UK folks, take care: new laws

Could I ask you to please be a bit more specific? The first thread has over 130 posts, the second nearly 400. I saw some debate on this issue between a handful of posters (including you), but I didn't see anything that would justify a generalization beyond these participants. Is there some specific reference that reflects how the public at large (or parents at large) feel about this?

Probably many UK people will be aware of this, but there are some new laws being passed in the UK that may affect Second Life.

1. A law that has _already been passed_ by Parliament (Criminal Justice Bill 200, but that will come to effect in January 2009, bans the possession of "extreme pornographic images", which covers or may cover many BDSM-related images. Images must be realistic to be illegal so computer-generated images are not covered. However, some sex/Gor/BDSM areas use realistic photographs on textures that could break the law, and by seeing them on SL you "possess" them because they are copied into the cache. Consent (or otherwise) by the people in the image is irrelevant. Also, images extracted from a non-pornographic source may be deemed pornographic if the extraction was for the purpose of sexual arousal (ie, watching The World Is Not Enough or Casino Royale aren't illegal, but if frames from the torture scenes from either of those films were extracted and displayed in a sexual context, they would be).

2. A law that is currently under consideration would bring the UK into line with Germany with regard to illegality of computer generated (or drawn) images of child pornography.

Only law 1 has been fully drafted, and the only "unawareness" defense states that you may only plead unawareness if a) the images weren't sent as the result of a request, and b) you had no reason to suspect that the image might show such content. This means that from January 2009, any UK based resident who teleports to a sex or BDSM themed area will risk prosecution if any extreme images are displayed on textures in that area (by teleporting they have made a request, they should certainly suspect such an area could contain those images).

Law 2 would mean that, as in Germany, that viewing sexual activity between child avatars would be illegal. It is likely that the same unawareness defense would be used, so it will be necessary for UK residents to avoid all areas where such things might possibly happen. Since the law can take account of mass media broadcasts in determining suspicion, this may make it nearly impossible for UK residents to use child avatars at all.

Also, since legal commentators have frequently referred to "Second Life" as a single entity, there is a danger that a person could be deemed to have "made a request while suspecting illegal images to be available" simply by logging on to SL!

Oh? Guess what SL is covered legally as well! Imagine that!

You are dreaming again Mort.

Oh, get a skybox , you too, will you?

So what laws are they in violation of?

List them and provide proper links and references.

False advertising,

Participation in banking, security fraud and theft

Reaping financial rewards for Illegal gambling

Counterfeiting.

Ponzi schemes

Negligence, causing harm to others.

Duty to Warn ethics.

Coverups of illegal behavior

law of common sense


Find your own links

Ya if you are giving people your name and address---duh.

Otherwise wow itself is far safer, secure and staff are responsive and plentiful. At the same time, wow itself is covered legally and everything that can be done is done, unlike SL, which is the wild west and about as secure as a wet paper bag.

With SL if this happened...there would be the chance, no one would even know who she had gone with, because anyone can start an unlimited, free account with fake identity.

Regarding the chat log privacy, Blizzard is not a fumbling, confused company. They actually do take users security and privacy seriously. You can actually trust them.

SL should use Blizzard, as a template for how to run an online world, company.
The old business adage, "Copy success" applies here.

Blizzard is professional in the best sense of the word, not a haphazard blackhole of confusion.

I said in another thread somewhere that I move that anytime WOW is compared to Second Life it should be treated as the new Godwin law.

Only if it's Brenda taking off her pants and waving them in salute and not you

Let someone else share in the glory.

got one, but I'm not sure she's the type I'd cuddle with in it.

Plus I got pictures of several ladies up on the wall. All PG but I imagine they might offend her sensibilities a tad

you just want him pantsless

change em to night elfs and shes yours.

Hey, it's almost 4:30 AM and I can't sleep. I'll try anything.

Give me a ring in world, I'll take you to furry avatar central.

See how many of them you wind up buying!

Uhm....No. Besides I spent all my money on airplanes and helicopters this week. Ans maybe a pair of shoes or two. Maybe I'll go over to JIRA. That always makes me sleepy.

(some weird edited pic claiming some sort of censorship)