Open registration: is it no longer safe to provide "mature" content?

Well no you're right, I don't exactly peruse porn sites lol. Not because I think they're evil or anything but just because I tend to prefer the real deal.

What I do get (like many others I'm sure) is the occasional come see some boobie advertisment in my junk mail. So to test your statement, because you're right I dont know, I opened two of them. (Does this mean they know me now and I'm going to get more? haha)

You're right on one level, I did only have to click a big "enter" button to get a window to pop up. And there were plenty of very explicit images, certainly enough to get some little 14 yr old boy very happy. But to get any farther you had to give info. It had an option to join and a tour. To join you had to actually give a credit card or use some kind of internet age check system on one of them (???) I didn't look into that.

The point is to get any further you had to give them real information.

EDIT: Oh and I know you weren't actually addressing me with your quotes Julie, but I was curious.

I was under the impression that law states anyone under the age of 18 cannot legally enter into a contract. I'm not a lawyer, so correct me on this if I'm wrong. Is T.O.S. not an online legal contract? If so, would it even hold up in court if someone under the age of 18 gains access to adult content via SL and their parents decide to sue? Now I don't know if residents can be held responsible for this, and I certainly hope not. But if so, I'm probably in the same boat as many of you who have given age verification and your credit card information, as it would be easy for a lawyer to track you down. Another point, I thought if the minor views pornographic material on Second Life, he/she is breaking the law?

My third point... I am on Second Life to enjoy myself, which sometimes includes mature relationships with others (ie. sexually explicit). I have been thinking a lot lately about the consequences of establishing a relationship with another person on SL who claims to be over the age of 18 and then finding out that they are a child who has accessed SL through open registration. It's all fine and dandy that SL puts them into Teen SL, but I'm not okay with knowing this sort of situation could happen. This disturbs me and I would leave SL over something like this for sure. I plan to protect myself as best as possible in the mean time with the sad tools currently available. However, if SL does not resolve the age verification issue, I will quit SL permanently and join a mature online game that has implemented age verification because they have smart lawyers.

Concerned Resident.

On infancy and contract law: minors can enter into contracts. It's just that in some circumstances, a minor can disaffirm some contract made during infancy. (There is an exception for "necessaries"; these cannot be disaffirmed.) The other (adult) party to the contract, however, can not disaffirm on these grounds. Thus agreements with minors are "voidable" by the minor but not "void." So if LL makes a contract with a minor, LL is stuck with it. Put more simply: it's not "illegal" for a minor to enter into a contract.

On whether a minor can lawfully view pornography: the law apparently distinguishes between viewing and distributing. Knowingly providing or exposing a minor to porn is illegal in most (probably all) U.S. states, though note that the standard typically is "knowingly". You have to "know" the recipient is underage. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the minor breaks any law by looking at the material. The Supreme Court has held that one has a First Amendment right to possess even obscene material -- just not to distribute it.

On credit card verification: posters here may scoff at it, but the U.S. Congress and the porn industry alike seem to think this is one of the best age-verification tools. In the federal Child Online Protection Act, the principle affirmative defense to prosecution was that a provider required "use of a credit card, debit account, adult access code, or adult personal identification number." (The COPA has been enjoined on First Amendment grounds, but Congress will of course try again.) Most (though of course not all) of those who possess and use credit cards are adults. No one disputes that credit cards are an inaccurate measure; but if our lawmakers are attempting to make credit-card checks legally relevant, then surely LL should be paying attention.

And while I don't claim to be an expert on the trade practice of porn sites, Wired says "To date, credit card gateways remain the primary means of verifying age online." See http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,55338,00.html

That's a great link, Cordell. (Why weren't all these great names available when I joined?!)

I like the Leisure Suit Larry idea.

On this day in 1988, Mike Tyson KOd Michael Spinks in 91 seconds in Atlantic City.

Damn. I'm way over 18 and I don't think I could have answered that one!