Age Verification is here!!

And of course you made sure that your son can not open your mailbox, that every document with your or your spouse's information printed on it is locked into a safe and every time you come home you and your spouse immediately put your wallet/purse in the safe as well.

Just think of how easy it would be for the average child to get the required information from one of their parents, a family member, or any other adult they come into contact with and you'll realize that it offers no assurance or protection at all.

Age verification verifies that the person whose information is being submitted is an adult, but it doesn't verify anything about the person who is actually typing that information into the form.

Of course the same thing could happen with a credit card, except that as soon as you notice either missing invoices or charges you didn't make you know something is up and start looking into it. With age/identity verification you have no warning or way of knowing who out there is using your identity because they can't/won't use their own.

Very true.

Not to mention ID theft. I can just hear the "but they were verified" from people who get decived by someone who go a hold of someone else's information and verified themselves.

Again - I don't trust someone because they have "verified" something, I trust them because I get to know them.

Oh - and I don't RP with real money in SL "banks" or "investment schemes" - so the trust I'm looking to establish is relationship based, not financial.

It wasnt a big deal and as SL expands we will have to change also...Everyone wants SL to change but we aren't willing too...Have some Lemonade...



Kurt Ludd
"The Gesture Maker"

Currently, the verification is only offered to concierge level residents so we can "test the waters"

I enter my info truthfully, and I was verified. However, I'm still concerned about residents overseas. What if they are from somewhere that doesn't offer any of the things used for verification? What then? I KNOW this is going to run off people. I have a feeling that it might hurt businesses in SL as well. Will you be making your island PG over this if they do this? I know I will be if it means keeping my loyal customer base.

I just verified using the last four digits of my Social Security number. It took about ten seconds and was painless. I can understand non-US people being reluctant to do it, but for US citizens, if you think there's a data miner out there who doesn't already know everything there is to know about you down to what brand of toilet paper you prefer, you're dreaming.

Two chinese sayings... first a blessing "May no new thing arise"
second a curse "May you live in interesting times"

now I happen to agree more with the sequence... "No Change without Conflict, No Progress without Change"

BUT I don't see this 'change' being positive progress. Part of what i like about SL is the anonymity. I am not planning to do anything illegal with it, or hurt anyone, or threaten the Good Ole US of A. It doesn't make me feel better to think that my identity can be verified by LL, the US government or another resident. All i want to do is exist. Do I need a bar code tattooed on my Sin skin or a set of identity papers in my virtual inside pocket or a list of verified information 'on file' to exist here? When that day comes i will be contacting the escape committee and heading for the hills.

I am in UK, Premium and Payment Info On File through paypal transactions on Lindex. I don't see the Verification option on my account page.

I know its fighting the wind now, as LL seem to have decided what to do. This isn't an experiment is it. This is the first step.

/me packs a bag to grab when she hears the sound of breaking glass in the streets.

sadly
imogen

If my driver's license is enough information for them, I will probably verify when LL rolls it out of beta. I do agree, though, that this isn't likely to keep little Johnny and Suzie off the main grid and out of adult areas. What it does do is help cover LL's ass: "Oh, we had no way of knowing Johnny was 14...the info he entered through our shiny age verification process said he was 37."

True perhaps. But I prefer they work to find that information. I'm not gonna hand it to them for something as frivolous as SL. Name, address, and DOB is fine. That's all they are getting from me.

If they do this right, suddenly it sounds freakin' beautiful. I've been worrying myself sick about the future of Second Life, not because of bugs, but because of that rule about users being totally anonymous. If Second Life remains a platform where people are allowed to go on stealing, cheating, infringing without any possible way to apply the law to stop them, obviously Second Life will be replaced by another virtual world that's willing to be the real thing.

well there was only so long before LL put a proper age check in SL.

It's the only real way for them to shield agains the mature content problem.

a virtual world thats willing to be the real thing? is that what you want?

what for?

I have one of those.. its called Real Life

imogen

I don't think it will change anything much in those situations really.

Would it make any difference if the owner of Ginko was identity verified? You'd most likely still need to subpoena LL for actual proof of identity (which you can do now already anyway) and you'd still be left with the trouble of suing someone in a different country than the one you live in and the high cost of actually going to court compared to the usually small loss.

supposedly verification will remain voluntary. if that is the case griefers, thieves, and other miscreants will simply not verify, so verification will have no impact on these people. there is also the added element that people may be at even more risk of falling prey to swindlers that use bogus verification details to obtain a veneer of trustworthiness. this will also do nothing to keep children out of sl, as a child will have easy access to mums drivers license or daddys ssn.
this is simply a legal precaucion by ll, or perhaps a marketing/datamining effort. we are being sold a line and many people seem to be buying it.

I just verified. It was quick and painless.

I support this move by LL as a practical way to keep the grid open, free and uncensored, while making a reasonable effort to restrict access to minors. This isn't a perfect solution - perfect solutions do not exist. But clearly Linden Lab had to do something. They could have gone the route where they limited our creative freedom, installed a content verification system, and then spent precious time and money policing the grid. This seems a far better solution.

I did not see an option as to whether, or how, this information might later be displayed on my profile. Will I be listed as "Age Verified" or "Verified over 18" or "27 years old" or "Born January 1, 1901?"

clearly they had to do something. just like google or the thousands of hardcore porn sites out there have obviously had to do something.

Assuming the platform is to grow anything like the web did, and I say that because I'm sure it's Linden Lab's goal and I certainly sympathize, the losses won't always be small. I don't know much about the Ginko ordeal but I get the impression of significant losses there even. Concerning Linden Lab's role in matters between residents... that's something we've got to adjust to when they separate themselves from it to an even larger degree (see how LL deals with DMCA complaints: http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2007/08/our-heros-are-d.html ). I think in the direction they want to go, Linden Lab won't be responsible for those matters. Especially since they intend to make the grid open-source (see Philip Rosedale at OSCON: http://taotakashi.wordpress.com/2007/07/31/philip-rosedale-talks-about-open-source-at-oscon-2007/ ), responsibility for both content AND security will have to shift harder toward the owners. Linden Lab has just yet to provide capable tools.

Interesting how the "I am over 18" checkbox works everywhere else.

I just checked my account and I do have premium.....but no verification link... oh the irony....I have to have a security clearance for my RL job....I've been verified up one side and down the other....background check...the whole deal, so it isn't a huge issue for me. But I do wonder about the 3rd party company......and by law they cannot require a SS# from US citizens....but they CAN ask.

They wont get mine. The very fact that I have the clearance that I do would mean anyone getting hold of my info could be in serious serious trouble....and it would have serious consequences for me. RL is more important than SL.... sorry Lindens...I'm an adult...I've had a bank account for years.....I've held down jobs for years....certainly long enough that you'd know dam well I'm not 14. Perhaps it could be as simple as calling up birth records if they are so determined to verify us. But even that seems just a bit over the top.

I will not be giving a 3rd party or LL any more personal info than they already have.

I most certainly will not be giving anyone either my drivng license or passport details.

I know someone who had their identity stolen , and believe me the ramifications of having that happen to you go on for a long time after the theft has been discovered.

I am more than happy to agree that keeping minors out of unsuitable areas is a grand idea, but I really do not think getting people to submit very personal data such as national inusrance no's etc is at all good.

The people I know in Sl, know who I am and I know them, and that is perfectly good enough for me!

Highly, highly annoying.

I've now verified 3 of my 5 concierge accounts. Each one would not accept my US based address, SSN, or any US info. My UK address and US passport was the only combo I could find that it would take.

Just how do they know my passport number so it can be verified? At what point did it enter into the public domain?

I am not a happy camper and I don't like this process one blind bit because of what it implies.

Personally I am more concerned with the attempts to link Identity verification with Ingame details than I am Verifying with a company that signed a contract with LL that binds them to safeguard the information legally.

Its the display verified info I have serious reservations about.

Well, they asked for either a driver's license or the last 4 digits of your SSN. I guess I'd rather have a company that already has my SSN check the last 4 digits that LL gives them and say "yep, that's him" than have to give the whole SSN or information for them to look up my birth record to LL.

they are only going to be displaying info that isnt stored though

Just did it with my driver's license.
I'm not in America and my license just expired, so I'm getting the feeling it's not the "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING OMGLOLZOMG" that everyone made it out to be.

No biggie at all.

Funny how all these controversial things, sculpties (OMGZ! U shuddint lets teh pepul who no how 2 use tehm be able 2 ues tehm until I can lern to ues tehm and ur a nazi if you say differentz), etc etc (I was going to add more, but I got bored of writing in forumtrolltalk) usually end up being nothing.

This verification thing? It's nothing.

lol - good point of course.