Many of you are aware that Linden Lab reset our passwords due to a compromise in security. I would submit to you that this development is a non-issue which has already been fixed by the reset.
What is far far far far far more serious, is that our RL information may now be exposed. On the official Linden blog they wrote the following:
"the unencrypted customer information stored in the database was compromised, potentially including Second Life account names, real life names and contact information, along with encrypted account passwords."
That's right. Our RL names and addresses may very well appear on some anonymous website in the near future. This will have devastating social consequences for everybody. Firstly alts will be outed. All those people who dished out forum beatings and bolstered the arguments of their primary account's under an assumed name will now be exposed. Second, the enormous percentage of guys-playing-girls (and a few doing it the other way around) will now be exposed. Finally, and this one hits ME the hardest, victims of cyber-stalking will have lost all peace of mind and confidence in Linden Lab.
"I actually had RL stalkers who found out about me through the Internet, *before* SL," lamented SL futurist Gwyneth Llewelyn, "so I shut down everything related to me, and started from scratch with SL, so to speak... now they'd be able to know who I am again. Hmm"
Linden Lab has not yet said with certainty that our RL info has been exposed but it's clear that it MAY have been. I will withhold my anger and fury with Linden Lab until I actually see my RL name published somewhere.
1. Frightening thought.. I'm bothered that they knew for days and didn't tell us, and becuase the security breach existed long before it was exploited, but now we shall play the waiting game and see if any enemies show up at our front doors! *peeks out the window*
Gonna have to change my password to ILoveAimeeMost or something.
Posted at 2:59PM on Sep 8th 2006 by Mistress Midnight Fairuza