Once again, I'm going to bring up the issue of unverified accounts and I'm going to question whether they're actually worth anything for Linden Lab. Let us face it, a griefer/grid attacker is more likely to choose to have an unverified account for his/her egregious actions against other, legitimate members of the SL community. No connections to a real life person. Can an unverified account be traced and tied to a real person? Well, yes, albeit not that easily. The main tracking factor there is the IP number and it largely depends on whether the person's ISP will be willing to reveal who's using that IP number. And if that IP belongs to an internet cafe/gaming arena with SL installed, that person can be traced ONLY if s/he has a member card. Otherwise, it'll be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Therefore, verified accounts are the #1 choice for increasing SL security. After all, you don't see many corporate or academic networks that implement Guest accounts AND give them full interference privileges, do you? It would seem odd, to say the least, to trust Joe Schmoe running a "420" e-shop and not Linden Lab.
I refuse to accept the "explanation" that someone will go for an unverified account because s/he doesn't have a credit card or a debit card or a social security number. I do not accept that someone can afford a midrange or high-end computer AND a high speed internet connection that will permit him or her to run SL adequately well, but cannot afford owning a bank account and a low-end credit card like the student versions of Visa's "Electron" variant - or its debit version, as a matter of fact. Furthermore, most of us internet users do purchase things online and we give out all sorts of money transaction information to various e-merchants. So, we trust a minor e-merchant with our credit card info, but not Linden Lab? That doesn't seem logical to me. Furthermore, no one here on SL can validly say that, in his or her country, credit cards are not common. The United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia (the most likely lands of origin for an SL user), are all places where consumers already are well-accustomed to using credit cards. Mind you, these are also the lands where high speed internet connections and fast computers are readily available to the public.
But there is also another facet of this issue, that perhaps has eluded almost everyone. In SL, I have opted to roleplay as an escort, as do many other users. What troubles me is that many people in SL's adult industry and a great deal of the clientele are using unverified accounts. Here's where my worry lies, especially given the fact that many escorts, in their effort to attract clients, write "no limits" and/or "age play welcome" in their notecards... With verified accounts (YES, with CREDIT CARD-verified accounts), we are more or less guaranteed that the user is an ADULT. How sure can we be that a "no payment info on file" escort/exotic dancer/stripper is actually an adult? How sure can we be that her/his "no payment info on file" clients are actually ADULTS? When I started out as an escort, I was told "always check someone's profile; if you see 'no payment info on file', run, because they're lousy tippers and won't hire you EVER". But now, after I've seen some incidents where some visitors in "Mature" regions (and in some sex-oriented places, mind you), I've made an addition to the escort wisdom I was handed out when I started: "that person could also very well be a kid and you don't want to end up in serious trouble". I shudder to think what would happen if this "unverified accounts" policy allowed an underage person to work in SL as a sex worker or if an escort ended up providing her services to an underage person. This would be not just the death knell of the "Mature" regions, but also of SL itself. What am I, the escort, supposed to do when I face an unverified account holder in a strip club? Presume that s/he is an adult and act like I'm dealing with an adult? Suspect that s/he might very well be a 14-year-old? One will say "oh, come on, there's the TEEN grid". Sure enough - and fair enough. But who can reassure me that ALL kids will choose the teen grid and that some won't actually join the adult grid, using unverified accounts? Then again, one might remind us that a kid CAN use an adult's credit card to get a verified account or use any other means to trick the system and enter an adult world that's unsuitable for him/her; this ought to point out that even verified accounts cannot guarantee that underage persons will not enter the adult grid and/or the sexual services provided there. Well, in that case, it will be the kid's fault, not LL's. Right now, though, one can VERY easily accuse Linden Lab of not taking any real precautions against the involvement of underage persons in sexual activities of any kind on SL.
I do like SL, because it allows me to expand my personality in ways usually difficult or impossible to enjoy in RL and escape from reality - and also, thanks to the TUi, I can get a bit creative. But I want SL to be also reliable, stable and secure. I want to enjoy it without fear that, one day, it'll all go down in flames because of a sex scandal involving children. If for no other reason, I urge Linden Lab to think of this issue VERY seriously and reconsider their membership policy. After all, it is the responsible and sensible way to proceed in a virtual world involving adult content.