Disallow Scripted Agents/Bots on Mainland Option
tracked
Riannah Avora
Please allow an option for mainland region owners to disallow scripted agents/bots on their land, as private sims have now. Instead of having it under Estate settings, which mainland doesn't have access for, I believe it would be more appropriate to have it in the About Land window in the Access tab with the other land access options.
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Nova Lustre
Is there an update for this issue? It's been nearly 2 years since it was marked as tracked and it's been noted that this 'has been brought up in the past' but the issue has been escalating. Can you please provide status? Thanks
Daemonika Nightfire
Reducing Mobile Bots on the Mainland Through Teleport Restrictions and Login Pattern Analysis
In Second Life, automated accounts are already required to be flagged as scripted agents. In practice, however, the large scale disturbance experienced by many Mainland residents is primarily caused by mobile scanning bots that systematically teleport across regions and collect parcel/visitor data.
On private regions, there is already an option to exclude scripted agents. On the Mainland, a comparable region wide mechanism is currently missing.
I would therefore like to propose the following combination of measures for discussion:
Mobility Restrictions for Scripted Agents
Scripted agents should generally not be allowed to teleport or cross sim boundaries. This would keep legitimate stationary uses intact, such as shop bots or traffic counters, while making large scale mobile scanning far less effective.
Detection of Unflagged Bots Through Movement and Login Patterns
Accounts that log into new regions every few seconds, remain only briefly, and systematically traverse entire continents display highly atypical user behavior. Such patterns could be analyzed server side to identify unflagged automation and apply sanctions when appropriate.
Deterrence Through Clear Sanctions
If circumvention attempts are consistently penalized, the economic effort required to operate bot networks would increase significantly. Over time, this would make large scale mobile scanning less attractive.
I am aware that no single measure is perfect and that legitimate scripted agents must not be impaired. In combination, however, these steps could noticeably reduce the scale of mobile bot networks and relieve regular Mainland residents.
I would be interested to know whether Linden Lab is already evaluating such technical approaches internally, or whether similar mechanisms could be considered in the future.
Kind regards,
Dae
jackiewallace Resident
Disallow bots and AFK places at mainlands. If somebody want to running an AFK place, they can rent a Full region or a Homestead. Sometimes I can't go to a region because 2 AFK places are running there (on 2 parcels) and the region is full. The land owners can't using them parcels in this situation.
Jennifer Boyle
This is a bad idea. Bonniebots collect and publish valuable information that we benefit from having access to. All information to which scripts have access is public, having been intentionally made accessible by design.
Riannah Avora
Jennifer Boyle if someone is paying for a region or parcel, they should be able to control who and what has access to that space without being forced to participate in any data seeking.
Dana Enyo
Bots could completely disappear and I would be a happy avi.
Peter Stindberg
This gets suggested every couple of months, but I am sorry to say: It makes absolutely no sense.
As long as the scripted agent can get
anywhere
on a region, it can carry out its task, usually within only a few seconds. I am researching those bots for over 3 years now. They have become blazingly fast. Even if you could deny them on your parcel - as long as there is one single parcel on the region where they can materialize, they can scan the whole region.Incidentally, this is the reason why bot-banning tools are a waste of money and region resources.
If you can't deny it from the whole region, you can as well give up already.
As I have stated many times before, there is exactly
one
thing the Lab could do against the bot epidemic: making sign-ups harder. But this is neither in the Lab's nor our best interest.Riannah Avora
Peter Stindberg I am speaking about the entire region, not a parcel. And yes, they are fast. I can see the point of having bots to manage things on your own land, but why enable them to go onto other people's land? Privacy is important and that is something that LL has promised.
There are some bots that seem to make it onto the land even if they are banned already. Ones that I have reported to LL have stopped coming. But there are more. I know this because I have sensors in some areas of my region that tell me who is there when it detects them. I zoom in on them and I can see them standing on my platform. So, I know that they are there. I also suspect that llEjectFromLand in a script doesn't work on them. Ask me how I know that! LOL!
squidpaladin Resident
Riannah Avora You would have to own the entire ML region, so its only really benefitting a tiny sliver of mainland owners. If you don't own an entire region, you don't have access to the relevant settings. Otherwise you'd be able to affect land you don't own.
SL Feedback
Hello, and thank you for your feature request regarding the option to disallow scripted agents/bots on mainland regions. This idea has been brought up in the past and is currently tracked. We understand the importance of managing bot traffic and the impact it can have on your experience. While we have no estimate on when this feature might be implemented, please keep an eye on future updates. We appreciate your input and hope you continue to share your ideas to help improve Second Life. Thank you!
SL Feedback
updated the status to
tracked