Difference between revisions of "Privacy in Second Life"

Revision as of 12:31, 14 November 2011

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Template:KB Communication/en Second Life® is a very social world, but sometimes you just want some peace and quiet. Privacy has long been a concern of many Residents. This article explains how to get some time to yourself inworld.

Hide your online status from everyone except your friends and groups

In general, Residents who don't know you won't be able to see you online if they search in the People tab of the Search window. To ensure that others can't see you online unless they are your friends or members of a group you belong to:

Choose Me > Preferences > Privacy.
Uncheck Show me in Search results.
Check Only friends and groups know I'm online.

Hide your online status and location from friends

By default, friends are able to see you online, even if the Show me in Search checkbox in the Preferences window isn't selected. To control your online visibility on a per-friend basis, go to Me > Profile and click on the People icon. Choose a Resident from the list, click on the Gear icon next to his or her name, and choose Permissions. Deselect See my online status to hide your status from that Resident. Deselect See me on the map if you don't want your friend to be able to track your inworld location.

Go into busy mode

When you select Me > Status > Set busy, chat and instant messages are hidden, and an auto-reply is sent to those who IM you. You can customize this reply by opening the General tab of the PREFERENCES window and typing text into the Busy mode response field.

Warning: While you're in busy mode, inventory offers will also be rejected automatically. It's a good idea to make sure you're not in busy mode if you're making a purchase or expecting to receive gifts from friends.

Hide on an Estate

Private regions and estates, can be configured for geographical privacy. This means that if you have access to an island that others don't, they won't be able to teleport in or see what's happening. They can still IM you, but it's up to you whether you reply.

An Estate Owner or Manager sets privacy options from the Region/Estate window's Estate tab. If you own or manage an Estate, then you can adjust these settings yourself!

Each of the options has a ? button to tell you more about what it does, but in short: Deselecting the Allow Public Access checkbox restricts acccess to the Estate Owner, Manager(s), and people on the Allowed Residents and Allowed Groups lists.

See the articles on Estates for more information.

Live in a skybox

A "skybox" is basically a home that's many hundreds of meters in the sky.

If you own a parcel of land, you can have a skybox. To make one:

Rez a prim (right-click the ground and select Create).
Right-click it and select Sit Here.
Once seated, click the Object tab of the Tools window (you may need to click the More >> button to expand the tools).
Set Position (meters) Z to 500, which is a typical skybox height.

Watch this movie to see how it's done:

Without a flight assist script, Residents will not be able to fly high enough to disturb you in your sky box. However, it's worth noting that more persistent Residents with such scripts will be able to get to you at that height.

Make use of the ACCESS tab for parcels you own

You can use the About Land window's ACCESS tab to control who can come in (select World > About Land to open the ABOUT LAND window). The ACCESS tab can be used to limit access to only specific groups or Residents, while the Ban tab enables you to specifically exclude individuals; using both tabs together, you should be able to get the right list of permitted Residents onto your parcel. Each tab sets access barriers at different heights around your parcel, however; see What are the parcel ban and access heights? for more details.

Related info for some of the above options can be found in the Preferences Guide.

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 {{KB Communication}}
-Second Life® is a very social world, but sometimes you just want some peace and quiet.  Privacy concerns have long been a concern of many Residents. This article explains how to get some time to yourself.
+Second Life® is a very social world, but sometimes you just want some peace and quiet.  Privacy has long been a concern of many Residents. This article explains how to get some time to yourself inworld.
 ==Hide your online status from everyone except your friends and groups==
-In general, other Residents who don't know you won't be able to see you online if they search in the '''People''' tab of the Search window. To ensure that they can't see you online unless they're friends with you or in a group you belong to:
+In general, Residents who don't know you won't be able to see you online if they search in the '''People''' tab of the Search window. To ensure that others can't see you online unless they are your friends or members of a group you belong to:
 # Choose '''Me > Preferences > Privacy'''.
+# Uncheck '''Show me in Search results'''.
 # Check '''Only friends and groups know I'm online'''.
-==Hide your online and map status from Friends==
+==Hide your online status and location from friends==
-By default, friends -- generally other Residents who know you -- are able to see you online, even if the '''Make my online status visible in Search''' checkbox in the Preferences window isn't selected. You can control your online visibility on a per-friend basis in the '''Friends''' subtab of the Communicate window's '''Contacts''' tab. Select a Resident's name from the list and deselect the '''Can see my online status''' checkbox to hide your online status from that Resident.
+By default, friends are able to see you online, even if the '''Show me in Search''' checkbox in the Preferences window isn't selected. To control your online visibility on a per-friend basis, go to '''Me''' > '''Profile''' and click on the '''People''' icon. Choose a Resident from the list, click on the '''Gear''' icon next to his or her name, and choose '''Permissions'''. Deselect '''See my online status''' to hide your status from that Resident. Deselect '''See me on the map''' if you don't want your friend to be able to track your inworld location.
-[[Image:kb_CommunicateWin_ContactsTab_Friends.png]]
+==Go into busy mode==
-You can hold '''Shift''' or '''Ctrl''' on your keyboard while clicking to select multiple Friends.
+When you select '''Me''' > '''Status''' > '''Set busy''', chat and instant messages are hidden, and an auto-reply is sent to those who IM you. You can customize this reply by opening the '''General''' tab of the PREFERENCES window and typing text into the '''Busy mode response''' field.
-If you'd like a friend to be able to see you online but ''not'' map-track you -- because it can be bothersome to be working on something then suddenly interrupted if they teleport onto your head! -- deselect the checkbox below that, '''Can find me on the world map'''.
+{{KBwarning|1=While you're in busy mode, inventory offers will also be rejected automatically. It's a good idea to make sure you're not in busy mode if you're making a purchase or expecting to receive gifts from friends.}}
-==Go into Busy mode==
-This is simply done by selecting '''World > Set Busy'''. You won't see the chat console or Instant Messages, and an auto-reply will be sent to those who IM you. This reply is customized in the Preferences window's '''Communication''' tab next to '''Busy Mode Response'''.
-{{KBwarning|1=While you're in Busy mode, inventory offers will also be rejected automatically. If you're buying something, or expecting to receive gifts from friends, you may want to make sure you're not in Busy mode.
-}}
-Going into Busy mode in addition to showing yourself as offline can help you concentrate inworld by hiding chat, which you can get to later.
 ==Hide on an Estate==
@@ Line 35: / Line 27: @@
 An Estate Owner or Manager sets privacy options from the Region/Estate window's '''Estate''' tab. If you own or manage an Estate, then you can adjust these settings yourself!
-Each of the options has a '''?''' button to tell you more about what it does, but in short: Deselecting the '''Public Access''' checkbox restricts acccess to the Estate Owner, Manager(s), and people on the '''Allowed Residents''' and '''Allowed groups''' lists.
+Each of the options has a '''?''' button to tell you more about what it does, but in short: Deselecting the '''Allow Public Access''' checkbox restricts acccess to the Estate Owner, Manager(s), and people on the '''Allowed Residents''' and '''Allowed Groups''' lists.
 See the [http://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/KBList.asp?folderID=72 articles on Estates] for more information.
@@ Line 41: / Line 33: @@
 ==Live in a skybox==
-A "skybox" is basically a home that's many hundreds of meters in the sky. They have this name because they traditionally look like boxes, although they can take many forms, like a floating castle.
+A "skybox" is basically a home that's many hundreds of meters in the sky.
-If you own a parcel of land, you can have a skybox. A manual way to get up is to:
+If you own a parcel of land, you can have a skybox. To make one:
 # Rez a prim (right-click the ground and select '''Create''').
@@ Line 55: / Line 47: @@
 <videoflash>N787M2WOb24</videoflash>
+Without a flight assist script, Residents will not be able to fly high enough to disturb you in your sky box. However, it's worth noting that more persistent Residents with such scripts will be able to get to you at that height.
-Residents aren't able to fly that high without a flight assist script, so it's a deterrent to the casual passerby. However, it's worth noting that more persistent Residents with such scripts will be able to get to you at that height.
+==Make use of the ACCESS tab for parcels you own==
-==Make use of the Access and Ban tabs for parcels you own==
-You can use the About Land window's '''Access''' and '''Ban''' tabs to control who can come in (select '''World > About Land''' to open the About Land window). The '''Access''' tab can be used to limit access to only specific groups or Residents, while the '''Ban''' tab enables you to specifically exclude individuals; using both tabs together, you should be able to get the right list of permitted Residents onto your parcel. Each tab sets access barriers at different heights around your parcel, however; see [http://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417&task=knowledge&questionID=4261 What are the parcel ban and access heights?] for more details.
+You can use the About Land window's '''ACCESS''' tab to control who can come in (select '''World > About Land''' to open the ABOUT LAND window). The '''ACCESS''' tab can be used to limit access to only specific groups or Residents, while the '''Ban''' tab enables you to specifically exclude individuals; using both tabs together, you should be able to get the right list of permitted Residents onto your parcel. Each tab sets access barriers at different heights around your parcel, however; see [http://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417&task=knowledge&questionID=4261 What are the parcel ban and access heights?] for more details.
 Related info for some of the above options can be found in the [[Preferences Window Guide|Preferences Guide]].