerald developers. Remedies may soon be moot however, if the players heed the Lab’s warning to flee Emerald.
Nidol
Aug 25th, 2010
What’s sad is that people are now thinking that LL is lying to get people to flee to viewer 2.0. lol Sheep I tells ya.
Believer
Aug 25th, 2010
“We will not tolerate a viewer that includes malicious code, nor will we tolerate development teams with a history of violating users’ trust or disrupting their lives”
Huh.
Fractured Crystal, aka jcool410 Wildcat, aka Alias Turbo, aka Phantom Messenger was the creator of the vLife client, which he sold to those who’d pay to be able to rip content. He profited off of the IP infringement of actual content creators. He’s been permabanned at least 3 times.
Lonely Bluebird, aka Pattehph0x Katsu, was the creator of the similarly-featured PhoxLife ‘malicious’ client, and is known for both real-life harassment and using (now deprecated) asset server exploits to rip full contents from vendors– then distributed the work around the grid. Permabanned at least once.
Luminous Luminos, aka Cryogenic Blitz, was the creator of CryoLife, which should be immediately recognizable to any reader of AH for being the ripper-client that started a lot of this garbage in the first place. Permabanned at least once.
So why is it again that all 3 are still on the grid? All 3 are tolerated? All 3 are in violations of the ToS for even coming back to the grid. One profited off of the IP infringement of content creators, one is a real-life stalker with some severe sociopathic behavior, and one is the root of much of the malicious client hysteria in SL.
How is that not already in complete breach of what Philip said? Philip’s words should be taken with a grain of salt.
Gaara Sandalwood
Aug 25th, 2010
hm….maybe it’s finally gonna happen.
px
Aug 25th, 2010
@Believer – Linden Labs has no measurements to really ban anyone off the SL. Why?
1. Ability to create new accounts in less than 2 minutes using REGAPI requiring details that needs no verification whatsoever. Emerald’s website has that.
2. MAC Address ban is useless as it’s easy to change your MAC through software or hardware (Router config).
3. IP Address Ban, proxies or dynamic ip addresses renders this useless.
4. HDD SN Ban, if only you’re using their official viewers which contains codes to retrieve that, though i highly doubt these guys are that dumb enough to include it in.
5. Clear SL from Registry using RegEdit. I won’t even explain this one.
Until any proper measures are being implemented by linden labs to properly ban people like these guys, they’ll always find a way to create a new account and login again.
Nelson Jenkins
Aug 25th, 2010
I’m so sorry, Arabella, and everyone else, for disparaging the Emerald viewer. Please, accept my apology, as nothing has actually happened. Do not hesitate to go about your original activities, as I nor anyone else will criticize them any longer. Do whatever it was that you were doing as soon as possible. Please do not issue any fixes for the actions I discussed earlier, as obviously they do not exist. We’re ready to believe you!
Thanks very much,
A Guffawing Critic
Bubblesort Triskaidekaphobia
Aug 25th, 2010
If Emerald’s forum is any indicator of their traffic, they are now showing something like 10 posts on it all day today. I think people are either following Philip’s recommendations or else the forum is broken.
Emerald reportedly posted a blog response to this and quickly took it down, there is a partial quote here:
http://emeraldviewer.net/forum/index.php?topic=4165.0
Screen cap of it posted here (for when the emerald team removes the post I linked to above):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27384332@N07/4924712327/
Nelson Jenkins
Aug 25th, 2010
Sad they bought the emeraldviewer.net domain when it’s all coming crashing down on them.
Millennium Sands
Aug 25th, 2010
I still love Phillip for creating SL, but to be honest, this statement made me loose some respect for him.
From my point of view, it’s nothing else than an attempt to look well in the eyes of all those rezidents who had reason enough to call for action against a third party developement team that can be called at least ominous, if not criminal, while on the other hand he doesn’t have the guts to ban that team and their viewer.
Handling this case with silk gloves looks like a capitulation to me.
While the lab showed little or no patience in other cases, I have to ask myself what the Modular Systems team needs to do in order to suffer serious consequences for their actions.
As a matter of fact, by not banning them now, the lab plays the ball back to MS. They get another chance to prove they are nice and harmless. But that’s also another chance to prove that they are not that nice at all. When the lab finally sees a reason to ban them for yet another crime, the damage will already been done. And who knows how serious that damage will be? It might be devastating! Those folks showed their talents and capabilitys more than once, after all.
In my opinion, it might prove to be an irresponsible decision to give MS a new chance to deal another blow, if you feel responsible at all for your customers safety. In any case the lab displays a serious weakness in this case: It looks like any TPV development team that is able to gather a strong user base can diminish LL’s power to enforce the TOS.
General Drama
Aug 25th, 2010
whoopie, 20 bucks at godaddy for a domain.
Still nothing from Philip about his minions corrupt banning of Woodbury due to WU exposing Emerald corruption and criminality. Just some self serving ass covering.
Nelson Jenkins
Aug 25th, 2010
@ Millennium Sands
You do realize that Emerald is dying off by the thousands right now thanks to that email, right? About half of my friends used Emerald last week, now only 1 does. I’m pretty sure they’ll die off on their own. You know how much of a disgrace it is to Arabella to have that email sent to every single Second Life user? Man, she must be pissed.
@ General Drama
I’m not even going to bother thinking of a response to this.
Nidol
Aug 25th, 2010
“Luminous Luminos, aka Cryogenic Blitz, was the creator of CryoLife, which should be immediately recognizable to any reader of AH for being the ripper-client that started a lot of this garbage in the first place. Permabanned at least once.” – Believer
Actually Cryo has left the Emerald team long ago and has proven himself to me and a few others to be a well-behaved resident who has not been involved in any ban-worthy activity for a long time. Banning him now would be unjustified in my eyes. Not to mention he’s smart as a whip too. :p
Millennium Sands
Aug 25th, 2010
@Nelson Jenkins
Well, I admit that I’m quite a hardliner in some cases, and it’s probable that Phillips strategy proves to be more clever, because it might be more acceptable for the common user. That’s exactly what I’m hoping for at the moment.
Before I logged out and made a check here, I was surrounded by 6-8 rezidents. At least 2 of them still used Emerald, so I didn’t notice much of a change.
Yep
Aug 25th, 2010
So if everyone is still logging into emerald, is this ddos attack still going on? I do not use emerald so i do not know if there has been an update.
“In my opinion, it might prove to be an irresponsible decision to give MS a new chance to deal another blow, if you feel responsible at all for your customers safety. In any case the lab displays a serious weakness in this case: It looks like any TPV development team that is able to gather a strong user base can diminish LL’s power to enforce the TOS.”
Yeah the teenagers will learn from example that LL is nothing but a barking dog with no teeth if they allow emerald to stay.
BEWARE: DDoS – An Emerald in the Rough! «
Aug 25th, 2010
[...] Viewer! A letter was written and posted to the main Second Life blog and it is warning users to stop using the Emerald Viewer and instead switch to an official SL viewer or other thrid party viewer right [...]
Little Lost Linden
Aug 25th, 2010
All that can really be said about today’s predicament is Holy, Moly.
So, I will say it again, just so we are all clear on this…
HOLY MOLY!!!!
We
Aug 25th, 2010
@Yep
No the DDoS was removed on the 17th after someone found it and posted it on the Emerald forums. The thread was deleted and the DDoS code removed, they tried to keep it under wraps but after a few days it moved to another forum and spread from there.
I went to a sim today and 90% of them were still on Emerald. It was pretty shocking, after all this drama and the e-mails being sent out, it seems impossible that people couldn’t have heard about this now, and even more impossible that so many people have decided to stick with it even knowing about what the Emerald team did.
A Furry
Aug 25th, 2010
@We:
yeah, earlier i went to GYC and most people there were still using Emerald.
K.T.D.
Aug 25th, 2010
I’ve seen a good amount of Emerald users still online, but people tend to decide to try a different viewer once they know what actually happened.
A lot of people I know really needed it broken down and explained. They just didn’t understand what had occurred, and what risks their systems could have potentially been exposed by a “prank” of this nature.
Noisey
Aug 25th, 2010
@ Bubblesort:
“If Emerald’s forum is any indicator of their traffic, they are now showing something like 10 posts on it all day today. I think people are either following Philip’s recommendations or else the forum is broken.”
If by broken, you mean they only allow positive or neutral posts on their blog, then it’s been broken for a long time
General Drama
Aug 25th, 2010
Nelson Jenkins,
I expect nothing less from you, Effsey. Or should I say, Frontier?
Nelson Jenkins
Aug 25th, 2010
General Drama,
I expected nothing less from you either, troll. Or should I say, Hitler?
A Bystander
Aug 25th, 2010
@ Believer
“We will not tolerate a viewer that includes malicious code, nor will we tolerate development teams with a history of violating users’ trust or disrupting their lives”
Huh.
Fractured Crystal, aka jcool410 Wildcat, aka Alias Turbo, aka Phantom Messenger was the creator of the vLife client, which he sold to those who’d pay to be able to rip content. He profited off of the IP infringement of actual content creators. He’s been permabanned at least 3 times.
Lonely Bluebird, aka Pattehph0x Katsu, was the creator of the similarly-featured PhoxLife ‘malicious’ client, and is known for both real-life harassment and using (now deprecated) asset server exploits to rip full contents from vendors– then distributed the work around the grid. Permabanned at least once.
Luminous Luminos, aka Cryogenic Blitz, was the creator of CryoLife, which should be immediately recognizable to any reader of AH for being the ripper-client that started a lot of this garbage in the first place. Permabanned at least once.
So why is it again that all 3 are still on the grid? All 3 are tolerated? All 3 are in violations of the ToS for even coming back to the grid. One profited off of the IP infringement of content creators, one is a real-life stalker with some severe sociopathic behavior, and one is the root of much of the malicious client hysteria in SL.
How is that not already in complete breach of what Philip said? Philip’s words should be taken with a grain of salt.
Hey buddy. I hate to say it but Philip Linden just came back into heading Linden Labs after M Linden resigned. Anyones words who should be taken with a grain of salt its M’s not Philip who walked into this mess.
Kiddoh
Aug 25th, 2010
Some would say…. Frontier IS Hitler!
What a plot twist! :O
Persephone Bolero
Aug 25th, 2010
Okay, I’m convinced. Time to say goodbye to Emerald. I could never get my boobs to shake anyway.
Wacky Leaks
Aug 25th, 2010
FC Inventory FULL is pretty lame really.
Nothing much to see.
Some lameass animations, some lamer scripts, some copybotted stuff not worth having and the usual inventory garbage.
Some screencaps of Onyx in action but the popcorn moment only came when I stumbled on the RL pics of Arabella, Jessica and Zya!!!
They’ll be more pissed he leaked these than his DDoS attack and all the other stuff he did to murder Emerald.
In yer inventory geolocating your ex-friendz!
Ren
Aug 25th, 2010
If Lindens need community support to ban any viewer released by those who have blatantly perpetrated violations using their own created viewers, sign me up. Creating a void for something else to fill in is not a bad thing if Linden’s can use discretion over what takes its place. Give honest creators the field! We don’t need to put up with unscrupulous overlords in SL!
Meh
Aug 25th, 2010
Stay on target, there, Ren, this is about loose cannons hijacking trusted resources, not this overlard crap. I hack you, you hack me, pretty soon we’re all wrestling in the mud together and we’re all banned.
@Persephone, it was a setting in the Emerald tab in preferences.
Pappy Enoch
Aug 25th, 2010
Thank Gawd Imprudence makes them cha-cha bingos jiggle.
The fake world am saved.
For one mo’ month, anysohow.
V
Aug 25th, 2010
You know, having spent most of yesterday chiming in to various group chats, including Emerald, and attending yet another panel discussion about it, I think it’s actually a good thing that many still use Emerald, because from what I’ve seen, it’s just the thick bricks that stay with it after all this crap. All the smart people have moved on and went to other viewers, and, personally speaking, I wouldn’t want to deal with all the rest, trying to explain to them what a ddos attack is and why you wouldn’t want to be part of it.
For Pixie
Aug 25th, 2010
More shit that emerald has failed to do.
Emerald refuses to apologize to HazimGov for the attack on the site.
Emerald refuses to give credit on some of the features they have solely ripped from Inertia.
Gaara Sandalwood
Aug 25th, 2010
“Okay, I’m convinced. Time to say goodbye to Emerald. I could never get my boobs to shake anyway.”
Edna
Aug 25th, 2010
I thought Hitler was dead. Are you talking about one of his sons Bubba Hitler, Tyrell Hitler?
Nelson Jenkins
Aug 25th, 2010
@ Edna
No, his long-lost daughter, Shaqueesha Hitler.
Emperor Norton hears a who?
Aug 25th, 2010
Little Lost Linden @”HOLY MOLY!!!!”
People we have had a Holy Moly declared here, let’s step up the drama.
Frankly this crises isn’t living up the Wooburry ban; were are the denials? Were are the conspiracy theories? Above all were are the excuses? This has gone on for three days and so far no one has blamed Prok for this. Hello? Are we awake here?
marilyn murphy
Aug 25th, 2010
ok. i will blame prok. (hi prok)
i am admittedly computer challenged. its similar to my car. i use it, but i dont know whats under the hood. i suspect there are a lot of people similarly handicapped.
so i don’t really understand a lot of what is said here. sort of, the emerald viewer did bad things and some sort of attack occurred, is about all i can grasp.
along with my lack of knowledge comes my lack of participation in things i dont understand, such as the emerald viewer. i never tried to load it or use it because i didnt want to learn it. so in this case, perhaps, ignorance is bliss.
Nelson Jenkins
Aug 25th, 2010
Here’s a short summary for those who aren’t computer-inclined:
Emerald devs have a long, long history of threats, burglary, and various computer crimes. Their latest escapade involves using your internet tube to clog up someone else’s with data. That means, normally, their website would go down and they would have to pay for damages. It’s illegal to crash someone else’s website in this manner, but it’s even more illegal to use your internet to do so, and pretty much off-the-charts illegal to do so without your knowledge or permission. However, they refuse to issue an apology or any monetary compensation, and they continue lying about the whole situation.
Glenn Beck
Aug 25th, 2010
There was another guy who asked people to stop doing business with a certain background.
…Hitler.
Glenn Beck
Aug 25th, 2010
There was another guy who asked people to stop doing business with people with a certain background.
…Hitler.
(I think the Nazi’s broke my keyboard)
bc
Aug 25th, 2010
What all you “there are still a lot of emerald users out there” commenters are failed to note is this:
Up till last week I had *never* seen an imprudence user other than myself. *Every Single SIM* I visited had at least one imprudence user last night.
THAT my friends is a big win.
Imprudence is eating Emerald’s lunch. And rightly so.
Don’t go Green, Go Purple.
J
Aug 25th, 2010
https://tips.fbi.gov/
Raini
Aug 25th, 2010
Is anyone else having a lot of fun going to your usual haunts and seeing the ever increasing spread of pink/purple (Imprudence) as more and more folks realize that the Emerald team saw their loyal userbase as a resource to be exploited?
:3
Wacky Leaks
Aug 25th, 2010
Anyone care to offer an opinion as to why Jcool410′s “MDC Ring” multi-tool attachement is still listed on Xstreet?
https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=409012
It is unavailable for purchase but the product page is still there along with more images, item discussion logs and buyer reviews.
When I found it about 6 hours ago, It was thru a simple Xstreet search. Just now same search revealed nothing but google lead me direct to the product page that still exists ATM.
I can only speculate that my search (and probably others) brought this to the attention of LL. Not bad considering Jcool was banned several years ago. (Maybe that ticket I submitted back in 2007 might get a look in soon!)
All the MDC scripts are in Fractured’s leaked inventory which shows a clear link between the two alts.
Why and how is it possible for this guy to be on the grid at all given his griefer past and current screwups?
Re: The Xstreet listing; I’m going with “homage”.
Re: Why is he tolerated; I’m going with the recent MOTD I saw when logging in with Emerald last week before this exploded:
“If we never did silly things nothing important would ever get done” (or words to that effect which in hindsight, makes me wonder if they knew this was gonna hit the fan Broadway style)
Seems as long as you’re a brilliant scripter, LL will tolerate anything. Oh sure, they’ll ban you for doing stupid shit but they won’t stop you coming back as an alt because of your ‘valuable contributions’ to the cause (Like making griefer tools and griefer clients).
So watch out y’all! I’m gonna learn to script and be omnipotent any time soon
/me looks at watch…. nothing yet…
Emperor Norton hears a who?
Aug 25th, 2010
Nelson Jenkins @”Here’s a short summary for those who aren’t computer-inclined:”
Nelson, this is the Herald, we don’t want summary here, we want baseless slander. Give us a counter-factual summary of the Emerald Scandal, the more salacious details the better. Until we find out that Fractured is Proks love slave in a Furry sim this hasn’t run it’s course.
People say on the Internets it don’t matter. PROVE IT!
Nelson Jenkins
Aug 25th, 2010
@ Emperor Norton hears a who?
Please feel free to read my more extensive post, which you may find within the following article:
http://alphavilleherald.com/2010/08/nelson-jenkins-why-would-anyone-trust-these-emerald-guys.html
marilyn murphy
Aug 26th, 2010
well, nelson, ty for the lowdown on the …uh…lowdown.
let us not be outraged or surprised that young people avoid responsiblilty for their own behavior. as time goes by, it appears that nobody will accept responsibility for their actions at all. i see the people who damn others for avoiding consequences turn around and do it themselves. its become more american than apple pie. hell, you dont even have to pay your mortgage anymore, its some other guys fault if you dont.
Nobody Really
Aug 26th, 2010
What I find most interesting is that Pete Linden made several references to personal info. There was a reference in Phillip’s letter as well.
I guess they’re fairly convinced the other stuff happened, but lacking absolute proof they aren’t coming out and saying it?
Just makes you wonder though… With what we know so far, how much more is there that’s yet to be discovered?
Friend of all
Aug 26th, 2010
@Wacky Leaks
I been having a copy of fractured’s inventory for over 2 months. Thanks to Inertia’s Dev Simman Federal.
Little Lost Linden
Aug 26th, 2010
It sure has been an exciting week. We can only wonder what kind of mayhem is going to go down this weekend.
This SL roller coaster reminds me of some crazy show called the Great Space Coaster, or something.
Rob "N3X15" Nelson
Aug 26th, 2010
Until they’re banned, I will not be satisfied. As I said on OSDev: If I had tried to pull this shit with Luna (back when I developed it), I’d have been banned into the stoneage. LL needs to treat everyone equally and make an example of Emerald’s development team. They fucked up.
Dave Bell
Aug 26th, 2010
There is a lot I’m left to wonder about, and I am still wary of the allegations I read here. But this time you were right, and that does shift the balance.
Emerald versions have been Linden-banned in the past. It was claimed that this was at the request of the developers, either as part of the beta process, or because of flaws in the handling of permissions. The most recent Modular Systems version was withdrawn from download because a feature to allow avatar texturs to be viewed also allowed them to be stolen. Looking back at the timing, it is very easy to jump to conclusions, and they could be correct.
It’s also easy to wonder if, at the Modular Systems level, there was some collusion by some Lindens. If so, the timing of all this makes me wonder if the Great Downsizing was a factor. A vanished conspirator, or somebody taking a hard look at the copybot-propaganda? I’ve seen Skills Hak at an office hour pushing ever more complicated server code to prove something has been copied.
Were the Emerald Team crazily optimistic about the Linden Lab reaction, or did they have a secret supporter who Philip Linden bypassed with his email? I wouldn’t discount the possibility of both.
Oh,and tell Pixaleen that there are plenty of tools to record who kills you in SL. Which lets you file an AR, if you wish. It’s commonplace amongst the SL militaries and around the combat sims, where getting killed is part of the game.