When did age play become illegal?

If you get your kicks from grown men in nappies, no problem.
If you get your kicks from young children in nappies, big problem.

It's the depiction of children in sexual acts, rather than use of objects associated with children in a sexual setting (nappies, dummies, school uniforms, lollipops etc).

It seems clear to me that if you used your baby avatar to have sex with an adult avatar and live in the US (or at any point in the future entered the US) then the federal prosecuter would love to throw you in prison. I guess some people here would argue over the various points of semantics but the intent of the law is pretty clear to me (the constitutionality is NOT clear).

BTW

"In February 2006, Senator John McCain introduced S.519, which would add a mandatory 10-year sentence in jail to anyone who uses the Internet to violate the PROTECT Act."

Also, I guess I was mistaken earlier and cartoon child porn is 100% legal in the UK.

I'm not entirely current on what babyfurs are, but simple kissing is not obscene or covered by the law mentioned above.

The law above requires what appears to be a child (human) being depicted in sexually explicit conduct that is obscene, or sexual intercourse.

Edit: just looked it up. Dressing as a puppy or such should be fine, it's the ones who look like human children and engage in sexual acts who need to be careful.

Another thread that should be closed due to people pushing their personal pro views of PRO Underage AGEROLE on sl......Gesh LLABs has stated that this type od age play is not allowed and some are only flaming the issues for pure pleasure of getting people allworkup over this issues. Stupid Stupid people! isnt ReaL Life Bad enought with children getting abused sexually and emotionally? Well Look like you DON`T care......caring more about your own sick RP games then Others that have been hurt in RL with this typic.If you don`t have anything better to do in your life then bitch about Age play RP then you.........forget it!

To be more precise, I have never had sex in a babyfur avatar...

There's nothing illegal about pictures of children or adults, small or large, in diapers or any other kind of clothing, computer generated or otherwise.

Everything I've said refers solely to the depiction of minors committing obscene acts (the definition of which is fairly vague but surely does not include kissing)

so this dispute is about Minors irl or those who rpg as a Minor?

What's illegal (in my understanding) is pictures of children having sex. Your IRL age is irrelevant.

It's pointless arguing here over whether this act or that act is obscene because no-one can define the word. Fairly safe to say that genitals should be involved though.

Any person who, in a circumstance described in subsection (d), knowingly produces, distributes, receives, or possesses with intent to distribute, a visual depiction of any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting, that [...]

Sadly (and much to my surprise) in the US, the UK and Germany (at least) there already IS a law and adult on child avatar sex is quite literally illegal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolicon#Legal_status_in_the_United_States

"On 30 April 2003, President George W. Bush signed into law the PROTECT Act of 2003 (also dubbed the Amber Alert Law) which again criminalizes cartoon child pornography."

It's still a disputed issue in U.S. law. Congress and the President appear to have passed a law that the Supreme Court ruled would be unconstitutional.

I 100% agree with everything you said but I stand by the claim that right now at this moment it IS illegal. If you're lucky enought to get your case to the Supreme Court then, sure, maybe it will stop being illegal at that point. Maybe.

It's been reviewed.

It's been reviewed.

Sorry, not sure what you mean.

It has not been reviewed at the Supreme Court, as the Wikipedia article states. I also don't believe it has been reviewed at a federal appeals court, where the constitutionality of the law could be questioned.

As the article states, right now prosecutors don't want such a battle, and thus are only using it to tack-on to other valid charges... in order to enhance criminal sentences of real child predators.

Still, my argument stands, Linden Labs should not play the role of prosecutor and decide if something is a crime or not. If they want to deem an avie as "child" or "adult" then the grid needs major changes to reflect that. They are asking for a lawsuit the moment they declare an adult avie dressed up as a child, to in fact be a child... and then share personal information with the public.

The US supreme court has reviewed the laws against artificial kiddie porn and found them unconstitutional.

Computer generated kiddie porn is not against the law in the United States..

Ageplay is not illegal in the US.

If Linden Lab learns that someone is engaging in, advertising or promoting locations or activities involving the depiction of sexual or lewd acts involving minors, their account will be terminated, and we will fully cooperate with all appropriate authorities.

If a Resident possesses or distributes real-world pornographic images in Second Life that appear to involve minors, their account will be terminated and their details provided to real-world authorities, as has always been our policy.

Rei, Where do you get the idea that LL would release names to the public? They never said that. Here's a quote from the blog:

"We will fully cooperate with all appropriate authorities" does not read to me like "We will disclose their real life identities to the public". Whether they disclose any information to law enforcement I'm certain would depend greatly on the specifics of a given case. It wouldn't be taken lightly, and it wouldn't be done simply as a matter of course.

Linden Labs handed over the identities of those users to German authorities without even a request to do so. That's what concerns me.

And your source for this is what? Doesn't say anywhere in the blog post that they did any such thing. She's talking about two separate issues here. First, a couple residents were found engaging in a sexual age play scene, and were banned from Second Life. (nowhere does it state that Linden Lab handed over their identities to German authorities) Second, the German news network ARD presented Linden Lab with actual photos of child porn they allege were found in Second Life, which ARD also handed over to the German authorities. Linden Lab attempted to contact the German authorities as well, and at the time of the blog post, hadn't received any response. The source or location of those pictures in world had not been determined. If they ever do find the source of those real life photos, you BET they will be turned in. In the case of sexual age play in and of itself, there's nothing to suggest it will be policy in all cases to disclose the account holders names to authorities, only that they will be banned from Second Life.

PRIVACY POLICY

6.1 Linden Lab uses your personal information to operate and improve Second Life, and will not give your personal information to third parties except to operate, improve and protect the Service.

The personal information you provide to us during registration is used for Linden Lab's internal purposes only. Linden Lab uses the information it collects to learn what you like and to improve the Service. Linden Lab will not give any of your personal information to any third party without your express approval except: as reasonably necessary to fulfill your service request, to third- party fulfillment houses, customer support, billing and credit verification services, and the like; to comply with tax and other applicable law; as otherwise expressly permitted by this Agreement or as otherwise authorized by you; to law enforcement or other appropriate third parties in connection with criminal investigations and other investigations of fraud; or as otherwise necessary to protect Linden Lab, its agents and other users of the Service. Linden Lab does not guarantee the security of any of your private transmissions against unauthorized or unlawful interception or access by third parties. Linden Lab can (and you authorize Linden Lab to) disclose any information about you to private entities, law enforcement agencies or government officials, as Linden Lab, in its sole discretion, believes necessary or appropriate to investigate or resolve possible problems or inquiries, or as otherwise required by law. If you request any technical support, you consent to Linden Lab's remote accessing and review of the computer onto which you load Linden Software for purposes of support and debugging. You agree that Linden Lab may communicate with you via email and any similar technology for any purpose relating to the Service, the Linden Software and any services or software which may in the future be provided by Linden Lab or on Linden Lab's behalf. You agree to read the disclosures and be bound by the terms of the additional Privacy Policy information posted on our website at http://secondlife.com/corporate/privacy.php.

We simply will not tolerate the depiction of sexual or lewd acts involving minors in Second Life. If Linden Lab learns that someone is engaging in, advertising or promoting locations or activities involving the depiction of sexual or lewd acts involving minors, their account will be terminated, and we will fully cooperate with all appropriate authorities.

If a Resident possesses or distributes real-world pornographic images in Second Life that appear to involve minors, their account will be terminated and their details provided to real-world authorities, as has always been our policy.

If that is incorrect, I encourage anyone from LL to come in here and clear the air.

I want clarification. I want a clear-cut policy on ageplay. If they want to draw a line between child avies, and adult avies, fine. They need to implement that in their system.

I really don't care about ageplay. I don't see how someone dressed up as a child in an adult avie really makes that much of a difference in a world of polygons. However, I realize this is a delicate situation. But disclosing identities without a warrant needs to be prohibited, otherwise, LL is setting themselves up for the law suits I've detailed previously.