UPDATE - Linden to restrict adult content with real-world ID check
By Eric Reuters
(Adds comment from Linden executives)
SECOND LIFE, May 8 (Reuters) - Linden Lab said it would activate a system to verify the age and country of residence of its users amid a series of inquiries into pornography and gambling in the virtual world.
Under the plan, residents will be required to flag land as “adult” if it contains content that is “overtly, graphically, or explicitly sexual in nature or intensely violent.” A separate blog post said the new requirements would apply to “excessively” violent content.
Only residents who have had their ages verified will be able to visit adult sims, while “mature” areas will still be accessible to all users on the main grid, who have identified themselves as over 18 years old.
The move, which will be implemented beginning this month, comes as gambling and sexually explicit activities in Second Life are under increasing scrutiny from law enforcement authorities. The FBI has been invited by Linden to examine casinos in Second Life, and German prosecutors have been investigating virtual child pornography.
Residents will need to provide passport, driver’s license, or national ID number information to confirm their age and country of residence.
Location will not be verified during the initial rollout, a service requested by Second Life casinos, some of which have been turning back U.S.-based avatars.
“It may be possible for Residents to choose to verify and share other information about themselves later,” Daniel Linden said in during a meeting with residents within Second Life. “For instance, a real-world business person might want to share and verify their real name in SL to build trust.”
Residents will be charged a one-time fee for the service, with premium accounts paying under L$10 and basic accounts charged a higher rate.
Linden Lab Chief Executive Philip Rosedale declined to put a price tag on the charge for age verification for residents with basic accounts. “Like credit card fees, our goal will be to simply pass along any costs,” he said at the meeting.
Individual landowners will decide individually what qualifies as “adult.”
“The burden of responsibility lies with the parcel and estate owner for the content displayed and activities offered on their land,” Daniel Linden wrote on the Official Linden Blog.
“The community will express what it feels to be adult content both by using the abuse reporter and by simply speaking with their neighbors,” he later added.
It may also be possible for verified accounts to display the verified real-life gender of an avatar’s user, but Linden executives insisted such disclosures would be voluntary.
“We certainly would never push people to disclose gender or age, beyond what is needed for legal compliance,” Rosedale said. “Privacy, in general, is clearly a big part of Second Life.”
