Does Identity Verification mean ban for all home sexual interacts??

More than 3 years ago I had a conversation with a Linden concerning the differences between Mature and PG. I was flat told Anything Sexual had to be behind closed doors and on Mature land (even something as benign as an active kiss). Other than that Mature allowed some of the more creative uses of language (ie cussing).

As I see it now.
PG is unchanged.
Mature allows cussing.
Restricted is the old mature.

That they chose to use such strict classifications was not any surprise at all to me. They always did use them; they just did not always enforce them.

What I find most interesting that they neither have stated when it will become available for the broad masses nor how much it will cost us to get verified.

But one should be used to it by now as they never lay all their cards on the table when they choose to inform the users.

What they did let us know by telling us their rules for adult content is that you either have to verify or go home ...... or spend your second life on a nice PG rated sim because I don't think that there will be any mature rated sims left.

Should be good for people who have some PG rated mainland land for sale ..........

I'm saying, if you "flag the land restricted" only the verified person can enter and thats not me or others.

They have my address and credit card. I am pretty pg rated but by their definition I can't even have nude art images or every undress to work on avatars just in case a child shows up in area and service that is suppose to be adults.
Heck for years giving your credit card number was enough even for porn sites.
I don't get it.
I wonder if someone sees a tiny nude statue on my land they can AR me because nipple was shown? Are they going to ban people who don't voluntarily age verify?
I don't get the trust thing.
I don't have sex here, I don't participate in violence here. But as artist sometimes I do create images of nude body. So I can't even exhibit nude art t here for land I paid arm and leg on in mature sim?
If kids are here they are breaking rules.
If they want to open the grid to teen grid they should just say so. We aren't making enough money at teen grid so we want to merge the two.

Would someone please explain why we have to limit access to minors in a venue that is restricted to minors? All this does, in my opinion, is add a *wink wink* to the "no one under 18" sign. It's like saying, no, you aren't allowed to come to the main grid, BUT, if you happen to, we want to make sure your stay is penis-free.

My little group is now contemplating NOT doing what we'd planned in Second Life. Nothing we were doing had anything to do with sex, but after seeing people's gambling businesses swept out from under them in a most unprofessional way, and now the closing of anything adult to people who refuse to give up their personal identity... well, we're coming to the conclusion that the LL has strapped on its leather jacket and water skis.

As I am feeling the sand shift under my feet, I am doubting the advisability of sinking any more RL money into SL. LL seems to be on a fundy crusade to inoculate themselves from any chance the dirty little user could be a problem for their bottom line, no matter how it effects the experience of said user. Well, I'm about as clean a user as they come, and I find their actions distasteful and all my plans are now officially on hold.

Unverified users will always make up the majority of users, given most users now don't even have payment info on file. That means most business that feature adult content won't be open to most users. Less money for the Chungs of SL, less money for business owners who won't be buying that new Sim to showcase their wares.

In the end, especially with the other new announcements, I think LL would like to take as much of the freedom from the end-user as they can, and have the world be as much like your local mall as possible. I have little interest in my local mall, frankly. If this goes forward the way it appears to be going, Fonzie Linden has jumped the shark.

I think if you read the tea leaves what is likely is that the teen grid and the adult grid are going to be merged.

If you are right that even normal art containing nudity will be considered "explicit", then SL starts really lose it for me...

I mean, are they trying to make SL saver then RL?
Go watch advertisements on TV... big change you will see a half nude woman advertising some body spray or something...
Go watch some soap and mostly likely you will see two people "enjoying" each other. Maybe not all details may be shown, but the image is clear enough.
Go on a sunny day to a beach here and you will see many women tanning topless.
Visit a musea and there is a big change you will see nudity... is it not a modern artist, then it is a old master.

That they want to shield off heavy pornographics and voilence (and for your information, two persons humping on a pose ball is not what I call heavy porn, specially not when it not happens in public) I can see in a way......

Morwen.

Not in the US. The US is very prudish about nudity and sex as compared with European countries. This certainly has an impact on LL, because it is operating out of the US.

Art, pornography, sex beds, etc., aren't the problem for kids online. The danger to kids online are sexual predators who weed them out by age and try to get personally close to them. Nothing, whatsoever, about this policy does anything to address that.

So, you'll still have the scary naked guy with the huge penis approaching child avis. Heck, Fonzie Linden might actually suspend him for 3 days for doing it. Granted, he'll just go make a new one, but that's not LL's problem, its your kids' problem.

So, this being about kids is silly. Kids aren't supposed to be on the main grid. Content is flagged mature now, already. You can bet you'll be able to cam into areas you are restricted from. The more I think about it the more I believe this isn't about kids, or even about prudishness. This has to be some significant shift in who they want the average user to be, given this is going to cause a mass loss of unregistered users.

IMHO the confusion starts where the blog post now suddenly refers to R-rated content as resitrcted content.
If you check out the link in the blog: http://www.mpaa.org/FlmRat_Ratings.asp it now seems LL will be applying those (US) ratings rules rather than the 'explicit' they talked about in earlier blogs.
The joy of merging the verification issue with the broadly offensive one......
All about as clear as pie.

Pie should not be clear, it should be eaten....


Morwen.

Blog:
"What is defined as Restricted Content?
As a general rule, Restricted Content is any content that is explicitly sexual or excessively violent in nature. For guidance, consider AO-Rated (Adults Only) video games or R-rated movies."

Restricted (Film Rating)
"An R-rated motion picture, in the view of the Rating Board, contains some adult material. An R-rated motion picture may include adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-oriented nudity, drug abuse or other elements, so that parents are counseled to take this rating very seriously. Children under 17 are not allowed to attend R-rated motion pictures unaccompanied by a parent or adult guardian. Parents are strongly urged to find out more about R-rated motion pictures in determining their suitability for their children. Generally, it is not appropriate for parents to bring their young children with them to R-rated motion pictures."


So - something that a 16years or under is permitted to view (if accompanied by a parent or guardian) is the new "Broadly Offensive".
Something that's freely on view on television all the time unrestricted is too offensive to be viewed within SL by people who have affirmed that they are over 18.
However, all of that and much 'worse' is to be freely available in SL to minors who can find their parents personal data. For a minor to find their parents data should not be any more difficult for them than finding the TV remote control.

Perhaps the television companies take the view that parents should guide and control the television viewing of their children. Shock horror! Shut them down!!!!

I think it's very clear that pie should be eaten.

I think the whole issue is about LL protecting themselves from when another news reporter/agent provocateur fabricates a child porn ring in SL that they can hold their hands up and say "but look at our new security arrangements!" diverting attention to the perpetrators themselves and not jumping on LL and its permissiveness. To this end I have no problem with verifying and wish LL the very best of luck.

Well, overnight they have converted me from someone willing to sink money and effort into the SL world, to someone who is just going to use it and refuse to contribute in a meaningful way. Why bother, when they can out-of-hand devalue what I produce to the point of meaninglessness?

So, I WON'T be getting that office space I had planned. I WON'T be launching Sieve as far as I can see in the future. I WON'T be offering the reasonably huge prizes I was going to have in the launch contest because there won't be a contest, because there won't be a launch.

Hmm, positive effect on the SL world? You, the user, can decide. This bites a LOT deeper than gambling. This effects the art, literature, and even the personal actions of people in their virtual homes, on land that the Lindens suckered them into thinking was theirs to do what they wanted with.

No, I'm done folks, the more I think about this the madder I get. When LL offers me a place to set my table that doesn't have a big rug they can yank out from under it, I might change my mind. I would have never thought that LL would be worse than real government in terms of stuff like this.

The standards being imposed now are only really surpassed in nations like Saudi Arabia. I wouldn't want to contribute to the Saud family's profit, nor to the Lindens', at this point. The FCC's standards aren't this strict, under Bush appointees. How can they show their faces in public knowing that?

If it is your own land, you won't be hassled or have need of worry, unless it is a public setting or highly visible. For example, if you own PG land, you can swear like a sailor with friends or do similar un-PG things, but nothing will happen because it is just between friends and nobody else will be none the wiser. Very obviously from the wording of the policy, LL isn't looking for broad enforcement, but to make sure that places like sex clubs, escort services etc are inaccessible except to age-verified individuals.

Good, I was about to throw out my poseballs.

*waves at Morwen and bilbo*

Mandy C

I think that's an accurate summary of LL's intent in this.
The problem is that it brushes a whole bunch on unwelcome reality under the carpet. It's cowardly and dishonest. It's beads and trinklets to throw to the unthinking mob.
It encourages a false sense of security. It's dangerous.
The issue is a general one for society at large. This does nothing to address the real problems for society.

Resolved!

"If it is your own land, you won't be hassled or have need of worry, unless it is a public setting or highly visible."


No, that's not what it said at all.

"We strongly encourage estate owners and parcel owners to flag any restricted content and restrict their parcels to avoid minors inadvertently accessing it. If you are an estate owner, make sure that your parcel owners are flagging restricted content properly.

If Residents and businesses choose not to do this, land containing adult content that is not clearly marked will be easily identifiable by the community. Resident can raise concerns directly with the landowner or with Linden Lab via the Abuse channel."

So, now the covenant of sims you buy from will require this, because it says outright that estate owners are responsible for making sure the property owners flag content. That makes my business Anshe Chung's business. There's nothing there that limits it to the sexgen businesses and whore houses.

Welcome to Riyadh, here's your Burqa.

Could be Bilbo...

But it simple can lead that I have to shut down my gallery. There is *shocked* some nudity there. You have seen it yourself.

So I will have to mark my land as mature. Point is.... I cannot verify. With the information I have now, LL wants my passport number, which I may not give them (it is written very clear in the passport it self). Driving license or the other means that were mentioned will not work for people outside the US.

So I will have to break the laws of my own country, so LL can stay within the laws of US?

I am really getting in the mood to delete my gallery if things are going on that way. And without my gallery a very important reason to be in SL will disappear.

Morwen.

First gambling, second Sex, now only take away the virtual drugs .. and the loud music .. and SL is ready for granny to talk to her grandkids with voice .. i love where this is going ..

LL has been talking about age verification since last spring....the original implementation date was actually supposed to be early May, but they postponed it for whatever reason. I know this may seem sudden to our newer Residents, but it really isn't and the topic HAS been beaten to death in the forums several times already. The choice whether or not to verify is up to you, but nothing we say or do is going to change LL's course of action...they're doing it to cover their own asses, not out of any real concern for us. "Oh, we had no idea Johnny was 15; his verification information says 37. We're so sorry he saw that nasty pixel sex, but we have no control over him 'borrowing' dad's ID," vs. "Oops! We just assume everyone on the main grid is over 18."

Unless you happen to be unverified.

I think we have to accept LL will act in accordance with what is the norm in the US - there people seem very sensitive about men going "topless" - never mind women. When on holiday in Florida, a RL friend of mine was asked to put a shirt on her 6 year old son. It was very hot and the youngster was accustomed to just wearing a pair of shorts whilst playing in the summer sunshine, and no one would think anything about it in the UK - but this was not seen as appropriate in the US.

Apart from the question of whether a bit of nudity in art would be considered restricted content, which is one apparently the monkeys at LL can't even answer.......

An SL friend of mine who is in your country reckoned he only needed to enter very little info to get verified, like name, address, phone number if i remember correctly, certainly no passport number required. So don't give up before you check that out.

There is definitely a change in what constitutes "Flag-worthy" content

And, of course its pretty much a change to what those "paranoid" feared it would be.


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It would seem to me the "Are we doing to get a second toggle" debate is also totally moot.

It "R movie" type content is required to be flagged adult, we simply do not need 2 flags.