Bonnie Bots Update: Avatar Search Function Removed from Website After Discussion With Linden Lab; Expect More Updates Soon

Here's the latest update to Bonnie Bots, the data-hoovering bots which collect publicly available Second Life user information and publish it to the web:

The website no longer has the Avatar Search function, a feature which caused the most controversy and contention among the SL community.

This removal comes after the Bonnie Bots team had yet another conversation with Linden Lab. However, this reportedly wasn't done due to any policy violation:

"Linden Lab has never required us to make any changes to the website," as spokesperson Skyler Pancake tells me. "Suggestions have been made by Linden Lab which have provided additional insight, but any changes made have been decided by our team internally."

This is hardly the last word in this saga, however. In response to the user protest, Linden Lab just posted (a few hours ago) an update on the official blog:

Balancing Initiative and Privacy

We know there has been quite a bit of discussion about Scripted Agents/NPCs lately. Linden Lab is committed to continuing its excellent track record of keeping your personally identifiable information safe and secure.  We understand that there is a certain amount of information a “bot” service has been collecting and displaying on their third party website that is causing unease in our community, and we’re working on the best way to address these concerns.

My strong impression is there's a pretty energetic internal debate in Linden Lab about what to do next. As one Linden mentioned on social media last night: "My current pitch basically: A push for clarity from us [Linden Lab] that any personal data about an individual Resident is shared in-world specifically for use in-world. Collection for use outside SL requires the consent of the data subject."

I've also read talk that the company is looking into how Bonnie Bots might be violating GDPR policy, which is pretty unambiguous about what can and cannot be collected:

Don’t even think about touching somebody’s personal data — don’t collect it, don’t store it, don’t sell it to advertisers — unless... [t]he data subject gave you specific, unambiguous consent to process the data. 

This is why, by the way, when you visit any new website, you are asked to Accept Cookies. Rather than determine whether a new visitor is an EU citizen, most (all?) sites simply just make everyone consent to data collection. 

So expect to see more updates soon!

Read more:

• New Website Tracks Genuine Second Life Activity, Filtering Out AFK Users & Traffic Bots (Jan 20)
• BREAKING: Bonnie Bots Team Meets With Linden Lab, Promises Opt-Out & Masking Features For Second Life Users (Jan 25)
• Bonnie Bots, Explained: Team Behind Controversial Second Life Data Tracker Respond To Feedback, Also Notes: We're Hardly The Only Ones Collecting Public Avatar Data (Jan 27)

Comments

[DiBots]

NO BOTS. EVER.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

lol -- "No, really, this was ENTIRELY OUR IDEA! That's why we had just added a new online indicator -- so we could almost immediately trash it with the rest of the web profile!"

Hamlet, seriously. We all owe a great deal to NWN for providing updates on this and a place to discuss it, especially now that the SL forums are out of bounds, but really ... why are you just repeating this nonsense as though it had any credibility?

Soft has since deleted the tweet, but when I first noted the removal of Avatar Search on Twitter, he outright said in a reply that this happened because of internal discussions at LL.

I understand why LL is trying to pretend that none of this is coming from them; they want to distance themselves from any liability that Bonnie Bots might eventually face. But you're a journalist. You know better and are under no such obligation. Why are you parroting their line?

[Arwyn Quandry]

I've been chatting with the team on their discord for a few days. They're incredibly nice and, for a five person team doing this in their free time, responsive to questions. They make updates to their site quickly and without fanfare. They've listened to the Lindens requests and community concerns, and implemented on those within days. Until someone comes forward with hard proof of them acting maliciously, I will support their endeavors. The data they gather is interesting and valuable.

Some people just don't like scripted agents, no matter how they're used. There's no changing their minds. The only thing that would satisfy them is outright banning all scripted agents - and then we'd just be left with the same traffic bots we've always had, because they've played whack-a-mole with those for years and have yet to win.

LL would do well to take a measured, reasonable approach, blocking off access to sensitive data while creating clear rules around how scripted can operate. Lay out in plain terms what they can and can't do, what data is allowed to be shared and under what circumstances, and find a way to mark them so people can easily identify them. Scripted agents present opportunities for a better SL. I hope they balance all sides and don't shoot themselves in the foot.

[Adeon]

we did it reddit

[slope game]

I think it makes sense to remove the electric image finder. Hopefully there will be more interesting updates.

[Ripley]

I really don't care how "nice" they are or how much their site claims they want to help, what they are doing is invasive. As someone who dealt with a RL stalker, having someone show up on sims every single day to collect information about me and my avatars is very triggering. All opting out accomplished was to redact my name, so they were still gathering my data. I have banned them from my parcels but yet they can still come to the sim on parcels owned by other people so they aren't gone so I'm left with them doing the SL version of my stalker standing in my neighbor's yard to stare at my house and there's nothing that can be done about it.

[Sander van Dragt]

Profiles have had a show in search button for yonks, in my view the policy should be to respect that setting. Isn’t that suitable?

[Clown Girl]

I've been chatting with them and they are a lovely bunch of cockroaches.

[sirhc desantis]

fun watching while incapacitated. and so agree with "My current pitch basically: A push for clarity from us [Linden Lab] that any personal data about an individual Resident is shared in-world specifically for use in-world. Collection for use outside SL requires the consent of the data subject."
damn straight. data gathered in sl for sl purposes is just that. it ain't 'public'.
now as an lsl scripter i may have to be a little more vigilant as to what is going on. else a techbro might justify some additions to inworld data collection because, to paraphrase, 'i had at least 6 ways to do it anyway'. you know who you are LN

but as a reminder, these are the people (via their site registered in iceland) you are dealing with. (sorry for old skool linkie things)

bonniebell1 17th december 2022 https://community.secondlife.com/forums/topic/489750-has-anyone-else-noticed-the-bxxxx-accounts/page/2/
'Braaaaiiiinnnnssss...... '
'In all seriousness though, I'm happy to answer questions about the "original" B[xxx] bots. We attempt to visit all regions at least once a day and are certainly not stalking anyone. I'm sorry if we gave you guys a fright. Quarz, I'm so sorry if we made your job moderating more difficult! Do let me know if there's anything we can do to help. '
skylar pancake, same thread
' So a small amount of the population gets bothered by a random avatar appearing on their region for a very small amount of time, not doing anything, not interacting with anything, and then leaving.
And as you pointed out if they are bothered they can easily prevent access.
So what's the harm? Seems like you're trying to provoke outrage over nothing. '
from same, 21st january 2023 https://community.secondlife.com/forums/topic/495416-sorry-this-is-not-ok-b-bots-profile-scraping/page/9/#comment-2553246
'Linden Labs is legit Linden Research, Inc. Linden Labs could very likely have a huge database of all this information already and actually have it connected to your personal information.
If you're really terrified of someone finding out that you like to sex it up with a virtual avatar, please consider disconnecting from the internet.
Edited January 21 by Skyler Pancake '

(note - 'labs')

[John]

I DON'T WANT their bots showing up on my sim a dozen times a day, every single day, uninvited. SIMPLE. It's invasive, unsolicited, rude, and plain awful. STOP COMING TO MY SIM!!

[Iggy 1.0]

This controversy was truly and deeply interesting, hearkening back to 15 years ago, when SL had a much more active user base.

Someone with some talent could script an army of these bots for RP sims to pop in as zombies, a barbarian horde, or servitors of some Elder God.

Stick a sim's RP meter code in them and let the good times roll! We need more scripted NPCs enemies (dangerous animals, monsters) to make SL RP hazardous again when other players are not around. I'd like to see a few crew an SPD-coded pirate ship. Avast!

[Cathartes Aura]

Her little doggie looks delicious. Especially, if that little doggie got his noggin ran over by a big truck. Then this old carrion eater could feast. But only after letting it ripen for a few days...

BonnieBot looks Domme-ish. Preens myself and straightens my gore-encrusted feathers. Maybe BonnieBot would spank me during her data mining rounds? I've been a very badddddd Buzzard! ;)

[Han Held]

Reddit did what, Adeon?

This whole bru-ha-ha has had some serious luddite energy to me, but between being a LOT more interested in playing with Stable Diffusion (as opposed to playing with SL or opensim) and being too sick IRL to string two words together I'm gonna have to admit it's entirely possible that a lot of the nuance (subtle or not) is lost on me RN.

[Not just pixels, it's control]

Who cares if it's "just pixels"? Not the point. The point is the bots are invading my privacy, my sim space, without my permission, multiple times a day. I don't want effing strangers coming daily to stand on my lawn in RL -- why would I want the bots doing that in SL? It's a feeling of lack of control. Banned them all now, since they posted the bot names this week (took them a while to do that!)

[Adeon]

> Reddit did what, Adeon?

Sorry for my internet lingo. It's a undue self-congratulating, a hollow accomplishment, usually one simply symbolic of a good change but ultimately not important or impactful in any way.