Age Verification is here!!

new world order, they are testing it in SL

well, it seems like that anyway

Exactly.. Which is why i said in my post 'acceptable means of identification'

This is NOT acceptable, and actively discouraged.

no thanks

imogen

Ah with you now Imogen, yes we are advised not to give out this information by the government unless it's absolutely neccessary, this is where i have a problem with the process too.

yea same here, unless LL, as i stated before, is trying to test the idea of the New World Order in a virtual world,







but thats probley not the case, they are just to (is it okay to curse?) paranoid of another lawsuit

In part yes, and in the context of a US that has very limited privacy laws compared with, say Europe or the UK,

Do you remember also, that LL said they will be checking for a charge of ten linden dollars on premium accounts, and charging more than ten linden (amount not specified) for free basic accounts???

I posted this way back when the issue first came up...


Quote :
Ten Linden? thats just a token
There is no way any sort of verification check on existing accounts can be done for ten linden. That means that its a token amount, and Aristotle wont be checking the people who have already verified with a creditcard or paypal to get premium. In my opinion, having thought about it, this ten linden charge for already existing premium accounts is a token to prevent a feeling of 'us and them'. I don't think they will be checking. not for linden lab... Aristotle will be using it for free, for their own purposes, a bonus from LL. Which means they WILL be keeping it and not discarding it.

One more reason i wont be giving any of my personal information to this company.
End Quote

As far as i recall, Aristotle is part of a bigger organisation that gives information to US governments and political parties.

imogen
Still not biting

uhhh, in the us they want to illiminate Net Neutrality, meaning they will decide where the us citizens go o nthe itnernet, meanign we will nto be allowed to use SL, etc etc

i really think the us government is pressuring LL now

Funny, I'd think the pressure is coming from Europe to do it since they are stricter about images involving children. I'd just argue that the implementation is dumb, and that Aristotle is not all that trustworthy.

LOL

Do you read anything they've blogged about? This started with a journalist from a TV show on Germany's ARD, actually broadcast on SWF. He made a kiddy porn machinima with some unsuspecting ageplayers (who are now banned from SL) and shoved it up Robin Linden's nose, then broadcast the whole mess on TV.

But Victoria, they are one of the means of stealing an identity here in the states.

they need to inforce a policy about that

"IF YA DON'T LIKE IT, LEAVE" becasue no one is FORCING them to veiw that, SL is freedom of choice, there are MILLIONS of sims, to explore, nothign says you have to watch or look at pr0n, thats just my 2 cents

Oh my.

It is true LL is doing this for CYA reasons. That German TV station with its lurid ageplay "expose" a few months ago must have been a near-death experience for LL. It seems pretty clear LL is doing what it must to show it is making good-faith efforts to get minors off the grid before some pedo manages to find a kid via SL and create a tragedy in RL and a full-death experience for LL. So, an age check, though they don't call it that.

What they are doing has little or no effect on the identity status of anyone who is "payment info verified" or "-used." For those folks, there is already a trail back from their avatar through LL to their credit card or Paypal account or whatever way the money flows that is available to anyone with subpoena power. So, the identity problem really applies to the unverified accounts.

Among the unverified accounts, there will be some who don't really care, and some that SL is well rid of.

There are surely others who have strong reasons to want to remain anonymous. People who fear scandal in RL if their lives in SL became known are probably the biggest category. They have a genuine problem.

That problem is in two parts: 1. LL knowing who they are, and 2. the outside verifying agency, be it "Aristotle" or the KGB or anyone else, knowing who they are. The outside agency part could be handled merely by LL not informing them (or anyone else) the avatar names the customers they identify are using in RL - such outside agencies would have no need to know that, only LL does. It would be helpful if LL can provide assurances that this is and will be the case.

There remains people who, for whatever reason (and some of them may be very good reasons), do not want even LL to know who they are. For their sake, I think LL needs some way to guarantee RL privacy to them. Their declaration that LL will only retain a record saying the person was verified as over 18 would seem to take care of that - provided the customers feel they can trust the declaration. Such people may have to decide for themselves whether remaining in SL is worth whatever risk they perceive from doing so. No-one wants to lose good people from SL; one hopes their concerns can be fully provided for as well.

Seems to me LL has whittled the problem down pretty far, and that they still have a way to go. Also seems to me they are acting in good faith.

sorry for that, i get crazy and typos happen, but i just think, now that you gave me another perspective, the european government, needs to move on, that was like what, 2-3 years ago?

try telling that to a judge, who may be deciding to shut down access to SL in their country, and possibly dragging LL to court if they didnt comply.

LL was bowing to German pressure this time. It's happened before... happened to Compuserve too, when they were forced to shut off access to Usenet for the same reasons (people were posting child pron there)

Not only that, they dragged poor Felix Somme, the director of Compuserve Germany, to court on porn charges. For the action of folks who he had no control over at all, who werent even customers of Compuserve.

It's not the USA this time bud. USA is a much easier place to host adult content online, believe it or not.

In reply to you and Hypatia...

Same answer as before. Noooooo way am I flagging Caledon as 'Adult'.

In fact, no way am I recommending *anyone* flag a parcel in Caledon as Adult either. That would be waaaaay over-reacting, in my view.

Let's consider what we have. We've got... hrm. Violet Petals, the bookshop... in no way would I consider that stuff over the line.

People, don't forget, "PG" goes *really* far.



We'll also have very realistic, historically accurate paintings of a few nakie 19th century gals in the foyer of the Caledon Gaiety theatre in Caledon Penzance (a sim in development now). Pish Tosh! It's art, and *damn* good art.

If the Belgian Thought Police consider that adult content, they can send over Inspector Clouseau to come git me. I'll scan the summons and put it on the wall of the Guvnah's Mansion; we can throw virtual darts at it.



Also, a warning to any so-called 'snoopers.' Expect to be reported for perverted peeping and harassment of residents. Gee, how would Des possibly know I cammed over there and reported anything? Well, maybe I've just got psychic powers.

Kiboe.. if my landlord marks his land "Adult Content" and i cant verify, i will be unable to get onto my own land. this includes my shop, and my home on SL. Its a bit more serious than "if you don't like it, leave" I have invested ten months of my life into SL, and i care about it and my friends here.

Can you have a little understanding of what this might mean to others?

By the way, there is no porn or even a pose ball on the land i would be barred from.


Imogen

I got a verification email last night from LL. I was disgusted actually...in a way.

By the way they worded it, it seems they will be putting this in our public profile, not neccessarily "This resdident is a 35 y/o female" but rather "Gender: Verified/unverified" "Age:verified/unverified" and so on and so forth, similar to the "Payment info" section in our profiles, all of this, is really no ones business. The random sl user does not need to see whether i have verified my age, sex, location etc, nor do they need to see whether my payment info is on file or not (if anything thats info a potential hacker may like to know). If LL wants to know this in order to allow me onto adult flagged parcels thats one thing, but to broadcast whether im verified in those areas in my public profile is uncalled for.

Here is the section of the e-mail I am referring to.

"As you may have heard, we're implementing the first stage of an Identity Verification system beginning with age. Our ultimate goal is to give Second Life Residents the opportunity to reveal as much or as little real life information about themselves as they like, and to have that information verified. We see this tool as critical to supporting Residents in shedding anonymity and building trust-based relationships -- but only to the extent that they're comfortable."

If i want to "Shed anonymity" I can do so in a private chat with those I do not mind having the info. But to publically announce whether one has verified such things is nonsense and will simply bring about more division.

One thing that worries me is this:

"Age verification will initially be used as a way to limit access to restricted content within Second Life"

The keyword being "initially"...whats next? mandatory verification to even play SL?

An ID, part of my social security, etc.. thats something im currently not OK with given to LL/3rd party site, to a potential employer in RL yes, LL/3rd party to play a game? No!

Thank you Desmond, Hugs

Where are my darts?

love
Imogen

But how far? People are going to have sex in their homes. They aren't having it under the covers and/or with lingerie on the women, like in the movies. I'd say it crosses the line, there, from PG to adult. Are you sure that you would not advise them to flag their parcels as adult?

Definitely that should not be posted in plain sight. That basically will lower the "optional" factor even more, as peer pressure will come to bear.

Yes but it is much easier to steal an identity if you ACTUALLY GIVE THEM THE IDENTITY NUMBERS, instead of making them chase them using your CC numbers.

Sorry, there is a difference, and if you don't think there is, then we will just have to agree to disagree.

Otherwise their neighbor can report them under Dan Linden's Squeal on Your Neighbor Program.

I'm getting my darts out.

I actually did change my notecards to remove closeup pictures of genitalia in my skins. That is mostly what I worry about... skin sellers being able to do their business. They say its going to be ok... but I don't know. I have some doubts.

Of course, I may not even be able to verify anyway, this whole thing is a mess, with my address being in a totally different country than my nationalities, and my not having a German drivers license. (don't own a car, don't need one)

Victoria,

What information do you think Paypal, or Amazon.com, or any number of large online systems have when you use your credit card with them?

Let's see, when I use the internet to make a hotel reservation they get my CC, my telephone number, and my home address. As has been pointed out on this forum before, all this information is obtainable now, via the internet for those who are determined.

And please, the last 4 of your SSN or your passport # is not "actually giving them the identity numbers" as you claim.