Difference between revisions of "Web Textures"

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(There is absolutely no reason to use web textures for static images. That is not even the reason for this feature.)
(this whole article is retarded and needs to be started over, sorry.)
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This page is for showing the different pros and cons of different approaches of new ways of getting new URL's to the client.  A big question on the minds of developers is LL's policies on [[Expected Privacy]].  Understanding what LL thinks on this may lead us to understanding what LL will do.  Let's do our best to fill this out with both sides.
This page is about dynamic web textures, a feature to allow an LSL script to assign an image URL to a face and cause it to dynamically update from the script.


=Client direct downloading of Images=
This raises a potential issue regarding [[Expected Privacy]].  The only feasible way to accomplish dynamic web textures is to let the client download the image directly. This will expose user's IP addresses.
The client directly downloads the Image from the web and displays it on a face.
==Pros==
===Technical===
Simple and straightfoward.
===Privacy===
Parcel owners in Second Life will be able to implement the same defense techniques that have been used in IRC for years. The problem of griefing on unverified alts will be mitigated.


==Cons==
This is a stub, I'm in the process of expanding it, don't freak out, I'm going to add the content back in.
===Technical===
#Minor risk that some users won't be able to reach some URLs, causing support issues because a user can't download a spacific image.
#Images may have to be generated as size powers of 2.
===Privacy===
Risk due to items that can track users, possibly allowing alts to be matched to their owners.
 
=LL Downloading of URL, passing back to client/LL as an anonymizing proxy=
This solution suggests that if anyone needs to download a URL, that LL will download the URL, then send the image to the client.
 
==Pros==
===Technical===
Guarantees that the image will be served up in a timely fashion because it will be hosted by LL's content servers. '''NOTE: Actually this is not true because LL would still have to fetch the image from the source and if the source is down or has a slow connection LL won't be able to fetch it any better than a client'''
 
===Privacy===
Good for privacy because the user never connects to a foreign server.
==Cons==
===Technical===
#Lots of bandwidth on LL's part. Every time an image is requested, LL will have to pull a copy of the requested assets from the web server and send it back out.  If they implement caching, it defeats the dynamic purpose of pulling a texture off the web.  Therefore little caching can be done on LL servers.  This feature isn't "use random images off the web"... it's specifically for images generated dynamically for this purpose.
 
#Images may have to be generated as size powers of 2.
 
===Privacy===
None known.
 
=P2p-based=
A Bittorrent-like p2p downloading system.
==Pros==
===Technical===
===Privacy===
==Cons==
===Technical===
The overhead in time and bandwidth of having to find a peer hosting every requested asset would make this infeasible for a real-time metaverse like Second Life
===Privacy===
This doesn't address any of the privacy concerns at all. Bittorrent-like protocols expose IP addresses of people sharing and requesting textures so it would still be possible to tie sensors in-world to requests for unique textures also at that location. Maybe the person proposing this was thinking of a multiple hop network like Tor or a darknet protocol like Freenet?
 
=Anonymous P2p-based proxy=
A Tor-like p2p downloading system.
==Pros==
===Technical===
===Privacy===
==Cons==
===Technical===
Ever tried to use Tor or Freenet?
===Privacy===

Revision as of 22:47, 25 January 2007

This page is about dynamic web textures, a feature to allow an LSL script to assign an image URL to a face and cause it to dynamically update from the script.

This raises a potential issue regarding Expected Privacy. The only feasible way to accomplish dynamic web textures is to let the client download the image directly. This will expose user's IP addresses.

This is a stub, I'm in the process of expanding it, don't freak out, I'm going to add the content back in.

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