Age verification

QUOTE: "I have so much more I'd love to vent about on this topic, but I don't want to sound too demeaning. I think LL means well, and the people who are saying it's "just another means for them to make money" are paranoid" UNQUOTE"

PLEASE! LL are making millions in revenue from everyone that uses the system and it sure as hell is not Paranoid to think that. This is a business and a massively growing one. The fees that they charge on a per monthly basis, the fees that they charge for uploads, downloads, lindens and just about everything else you do within SL. It is very much about MONEY.

Oh Im certain LL may mean well but at the end of the day this is a business. Dont kid yourself otherwise. This is Real Life not Second Life. I would suggest that if they wish to continue with this nonsense that LL conform to the Adult Website criteria. Namely mark this and their own websites as being ADULT. Conform to the Adult Industry regulations. Perhaps they should start their own little 2257 compliance database for those Avatars that are strippers, escorts etc etc. PMSL.

No, they don't mean well - at least to their customers. They are trying to help their buddies at aristotle.com get a foot in the virtual door by handing over LL's customers to Aristotle.

In some ways, I think this is even more sleazy than all the other arguments against "verification" combined.

I don't know how things are in the US, but in my own country I would already have verified that I'm at least 18 years old when using my CC - no one younger than 18 can get such a thing. I don't travel and therefore don't have a passport - which I'd only show to proper authorities anyway. I don't want the responsibilities associated with sitting behind the wheel of a car, so I don't own a drivers license - which I'd only show to proper authorities anyway. We have something similar to SSN where I live, but not only would I never give that to other than proper authorities, but in my country it is illegal for a company to request what is mentioned in the blog regarding SSN. Noone in my country will supply our equivalent to SSN. Many of us already risk theft of money - under no circumstance will we add the risk of identity theft to that.

On a side note: This has prompted me to mark all land I currently own, and will own in the future as "Mature" and the apparently upcomming "Adult" no matter what content there is - it might be PG worthy, but it doesn't matter any longer. That is the extent to which I am able to control behaviour on my land. If a person chooses to kill another person at my house RL I can't be held responsible for that.

Im happy about age verification.

Now maybe secondlife will head in the right direction, of being less known for as a place for online XXX activities.

Secondlife is about meeting people, creating, business opportunities, discussion, learning, invention, innovative ideas...................

Just curious.

All the naysayers...

How would YOU do it?

I've seen speculation about how this will be hacked, speculation about how it's Linden Labs helping out their friends, accusations of shadiness, threats of quitting...

If not like this, then how?

Or are you saying that we DON'T need age verification?

Why, the "also not a penis" of course!



That was the idea.



And porn of your particular fancy.
Remember, Rule #34.

Do you need to be age verified to access porn sites? Yes.
Do porn sites ask for a drivers license, social security number and passport? No.

Most people never asked for an overblown verification system that leaves them no personal privacy whatsoever. A lot of people asked for unverified accounts to be blocked (those with no payment info). A verified paypal account or credit card should be enough.

Sys,

So you think that the verification system they have in place at the moment is sufficient?

I'm not asking about porn sites, I'm asking about Second Life.

Do you think that it is adequate at the moment and, if not, how would you do it?

True we found out some one in here was under age i did a report on it there prob of age by now lmao oh well huh ?

I think the "payment info on file" system is enough, especially when combined with the habbit of turfing people out at the slightest whiff of an AR for being underage.

They don't want to get in an arms race with griefers becuase that fight cannot be won, why not apply the same philosophy to age verification? No matter what they do, kids will be able to get in. Even this latest system wont stop them. It will however upset a lot of people, and leave a lot of people who are adults but cannot prove it without access to adult areas.

Im interested to find how they are going to handle this with regard to overseas users...

Mickey no one saying that you dont have to use age verification, I personally think its a good thing, but i do not agree with what LL what us to supply for that verification. We are not opening a bank account we are playing a game.

what they are saying is that you do not need to have things like Passports, driving license, social security numbers to prove it. There are plenty of methods used for age verification on the net. The adult industry use credit card verification as that is all that is required along with your name and address naturally. If any of those details do not match, you do not get in, period.

There are far too many ways in which information pertaining to each individual can be used for purposes that are, illegal. It is far to easily compromised, as Im sure your only too well aware after the fiasco with TJ Max in which over 40,000,000 credit card details were stolen. Just think what could happen if passport details, driving license details and social security number details were also involved? It quite frankly beggers belief.

There is absolutely no reason why any company, in the USA or anywhere else for that matter, should gather that kind of information purely for the sole reason of age verification because it is not necessary.

Syntax, I understand all that. I was just asking for other solutions, rather than the usual speculation and "OMG LL SUXORS".

Perhaps if another solution was found, the powers that be might look into it and possibly add it to the possibilities. This can't happen if people only post that they're being raped by SL with regard to this.

We already have credit card verification in place for premiums and yet there was still a call for age verification. Now they announce they're implementing age verification and everyone is up in arms.
I understand the concerns. I share them. However, wouldn't it be better to make suggestions rather than getting hysterical?
There are many people far more in the know than I regarding verification, evidenced by the research and links posted on these forums. Why not focus that knowledge into a more acceptable and yet satisfactory solution?

That's all I wanted to know with my post. IS there another way to do it? Is there a way to do it that won't entail giving up rather important and possibly dangerous information?

Also, while I'm asking, how dangerous IS giving up the last 4 numbers of your Social Security? I don't have one, so I don't know anything about them: How long the numbers are, whether the first few are assigned to a certain location, whether they're random all the way through or are they assigned one at a time (i.e. If I'm born at 12:01am and I get 123456, does the person born at 12:01:01 gets 123457?) etc. etc.
I know it's very dangerous to give out info on the internet.

Where's the happy medium?

Would it be better? Yes. Would it be fashionable around here? No.


Check out this wikipedia article.

The verification that was already in place is of a standard accepted by pretty much every xxx site in the world. SL is nowhere near anything like you'd find on those sites, so there is no need for them to require more personal information. The consequences of children accessing those sites is much worse than the occasional kid on the main grid.

Any piece of personal information can be faked or stolen, just like credit cards, so this system is not actually any more secure than credit cards alone. Kids will still raid their parents paperwork.

Even working on the assumption that this system would be better than credit card alone, how many people store their passwords in the client? How many people leave the client running while they are doing something else? Any child with access to their parents machine doesn't even need to grab their credit card.

Thanks, Sindy.

And HA! Good one!

I just thought of something... if they start age verifying everyone who can access mature zones, does this mean that ageplay will be allowed again? I don't see why not, with freedom of speech and verified no kids that can access it...

Do I think that LL will do this though? not on your life...

(ps I don't care about ageplay per say, just saying that soon enough SL will just be a glorified censored chat site with marginal 3d the few times teleport actually works)

All I know.. is I will NOT be giving my drivers license or social security number. BIG nono. Anyways, what, kids gonna see pixel porn? Uhh all they gotta do for real is go to google search BOOBS and take off safe search. Jeesssuuuss..

So yeah, so far I see ADULTS saying they will not hand over information. However what stops kids from going.. hey mom, hey dad, can I have your social security and drivers license?

A brain?

Kids have brains these days ! Seriously though.. Hopefully the parents will have brains to say Uh no, but kids can still get the 'rents info. Im still not seeing how this method will help, and not hurt.

I am all for age verification but am very concerned regarding the possibility of identity theft along with most of the other posters in this thread.

Not being resident in the US, and not driving means that the only option I'll have to verify myself is my passport (and I'm sure that many others won't have this method either). A passport is a very sensitive document IMO and I'm very unhappy with the idea of supplying these details to an unknown third party not subject to the Data Protection laws of my own country. The only people that have ever seen my passport details are my bank (under money-laundering laws), my employer (under immigration laws), and customs (under numerous laws too obvious to mention!). A passport is a legal document and should be used under legal protections only.

I find it ridiculous that I have to supply the same documentation I would have to supply to "prove" I am not a terrorist in order to play a game, hang out with my friends, buy some saucy vinyl clothing!

As has been stated previously, supplying credit card information or PayPal account info, which I already have, should be more than sufficient as these demonstrate you are over 18 years of age.



This new proposal should be purely optional for those who have not/cannot provide verification via CC or PayPal, tho if a fee is involved, I'm unsure how these folks will be able to do so.

And as has been stated many times above, if a minor can fradulently obtain CC details from someone over 18, there's nothing to stop them fradulently obtaining other verification methods also.

Another point is, exactly what will constitute "adult"? Will a couple using a SexGen bed in the privacy of their own home have to do so in a flagged area? Will a shopping mall that happens to have ad boards that could be used by escorts have to be flagged? I think some formal definition of "adult" needs to be provided as a matter of urgency.

Maybe it should but VISA has said that it doesn't.

VISA saying that makes no difference. LL have said that L$ are not real currency, but people trade if they are

Sys, I know you hate the idea of age verification but don't feel compelled to answer every single post. The person I quoted said that a CC should be enough. VISA, a CC company, does not agree. Does your comment have anything to do with that?

Don't worry, hon - in a couple of years, they'll let you back into the adult grid.

That's the best you have, accusing people of being kids? What was that year written on my birth certificate? Oh yeah, 1979.
In case you can't figure it out, that makes me 28 years old.

My comment has nothing to do with the comment you quoted, but everything to do with your actual post. Visa have been saying for years that their cards cannot be used for age verification, that has not stopped anyone from using them for such.