Age Verification is here!!

Don't know don't care.

Most times it takes an older adult to manifest this much paranoia, as we've been taught to by a long life.


Death of? No. Weakening of? Yes. When LL made the severe mistake of opening registration without verification, the grid was flooded with tons of alts and griefers, and people that logged on, looked around, got bored, and never came back. This swelled the numbers, showing SL to be more popular than it actually was. You can tell that by looking at the number of "Residents", and the number of unique logons there are. At least you could before LL quit displaying that info on the main SL webpage. After they did that, they allowed landowners to ban people based on their level of membership. The whole "no info/info provided/info used" BS. For quite awhile the first two levels couldn't go many places in SL at all. I know a lot of storekeepers that automatically banned anyone that wasn't a paying member, using the insane logic that freebie members wouldn't have any money to buy things with. Then they wondered why their sales dropped drastically, and complained about it until it finally sunk in to them that freebie members hold jobs in SL and make lots and lots of money, or use the Lindex to buy Lindens to spend in SL, and took down the ban walls. I had hoped that something similar would occur with this new insanity...that the people that did not verify would be locked out of most of SL for awhile, then when people realized they weren't making sales anymore, the flags on their land would go away, and the freebie members would be able to access the same areas they once did. I don't believe LL is going to allow that to happen this time around, unfortunately.


And if you had read, you would see that many people in those countries are finding that the required documents DON'T let them register like they are supposed to.


Hmmmm, in the USA that would be an actionable decision. A discrimination based on nationality. And, since LL has set the precedent that they are enforcing US laws grid-wide because they are a US based company, they are now open to lawsuits from every person unable to verify themselves based on country of origin. Queue up here people...and start filing those lawsuits!


Correct. The stated purpose of this entire "solution" that has been forced on our virtual world (supposedly entirely built and owned by us, remember) is based on an impossibility, therefore it's stated purpose must not be the correct one. There is another purpose which makes it financially attractive to LL to do this. What is that purpose?



I'm sorry for you then.

Would that LL showed such consideration to the people that keep it's world alive... Pity, eh?

Since minors are NOT allowed on the grid, operating on the assumption that everyone you meet/deal with is of legal age is the expectation. You can not be successfully sued for adhering to the standard.

The key word there is "successfully".


Or claim to...remember, untrustworthy company that has a habit of getting caught selling the data they collect.

Unless you get a judge that doesn't really care, and they abound aplenty.

Trial by jury. And appeals court. With a good lawyer (and a lot of good lawyers are willing to take on cases like this pro bono, since it gets their names in the papers), it shouldn't be much of a concern.

aristotle are not the commonwealth. you are giving them far too much credit.
i am as interested in american porn laws as you are in australian industrial relations policy.
i havent driven past a church in years. aussies dont give a shit about this. going to court over sl is comical.

i will not tick any adult boxes on any parcel i own.
i will cash out before i give my details to an american marketing/datamining corporation thats in bed with george bush.
if 'forced' i will rort the verification system using bogus info.

HAHA. Oh, sorry...

No problem. I live in the bible belt, Southern USA. I have seen this on more than one occasion. My lawyer is one of the best in this state, AND often takes cases pro bono when it's something they believe in, usually with an increase in business after they successfully win the case.

It's not a matter of pro bono. It's a matter of success. In certain parts of this country, you can get away with almost everything as a plaintiff because you are pushed to settle before the case ever hits a jury.

That's where the good lawyer comes in.

That reply tells me more of your position. Good luck with your life.

That is your choice to do so. Also I am interested Australian industrial policy being I have many friends in Australia making ans exporting products to the USA. Also not sure what Church and Bush have to do with anything. I am not religious and don't much like Bush. I guess an anti American bias is in play so I will not bother with further comment to you.

Were this argument fails is it is common knowledge there is no age/identity verification in creating an account to get into SL so there is no way to enforce the minors not allowed position. So obviously people have no expectation of knowing how old the person is they are dealing with if there is no checks when they signed up or currently.

LL is doing this for a reason. Their lawyers tell them it is what needs to be done to protect them and the residents. I bet their lawyers know considerably more about what could happen than most.

I have been in SL for almost 2 years with no expectation for the person I am dealing with is a minor or not. With age/identity check in place the odds are a lot better they are not a minor and I know I have taken all available steps to eliminate any action against myself if the other person is not of age.

However I don't do any "adult" activities in SL anyway. I am not afraid to get verified either. I do constant credit checks on myself to make sure nothing is going on as I do a lot of business over the net. Have yet to have any issues in 10 years and thousands of online transactions.

People get all paranoid over nothing these days. If you want your identity to remain in check review your credit reports a couple times a year.

Good advice, also don't give your personal details to untrustworthy sources who cannot do the checks they claim, which is a category Inegrity Aristotle appear to fall into.

Verifying age does not appear to be a problem for many. But it makes no sense to me.

Sl promises not to retain private data. However, Aristotle must already have that data in order to verify. Aristotle also has a reputation for selling their data.

Potential future:

After verifying, Aristotle places a little tick next to your name on their file that you play in SL.

Following SL’s success, other online games decide to join in (and maybe even websites). Aristotle continues to build their database of gamers. One central source of x-rated gamers’ data.

Think of the number of ways such a database could be used. Game marketers would pay a nice sum for such. What about employers, including the government?

And as others have pointed out, there’s no way in #%&* this will keep little Johnnie out of areas he shouldn’t be in.

Bye-bye, privacy.

Aristotle almost certainly don't have all the information that they claim you need to verify. However what better way to get that information than to say it's needed, file it away and voila, a very nice database with information their rivals haven't got.

People in the UK have verified without filling all the information in that Aristotle are asking for, which begs the question, why are they asking for it if it isn't needed?

And you're calling US paranoid?? Obviously by doing "constant credit checks on myself" you suspect there could be a problem sometime and need to watch for it. Well, I'm just avoiding the problem to begin with.

Have to admit - this is an excellent point.

I have logged in exactly once in the last 70 days. If LL simply wants to ensure my age, let them provide a one-time access card to my local electronic shop. I'll show the clerk my driver's license. Verified with no data mining. If that isn't good enough for LL, then you know this has NOTHING to do with protecting minors and everything to do with marketing the residents of SL to 3rd parties, directly or indirectly.

I will not take part in this version of Identity Verification. I've pretty much already left. If this goes in under the current form, then I see little reason to return at all. I've already lured many of my friends from SL into WoW, so I keep nicely in contact with them.

Integrity and Aristotle are two different companies (although Aristotle does own Integrity).

According to Robin (or Daniel, I forgot now) LL's contract with Integrity includes a clause that would prevent Integrity from sharing any new information back with its parent Aristotle.

Of course that was stated before the actual contract was signed, so that could have changed since then.

When that was announced, Integrity denied there was even an agreement with LL. This has been bogus from the start.
And we all know Corporations NEVER say one thing and do the opposite...

It was one of those nice "you had to be at the right office hour to know" .

http://www.gridgrind.com/?p=65 (Selective quoting)
There's a few other Daniel gems ("we’d like to be a little bit more proactive than the porn sites!" in there if you read through the whole thing .

Not before Dinner.