well looks like WoW is less safe than SL for youngsters

17,000? 20,000? Hell I will give you 100,000. Out of a population of 400 million it doesn't statistically exist. How many of those "trafficked" in your chart paid to be smuggled in? How many were perfectly willing to be a "victim of the human traffickers so they could come to America? And how many were victims because someone in a computer game seduced them to the darkside?

More hysteria from you Rebecca, but that is par for course.

My point is simply that some online companies have very poor security and some, particulary wow, have very good. very high end security, as tho;ught the customer matters.

It should be a given that any online world that gives a get out of jail free card, is a good place to set up shop if you have devious purposes.

No you are being hysterical so that you cannot see what should be obvious. Any large online world needs excellent security to protect normal people from ANY kind of graft.

Making an online world that allows and offers no accountability is absurd.

Ah,. you have excellent taste, Sir. In fact I own one of those myself. I only bring it out on Special Occasions, preferring my sturdy Ford, or my sleek Connery. Perhaps you would like to see our VIP Showroom?

Depends on the resport

I had the same account spamming gold and power leveling for hours in the middle of iron forge...

I've had to wait days and weeks before hearing from a GM about something

I think it depended on the severity flags as to response time.

Hell, I had a couple times in SoE games where I got an email after I left saying they responded to my help request...

I've had instant to an hour response in SL, sometimes longer depending on the type of request/report.

Makes sense a smaller company also has different response times

Only to the devious purposes which the online world could actually facilitate. It just simply isn't a tool for every imaginable crime.

There are good reasons that Linden Lab should want to tighten up its means of tracking the identity of its users. There is no reason to invent dangers that just don't exist. Implausible claims distract attention away from reasonable discussions.

welcome to the internet, one of the core concepts is the anonymous nature.

Here is a clue to combat your hysteria, education.

You throw up random facts and number, you never bother to show actual usage stats for your comments. When asked for proof of any type you throw up propaganda and random images and garbage.

The internet itself is an online world where the predators are as real as those in the rough side of town.

you place all your trust into private companies, never mind they can and do have security breaches and are ultimately run by other humans. They have had data leaked to marketing companies because nobody in one department cares about the privacy policy, credit card details have been stolen, etc.

The truth is the only person that can make sure you are safe online is the one you see in the mirror. Just like the only way to make sure a child is safe online is for the parents to watch what they do online and educate themselves of the real risks... and not listen totally to the media which is only after ratings most of the time.

Remember it's not a cop's job to protect you, they clean up the mess afterwords.

It's not "inventing" dangers. It's all too real. Second life has plenty of slaves and escorts. Are they all housewives from middle america?


Any big illegal business can be facilitated by Second Life, so "tightening up" security is more then just casually important.

Anywhere where there are large groups of people who talk to each other there are gonna be crazies and predators. Theoretically, kids probably aren't in all that much danger logged into the adult grid, since they couldn't admit that they're kids, and because people don't log onto second life to meet kids, because they're NOT ALLOWED!
I migrated over here from IMVU, and while I like the freedom of not having to worry about ratings and appropriateness and stuff, I gotta say I kinda miss the teens.. Especially being a creator, since adolescents get all gushy about products they like, and a lot of them look up to designers.. Especially if they had design questions.. When they want to learn something, kids are really excited about learning it! Or maybe they were actually cops and I was preaching to the choir when I told girls to ask their parents to buy them a can of pepper spray if they were going on a date alone..


As for child avatars.. what better way to let your inner child out a bit? Or your inner dragon, mutant, vampire, etc. I've made some playground equipment, 'cause it's fun to make! Who can pass up an excuse to animate prims?

There's another article I found on the original thread topic that has a few extra facts.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=38&objectid=10519339

Apparently, this may not have been just a crime of opportunity (as I had guessed). This guy both has a prior statutory-rape type charge (fathering a child with a 16 year-old-girl), but his current girlfriend is an American he met over the internet.

I also ran across another recent article of using WoW to prey on a young girl.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/predator-met-16.html

I don't play WoW. This is common in WoW-land?

You got any Hugh Jackmans? Can I get one fitted out in the X-Men model?

happens a lot more than the WoW-ites would have you believe.

Oh, yes. And if you're out of Hugh I'll make XHugh or XXHugh work. No prob.

EDIT: And just to stay on topic: Statistically speaking, if we want to protect kids from molesters shouldn't we find a way to keep their own family members from accessing the same sites?

It's a little less common than AH scams, guild bank thefts, and other bad behavior.

Key there is it's more common in wow than on SL since the grid is risky when it comes to looking for children, since the number of real children on the main grid is small (and they are easily reported and removed, just like those looking for them... if people bother reporting them)

I'll take the XXX model...

any illegal business can be facilitated by email, phones, and instant messaging software...

So you support real time monitoring of all of them for safety and protection?

From months of reading her rants, I think she would like it. But then after all, she has nothing to hide, why should she worry?

Rebecca is one of those "progressives" that think we all need someone with her knowledge and wisdom to be our protecting mommy and stern daddy.

I'd rather be an orphan with common sense...

Lol you almost had me going again, Rebecca. Until the horrible, although unrelated to the internet, statistics and the suggestion that anyone would be an unwilling slave in SL I was starting to think you might be serious. You are naughty. ROFL.

For you? No problem. How does Tuesday sound?

when has she ever posted relevant data or facts? With supporting information to back them up.

I look at this picture and think wow nice prims.

I'm always tempted to try and help her with the logic and then she goes too far and I realize she's having me on.

Oh I keep going on, not to help her in anyway. But so others get a bit better education so the regurgitated fawxnews isn't mistaken for the gospel truth.

did you guys ever hear about the guy using the media to get his subliminal messages out to millions in hopes to get thousands in the mindset of human trafficking?
the godfather of soul stealing
I give you the king pin That made it all possible!!
listen close and you will hear the powerful message..just be careful it is very powerful and almost had me heading for a fast boat to Asia so i could be captured and sent back to the U.S
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU