[Opensim-users] Banning "bad" viewers was Re: Can this be done?

[Karen Palen]

--- On Tue, 1/12/10, John Ward <jward at uci.edu> wrote:
> In your analogy the "fragile filtering" is the equivalent of a 
> dummy fire extinguisher.  Unlike dummy fire extinguishers which
> don't put out any fires, fragile filters, at least the one asked 
> for, would actually block based on how a client identifies itself.
> It does more then provide good feelings.  The 
> situation is more analogous to equipping with too few fire extinguishers 
> rather then fake ones.  I suggest you ask your local
> fire department if you would be better off with one fire extinguisher, 
> a fake one, or none!

You take issue with my analogy which I will admit was overstated at least in part for the sake of brevity.

Still you miss my point which is that there are no such things as "good" or "bad" viewers!

The original "copybot" (long before the name was coined) and various other potentially "bad" tools used the unaltered Linden Labs Viewer and Servers! They did their jobs as a form of "smart proxy" or in crypto terms a "man in the middle". 

At the time both the LL Viewer and the server code was "closed source" and the intended use for the tools was to analyse the data stream to understand how the system worked.

Identifying the viewer thus really does NOTHING apart from "feelgood"!

Banning of viewers (ANY viewers!) is based on a false assumption.

Even the notorious "copybot" does have legitimate uses.

The problem is not the software, but how that software is used. 

You can build a house with a hammer or you can kill someone with it - the hammer is no different!

Karen