Please implement age verification technology (non CC)

Dear Lindens

Can't you just for once admit that you made a major mistake and simply fix it?
Is it so hard to bring back what was?

Just so you know, when I was signing up for SL I first spent over a month running around between banks and paid a fortune (relative to what I get paid IRL) to get a credit card SOLELY so I can play SL. And now you remove the card requirement and create a chaos, practically ruining the game totally! How fair is that towards me and anyone else who went through similar trouble just to get on SL (I can name at least two other persons)?

Effectively you are turning SL into yet another MMORPG full of troublemakers and kids with what you did, you are destroying all the great things that made SL such a nice place to stay at ...

If you will insist on keeping things as they are - at least have the courage to tell us - your CUSTOMERS - that you don't care about us and only about having huge number of residents. Because most certainly it won't earn you more money, rather opposite

I've been letting my daughter play on teen SL for about 6 months now. I'm going to discontinue that for now in light of the current lack of identity check on entry. I know if LL catches an adult on the teen grid they get banned, but that doesn't impress me when there is no identity checking. A predator can create a new account as fast as you can ban them. Faster -- they can create multiple accounts, none of them tied to any in-world identity. This isn't an environment I feel comfortable exposing my child to. I don't let her sign in to unsupervised chat rooms, and this is about the same.

The old system wasn't great. Teens were routinely creating accounts with parents' credit cards (including mine), so it's not like there was any real age verification. But this is worse, because there's no way to identify RL people who commit actual crimes in world.

My next decision is whether I want to continue my own account on the main grid. I've dropped down to Basic for now, and I'm discontinuing renting the area I've been working in. I can appreciate that LL wanted to make SL more open, and that many people balked at having to enter a credit card for a free service, but removing that identifier before finding a replacement was, IMHO, premature. My experiences over the next couple of weeks will be the deciding factor. And LL's response to the overwhelming reaction from players will be a big part of that. I remember the changes in event funding, dwell, etc. and the reactions then pale by comparison. I don't think this user reaction can be safely ignored in the hope that we'll "get used to the latest change."

Edit:

Since it is becoming obvious that LL doesn't intend to respond to the calls for a return to verification, here's another thought:

When I let my kids on the internet, I installed software to restrict the websites they can visit, close off certain ports and services, and restrict their ability to install new software. It's not perfect (as I soon found out), but it at least makes them have to think consciously about going around my wishes while they're online, and protects them to a certain extent from accidentally stumbling into things they'd honestly rather not see at this point. Because I can implement those minimal protections, my kids are allowed online, even if I don't happen to be in the same room. Until I have similar capabilities in SL, all flavors of SL are off limits for my kids. I don't think SL is any "worse" in terms of adult content than the rest of the internet, but better tools are available for child protection regarding the rest of the internet.

Perhaps we need a Teen client, rather than a Teen server, at least from the point of view of child safety. Using a Teen client would restrict the user to PG sims (or the Teen grid, for however long that lasts), and would also automatically mute any unverified avatar and all its objects, scripts, etc. Users (using the full client) should also be able to identify their avs, property, objects, scripts, etc. as Mature, thus removing themselves and their works from view by anyone on a Teen client. (In fact, this should probably be the default.) Users of the Teen client could also be indicated in their profiles and via a different colored nametag or some other visible (but not glaring) indicator, at parental discretion. Even iTunes offers a "Parental Control" mode with a password lock. I'd like to see this added to SL, at minimum.

Regards,

neko

Dear Lindenfolk,

In the light of these queries from concerned SL residents:

How safe is my teen daughter in Teen SL?
/invalid_link.html

and

Admit you made a mistake and fix it! (Account verification again) /invalid_link.html

As well as the sentiments/proposals outlined in this thread concerning Proposition 1523: /108/3e/115643/1.html

I, and others, are planning on attending the SL Anniversary activities at secondlife://fortuna/256/253/46 from 2pm to 4pm, Friday, June 23.

We plan on wearing special attire for this gathering, which, it just so happens, is available (free!) at (among other places) my Beach, at secondlife://patagonia/193/51/29.

So, my question... we know how things like t-shirts can fit different avatars in different ways... but, not all clothes fit us all the same way, based on texture baking, avatar size, Ruthing, etc. Would any Lindens be interested in trying these freebies out, perhaps even to wear at the Anniversary celebration? (I can think of at least _one_ that might, but we don't know his/her name... though you might ). If so, will they fit? Inquiring minds want to know!

Thanks!

http://secondlife.com/vote/index.php?get_id=1523 Is awaiting response and is something the community is very interested in as an issue.

I agree with this proposal minus the "until tools are made available".

This game should never be open to teenagers and younger. (I know some very bright and tech savvy 12 year olds).

If you have an bank account, you have a debit card. It is not too much to ask.

This is wrong, and unless you plan to modify sl into the sims online, you know this to be self evident.

Hi - finally I had my chance to create a third account - thanks to the removal of identity verification. To provoke and really test I entered nothing but fake information, including a non existent email address. It went straight through. Scary. Very scary If I can do that, everyone else can too! Including every griefer in the world. Without any confirmation of identity, how can you even bring grid crashers to court, as you threatens with?

One thing is to not confirm identity by a credit card, which is a pretty stupid idea, another is to not even have us confirm the email address entered is a valid one. Everywhere else I have signed up, I had to confirm by email, most often with a special code they have sent to my email.

Like others have said here, please reinstate verification of identity by credit card AND have new residents confirm their email address, by sending them a code they need to enter to complete the registration process. Learn from Internet banks, learn from PayPal. So many people pay their bills with what is earned in sl - security should be the best possible with today's technology! Not dumping security totally as you have done.

Please reinstate verification NOW before griefers and childish kids destroy entire sl for us!


Lis

I know y'all are probably sick of hearing about this, but I just wanted to ask what exactly the reasoning is behind the new reg system? I took a peak at the new form, and, well, it takes more information to register a Yahoo account. For the average discussion board, this is sufficient, but for an environment like this, it makes it far too easy for malicious users to wreak havoc with no recourse.

As it stands now, Second Life is a world where many people spend large amounts of real-life time and money to build amazing things, some far surpassing the original vision of the staff. If anything, Linden Labs should be encouraging people to buy Premium accounts, rather than making it easier for people to create and maintain free accounts.

If the old reg system can't be resurrected (not sure why not, but that's another discussion), could we at least get a more thorough registration form with better validation checks? Require a confirmed email address, for example (I wouldn't even run a forum without this), and a non-bogus phone number and street address (Reject phone prefixes of 555, 000, 123, and addresses in Anywhere, Nowhere, or Sesame Street). All of this can be added to the page in about five minutes using basic scripts available anywhere for free, and would make it at least a little more difficult for people to create throwaway accounts.

On the issue of better anti-griefer tools, that sounds fine and dandy, except for one little detail: We don't have them yet. The ideal implementation plan would have the anti-griefer tools deployed, THEN open the floodgates for the troublemakers to essentially get a get-out-of-jail-free pass. That way, everyone wins. But, since we've already started down this path, could we at least get the alleged new tools bumped to priority 1?

I've been on SL a long time, and stuck with it through the worst of times (1.6, anyone?). I plan on being here a long time, but I fear the day that quality users jump ship and are replaced with immature troublemakers with nothing better to do than turn my beloved virtual world into a barren wasteland of random shootings and abandoned sandboxes. Hopefully that day will never come.

Nice job shutting down 1523 without even bothering to be remotely customer friendly about it.



EDIT: Deleted.... not even sure I care anymore. Robin, you mentioned LL doesn't want to lose the trust of it's customers. This customer says, too late.

Why is the age verification no longer implemented on signup?
Ever since the new signup system, i've had more attacks, more teens on main grid and more Abuse Reports, even on Help Island.
I've also met more dissatisfied new residents, because they get scared by attacks or are insulted by people who are obviously on the wrong grid.
Before this system I think I have reported one case of abuse (in total), now it's gone up to about 3 or 4 per day!

Please... re-instate the age verification (and perhaps the necessity for cc)
thanks for hearing me

LINDENS!!!

First off - congratulations on killing Second Life... dead. This is EXACTLY what you achieved, no more, no less.

Second...
Better anti-grief tools? You REALLY must have a couple screws loose if you think that is going to help anything! So what if I ban 20 people on my parcel if they will all come back in 5 minutes with 20 new accounts?!? Sure, 3-step verification system... only one word springs to my mind here but I won't say it because I'm not suposed to swear on the forums.

The following areas CANNOT have any defense mechanisms against non-verified players because the are for newbies (and I _DO_ mean newbies, new players, NOT alternate accounts but that's another story):
Sandboxes - total mayhem there already, things will get worse
Newbie orientation places - for example NCI or Shelter, I haven't checked up on them yet but I'm pretty sure they have their share of problems
Welcome areas - it's not hard to guess what will be happening there
And you know what? After what you did I suspect that most people will do simplest thing possible - ban all newbies (under a month for example). And what that will achieve?

Right now there is one quote that springs to my mind, a quote from another game...
Mamma mia, the clowns are running the circus!

Given that Linden Labs has now instituted a non-verified sign-up procedure for entry into Second Life, I would like to know what contingency plans Linden Labs has in place for when they start getting lawsuits thrown their way as a result of minors accessing 'adult' material and also the inevitable 'minors engaged in virtual sex with adults'. Never mind lawsuits about sexual predators abusing minors on the main grid. Now that there is no age or identity verification, such things are only a matter of time and as one of the many players / subscribers with a stake in the longevity of Second Life, I would like to know what measures Linden Labs has in place to ensure that such potentially damaging lawsuits will not affect the future of Second Life.

As a test, I have just created this account with false details.
Can a Linden detect who I am ?
I would welcome an E-Mail ( not to the address I gave ) which would confurm to me that the Lindens have a way of stopping greifers setting up endless extra accounts just to make trouble and " the young " from simply getting on the grid any time they liked.

Regards ( not ) Silly Bary

I'm only one resident. I'm not a big landowner, just a small plot. Little fish, big pond.

But I have lost all faith and trust in LL.

The non-verified resgistrations. The increase in griefing with no real tools to help (how about a simple "prevent avatar push" feature?).

But mainly the continued silence from LL. And don't give me links to blogs. The forums themselves are one step away from the community, blogs don't even exist as far as 99% of the residents are concerned.

I fear for SL dying. Being sued out of existance or losing the faith of thousands of others like myself and seeing every paying customer leave.

I had been advocating changes. Things I thought might help our community. LL's responses, or lack thereof, as of late have beaten my moral down to where I no longer have the desire to try. Not specifically my ideas, but many many ideas, strongly supported by the community. It's hard to push ideas and talk with fellow residents when no one thinks LL even listens to us.

Almost 3000 votes on a requested change in less than 3 days and all we recieve is a link to a blog that dances around the actual content.

My question is simply; Do you even care?

Please. I have seen a side of LL shine through at times. Durning hectic updates, or gridwide attacks. There are Linden's who truely care about the community. They work those long hours to fix things, they implement new ideas to fix old problems.

The failing economy. The rise in griefing (and yes, there is a rise in it). The continued problems on many issues that are the mainstay of uses in SL while new products are introduced that cause more problems. These all add up to wear down on our faith in the good that is done.

Please. Listen to the community. Read the forums. Answer them, even if an answer we don't what to hear, but a definate answer. The more the silence grows, the more hostile the forums become.

Please. Bring back communication to the community. Give us the belief in LL once more.

Please?

~Jessy

(Also posted in Feature Suggestions)

It seems to me that LL must already know about these, but since it's been suggested that we make constructive suggestions rather than complaining, here goes:

http://www.idology.com/age.html
ExpectID Age Benefits:

* Helps eliminate age-restricted product sales to minors online
* Prevents minors from accessing restricted content
* Increases protection of your business
* Reporting features help show your due diligence efforts
* Alerts you to interactions with minors under COPPA
* Provides flexible limit settings
* Confirms age based on name and address only

From Answers.com:

AdultCheck - Site Owners Page
http://msm.adultcheck.com/cgi-bin/merchant.cgi?65590

CyberAge
http://aux.avsofchoice.com/wmtour/protected.html?refwm=3572117

A method of ID verification from well known credit reporting agency
Equifax, IDVerify, does not require a credit card, and has worked to
great effect on sites like eBay. Customers submit their name, Social
Security Number and a few other personal details, then they complete a
simple questionnaire. The information provided is instantly
crosschecked with the Equifax database, then the consumer is either
verified or asked to call an 800 number.

IDVerify
http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/g-idverify.html

You need to be a registered eBay user (registration is free), and
completion of the verification process costs $5.

http://www.birthdateverifier.com/
This product uses a unique combination of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act), 15 U.S.C. §7000, and the Unsworn Declarations Act, 28 U.S.C. §1746, which together allow for the submission of electronic documents under the penalties of perjury. These copyrighted statements, used in conjunction with a proprietary birth date verification script, amount to the equivalent of an ‘electronic affidavit’ stating the user’s name and birth date. Moreover, the BirthDateVerifier™ Version 4.0 (“Verifier”), script records the user’s IP address, along with the time and date of attempted access, thereby providing valuable support logs in the event proof of a user’s identity is later required. All users are required to agree to the application of U.S. law to govern the transaction, thus making the device effective worldwide.

http://www.onlineageverification.com/
This is a group of wine sellers. They are using something called VerifyME.

Found this interesting quote at the above site:
"Now that VISA explicitly prohibits merchants from verifying age by use of its credit card and consistent with credit card association rules, reliable real time verification through a check of government-issued ID databases offers confirmation of a consumer’s age with high confidence."

http://www.verifymyidentification.com
IntegritynLine is an international fraud prevention, age and identity verification service that integrates a government-issued ID database check, algorithms and web-based signature capture.

Those are just links I found in a 10-minute google search. Looks like there are plenty of services out there, many of them anticipating international customers. I'd like to hear from LL why one of these solutions isn't being considered -- or if one is, that would be good to hear, too.

neko

If any of you are inworld right now... please IM me for a repeater to listen to Philip Linden's speech, where he is talking about exactly these issues and responding to many of the common questions asked. And if you missed it I hope we'll have a transcript, so please look for that in Announcements & News soon.

I apologize this is a terse reply. In addition to my hands not keeping up, I'm overloaded today and still have so much to work on. So many intertwined issues spanning hundreds of emails, PMs, IMs, and notecards... so many important ones like these. From groups to griefers, socializing to sandboxes, of avatar communications, open source and open registration, inventory woes, lag, and more--work never ends but there's always another day, another rainbow after the storm. I won't give up on you... I may just be one person but always remember I'm part of a bigger team, and we, as Linden Lab, won't give up on you. Hearing out community concerns, each and every one. And doing our best.

I've merged these posts and bookmarked this for the ideas within... I'd also recommend reading related Linden answers if you haven't already. If you have, thanx.

We'll do this one day at a time. And hopefully, when we look back, we'll know things turned out okay, even if it didn't seem that way.

Thank you for your patience and understanding with us during this sucky time.