UK to investigate pedophilia in virtual worlds
By Eric Reuters
British cops will be going undercover in Second Life to investigate depictions of adult-child sex and track down pedophiles, according to a report by Channel Five News set to air on Tuesday.
But the UK’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) said Second Life isn’t being specifically targeted. “Our interest is wherever on the Internet children are,” a spokeswoman told Reuters. “We place officers into a number of virtual worlds.”
The spokeswoman confirmed the agency has “covert investigational ability” and is aware of Second Life.
Earlier this year, German television program “Report Mainz” did a similar investigation into Second Life “ageplay.” After the show aired, German prosecutors promised to crack down on child pornography in Second Life, and Linden Lab implemented a system to confirm its users’ age and identity amid concerns from several European countries.
Linden’s identity verification program is still in the early stages of rollout.
The CEOP takes a dim view of ageplay, even when both avatars have confirmed their identity as consenting adults. “Why would a 56-year-old man masquerade as a 13-year-old child? That’s something that would concern us,” the spokeswoman said.
