Bot

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A bot is an avatar which is controlled by a machine, rather than by a human.

Since the software with which we're connecting to Second Life is open source, anyone can program an own custom viewer. Therefor, it is possible to write a program to perform automated actions with an avatar. This can have various uses, such as to perform group invitations (which isn't possible via LSL), performing as a non-player-character (NPC) in a roleplaying game, as mannequin in a shop, to increasing traffic by camping, etc.

Bots - even the CopyBot - are not banned in Second Life, though it is discussed to to change that.

CopyBot

CopyBot is a program written with libsecondlife (not affiliated with or distributed by the libsecondlife team) that connects to Second Life which allows users to make copies of objects without the permission of their creators.

• CopyBot does not need permissions to copy an object. The copier does not even need to own the object.
• CopyBot cannot copy scripts.
• CopyBot can only copy objects it can directly see. It cannot enter a shop and copy all of the products because all it can see is the vendors. In other words, CopyBot can't copy contents of prims.
• CopyBot is not an object in Second Life, nor a script. It is a program which a person runs on their computer instead of running the regular Second Life. It logs in as an avatar.
• Using CopyBot or any other software to make copies of avatars, objects, or textures that you do not own without the permission of the creator is a breach of the Second Life Terms of Service and will result in being banned.
• If an object of yours is copied, you can Abuse Report the copier and file a DMCA notice against them.
• Help or Mentors will not tell you where to get the CopyBot.
• The CopyBot itself is not banned from SL. Just the use of the CopyBot to copy other Residents creations without their permission is a violation.
• The CopyBot Defeater tries to get rid of CopyBots by sending the message "!quit" over and over again to everyone in range. This did work for a few hours as the CopyBot would interpret it as a command to quit, but CopyBot was quickly patched to ignore it. These objects only serve a historical purpose now and do not have any real effect except to annoy everyone.

How can I stop the messages from CopyBot Defeater ?

1. Go to your chat history window by click on the "Communication" at bottom left corner of your interface.
2. Open "Local Chat" tab at the bottom, and click [<<] button at upper right corner.
3. Scroll through the list of names and find the one called copybot and click on it then check "Mute Text" below. NOTE: There may be more than one bot so you might have to do this several times to stop them all.

Attention: Doing this can in most cases mute the owner of the land you muted the copybot defeater in so if you can't hear the owner of the land you might want to temporarily unmute the copybot defeater.

If it still doesn't stop after this you should contact the owner of the object and point them to this page, explaining that their script does not have any functional purpose. As a last resort you can file a Help Request to attempt to mediate the issue. If you are familiar with libsecondlife programming, there is source code for a program available at http://libsecondlife.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/IMResponder/ to log a bot in that automatically responds to !quit messages from objects and informs the owner of the issue and where the object is located.

Related Topics

• SL Knowledge Base: What is a bot?
• Blog Posts:
  • SL Blog: Much Ado About Bots - Discussion of wether or not certain bots should be banned
  • Conclusion that camping bots will be banned, land bots are fine (for now)
• CopyBot:
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CopyBot
  • Trademarks and Copyright in Second Life
  • Linden Lab Policies