Age verification

Well, you don't get to say that any more, hon. It has stopped somebody from using it.

As far as you know.
Have LL made an official announcement saying that they will no longer accept VISA as proof of age because of the official VISA line?

In my country you can't get a visa card unless you are minimum 18 years old. That would be illegal.

To me the key consideration is -- LL are doing this to ensure no one points the finger at them, either in the press or in the court room, accusing them of not living up to their duty of care around age verification.

They blatantly haven't, due to open registration; but that worked, now SL has a critical mass and momentum it would never have had without open reg. It makes sense to implement age verification now.

Apparently in some countries (nameless ones?!) credit cards have insufficient market penetration to be a viable option. Sure, in those places there needs to be an alternative. However, as many have said the vast majority of adult websites consider credit card details adequate for age verification (and the entire "age verification AVS" type industry!) so surely accepting credit cards would be sufficient for LL to demonstrate due diligence.

Quite why we need a new system is puzzling. Why not simply say "All adult parcels will automatically have 'require payment info' enabled", and use payment info. Rename 'payment info on file' to 'age verified', and offer some alternatives to payment info. (whatever is appropriate for different countries.)

I've got an amex, 2 mastercards and a verified paypal account and I'm in Australia. I can't imagine sending anything else to LL to verify my age. It will be interesting to see how fast they flip on this policy.

Finally - if this is ostensibly being implemented because some places don't have credit cards, I'd like to know how those people are going to pay the fee related to verifying themselves. Telegraphic transfer perhaps? Write a cheque and post it to the third party? Trade in 2 goats at the local bazaar for an "age verification certificate"?

I'm sorry Linden labs, you are not going to screw me over, I am not going to submit more information than you already have. And if you wanna restrict me from "Mature areas" I have only one thing to say

F*** YOU SL

Theree is my rant on your dumbest decion to be made yet

What does LL think they're doing? Do they seriously expect users from all over the world to trust a 3rd party with sensitive information? Or have they forgotten what happened with their own databases last year in the hacker incident?

I even wonder if their 3rd party provider has even heard of my little country tucked away in the Caribbean (I remember back in early 2006 when LL ungraded their payment system, my country fell off the list!!!)

I can see many accounts closing as a result of these requirement or residents just choosing to remain on their own plots to socialise. Possible economy slow-down? Almost a certainty.

I will certainly close one of my alts while the others will become virtual hermits. I am not prepared to give LL (or their friend) any more than the CC info they already have.

I agree strongly with Paskis. Being able to use a passport or such to verify would be great, but forcing everyone to do that in ADDITION to verifying a credit-card is absolute idiocy!
Under 18's shouldn't be able to get credit cards, the fact that they're able to is a sign of bad parenting. That very same bad parenting is just going to give them access to passports and such as well.

I support the idea of forcing payment info only on adult parcels, but not this, it's just extra hassle and cost for the legitimate users!

I dislike the pretense that I am being asked to place my personal information at some level of risk, as well as pay a fee in order to “Protect minors” as these measures will have absolutely zero effect on such things.

First, X-cite type products still work on PG flagged land, much less Mature.
Second, revealing clothing still shows 'naughty bit's works on PG flagged land, much less Mature. Heck, Nudity works perfectly on PG flagged land.
Third, Pose balls still work on PG flagged land, much less Mature.
Fourth, Prim 'body parts' can still be shown on PG flagged land, much less Mature.
Fifth, text of an erotic nature still works on PG flagged land, much less Mature.
Sixth, a lot of 'naughty things' are openly advertised through the search window in the Classifieds, Place, Group, and People sections.
Seventh, Lots of adult things can happen in group chat. Not to mention private chat. Unless SL starts monitoring private messages on non adult flagged lands, no meaningful protection will actually be introduced.
Eighth, This will not stop peeping minors working the camera to catch a glance at some virtual breasts or some pose ball grinding happening in adult territory.
Ninth, An adult meeting place is not required for people to strike up romantic interest in one another.
Tenth, there are thousands of places in second life with 0 traffic. That means no one swings by to see what people are up to. With all this land that isn't privately policed by land owners or people who will 'raise concerns' anyone with a desire to preform adult activity in non adult flagged land will have absolutely nothing to stand in their way.

Allowing non Adult Verified users into PG areas means they will still be exposed to all kinds of sexual content if they have any at all interest in such things.. They however will not be restricted to just PG areas, they will all have access to many Mature areas.

In short, with this in place, a minor will still effortless be able to contact an escort, meet a person through group chat, and participate in all kinds of X-cite assisted, pose ball driven, nude horizontal acrobatics in thousands of secluded parts of second life without being bothered, or anything more then slightly inconvenienced by this measure. If I can think of ten ways to get around it in sixty seconds,, a horny teenager could think up 100 in an evening.

To put it bluntly, I am not being asked to put my personal information at risk, or pay a fee to lower the chances of a minor seeing some virtual naughty places or participating in virtual adult activities. Nothing is being done to actually prevent such things. I am being asked to place my personal information in jeopardy and shell out some money to lower Second life's risk of civil law suit by an outraged parent.

this is the stupidest idea ever. Linden Labs, there are so many other ways to restrict minors, a simple credit card check would have been simple enough and work with hundreds of other adult content on the internet.

This will only squeeze more money out of your members, destroy the economy, hurt store owners GREATLY along with club owners and land renters. What a stupidly imposed idea. Why would I give you my passport number, something that can be easy stolen from LL and used so that you guys can pretend that you're taking care of shit here in SL? It's one piss poor implementation after another. I agree with the above poster, you're not getting f*ck all information from me.

Someone start a petition against this please. I've invested so much time and money into this thing and now it wants this type of information from me? You've got to be kidding me.

Following and since 9/11, a government issue picture ID has been required to fly on commercial airlines. However, to view naughty bits on SL one will be required to provide a Driver's License, Social Security Number, home address and a credit card (or pay pal account to pay the verification tax). The Homeland Security Department and TSA should upgrade to Second Life security levels. Thank goodness SL is serious about protecting us from terrorists ... I mean serious about protecting us from children ... I mean serious about protecting children from ... umm ... bad parenting?

PS Whats six million times 10L divided by 286?

Read the blog entry again. You've used the word 'and' but they said 'may include'..

209,790.21

Regardless of LL's intentions, they have issued a statement - just before leaving for the weekend - that is amazingly vague and unspecified in exactly the areas it should not be.

And then there's this:
"The system will enter beta testing shortly and be rolled out Grid wide in mid-May."

Um, so... a whole 10 or 11 days of testing? If weekends are counted?

I'm curious as to whether Linden Labs has people specifically trained and hired to compose announcements that are vague, poorly timed, and badly written? Or are they just naturally gifted?

THIS IS TOTAL BULLCRAP!

I started this game over a month ago, worked hard to build an avatar, earn money...etc and am having a blast. I have no problem proving my age but the problem is what about people who can't afford to pay every month? Why should I pay just to basically "be mature". What kind of **** is that?

I am disabled and get no help with my real life income. I can't afford this game. Thats why I enjoy having a free account. I think if you verify your age you should still be able to keep your account free! Not have to keep paying for it if you want to view mature content! Yet another game that cares more about money then its customers.

Satire is not lost on you is it, Sindy? I think the point is in the last line before the PS.

This is Total BS...


This entire "policy" serves just 1 purpose.... to compile RL info so the Feds have to only go one place to get it.

LL has obviously made some kind of 'Deal' with the Feds....

And all this 'Policy' does is circumvent established Law in the US...

ATM records need to be subpoenaed by the Gov to prosecute anyone... (and to get that subpoena, you need 'Probable-Cause').... and getting those from an overseas Provider ( either CC, or ISP ) is rather difficult.

By making this a ''Requirement.... now your info is inside the US... and is covered by US Law...

I won't be giving up any info....they (LL) can KissMyA_ _!

And as for the TOS.... it's BS too.... trying to say we as residents are responsible for our actions...GET A LIFE LL...


because the lawsuits are coming!!

As for the rest of you Residents who think this is a good-thing.... you need either a Lawyer... or a REAL LIFE!

Because if you comply w/ this crap... all you are doing is opening yourself to ID Theft...

This policy has nothing to do with Age Verification.... it's a ''smoke-screen'' to Data-Mine your RL Info.... WITH your permission, AND YOUR $,I might add.

Doesn't it strike anyone as 'odd' that the Comment section to that particular Blog no longer has a Comment Link it?


WAKE-UP PEOPLE!!!!!

It's not lost on me, it's just hard to see through all the wild speculation, misinformation and tinfoil hats.

Do you really think that a lousy US$200k is why they're doing this?

whys that matter?

Lol there are NOT 6 million active accounts in SL.

great - now LL is proposing a segregated society? so much for their supposedly 'progressive' company ethos!

am already starting to envisage this turning into some sort of unpleasant digitally enforced apartheid-like atmostphere within SL.

LOL.. This keeps getting better and better.. Last page was that this was all a plot by the US Feds.. Now it's the new apartheid.

/me stops trying to talk sense into these loonies and gets popcorn instead.

That's what we need for sure, more name calling. And btw, I did say the last line *before* the PS. But, I guess folks don't want to admit the whole reason for this is POOR PARENTING, AKA, lack of responsibility in alleged adults who are supposed to be responsible for their offspring. Perhaps we can have some more folks make excuses as to why it's necessary and important for folks to have to provide private, personal information rather than put the onus on lazy, ignorant, and/or selfish parents who don't monitor their kid's internet usage.

It still makes no sense that this is being rolled out so quickly and with no prior discussion with US, the users who are going to suffer by it.

I already give my credit card details! If they want use a third party that can offer more methods of verification to people around the world then fine, that's a step forward.

What's wrong with asking people if they're over 18 on sign-up? Or popping up a warning message the first-time you enter a Mature parcel? If dirty web-sites can get away with that then why not LL? Why do they have to go mad and add extra, unnecessary hassle for the people who aren't doing anything wrong?
I mean, I'm all for shielding children from this, but if they're parents aren't checking up on what they're doing, or are giving them credit-card details to verify with, then what's going to stop them getting in anyway?

However, I do think some people here have missed the point, LL and this third-party aren't keeping passport/driver's license details, it's a one time thing. They take the details, check them and if they're valid can the details and send the confirmation on to LL who add an 'Age verified' check to your account.

no, it is not 'the new apartheid' but it is pretty damn close to an SL equivalent. There is no two ways about it - this is a proposed means of segregating a community. Restricted movement? Stigma if you do not comply and conform? All in the name of some bogus 'security measure' - thank goodness real life isn't like this. Oh, wait...
scoff away though, Sindy.

I have real concerns about submitting real ID data to this organisation:

here is why..........................

Mastercard
have blocked all my cards after myself trying to buy Lindens on this official site.

This site is used by villains to launder stolen credit card cash back into dollars.

Two banks called me on a Sunday.
They think Linden labs is a porn site

My wife thinks this is a porn site
my daughters think I am a pervert.

I am surgically qualified to remove the Lindens testicles.

Who is responsible for not telling residents using Mastercard, even when the card was refused and why did I have to find out like that?


Let me know who wants to sing Soprano at linden labs.

If they are not honest about this, who's to say the other data will be handled correctly and there are NO data protection laws in the US, unlike Europe.

Archie Lukas

linden labs have NOT did there law homework

under UK laws...mainly the Data Protection Act heres what is says on the DPA

The Data Protection Act (DPA) is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament that provides a legal basis and allowing for the privacy and protection of data of individuals in the UK. The act places restrictions on organisations which collect or hold data which can identify a living person. The Act does not apply to domestic use for example keeping a personal address book.

Data collected by any person or organisation may only be used for the specific purposes for which they were collected. Personal data may only be kept for an appropriate length of time and must not be disclosed to other parties without the consent of the data owner, unless there is legislation or other overriding legitimate reason to share the information (for example, the prevention and detection of crime). Schools, for example, may decide to keep information on former pupils for no longer than ten years.

The act is overseen by an independent government authority, the Office of the Information Commissioner. Persons and organisations which store personal data must register with the Information Commissioner.

The UK Data Protection Act is a large Act, and has a reputation for complexity. Whilst the basic principles are honoured for protecting privacy, interpreting the act is not always simple. Many companies, organisations and individuals seem very unsure of the aims, content and principles of the DPA. Some it seems hide behind the Act and refuse to provide even very basic, publicly available material quoting the Act as a restriction.


The Data Protection Act 1984 was an implementation of the 1981 European Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data. It provided for a regulatory authority, the Data Protection Registrar, to oversee the implementation of and adherence to the Act. The 1984 Act was repealed by the Data Protection Act 1998.

The Data Protection Act 1998 expanded on the 1984 Act, and was an implementation of European Union Directive 95/46/EC which, amongst other measures, expanded the remit of the Data Protection Registrar and renamed the position to the Data Protection Commissioner.

Paper-based health, education and social work records which were created before 24 October 1998 are subject to slightly different provisions in the Act which will apply until 23 October 2007.

Most recently, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 further expanded the role to include freedom of information; the job title of the DPR/DPC was changed once again, this time to Office of the Information Commissioner.

Following the practice of taking fingerprints of children without parental consent in school, it has been established that the latter was not necessary under the DPA. 3,500 schools in the UK have such fingerprint locks or databases in 2007

The Act covers any data which can be used to identify a living person. This including names, birthday and anniversary dates, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail, Fax numbers, Email addresses etc. It only applies to that data which is held, or intended to be held, on computers ('equipment operating automatically in response to instructions given for that purpose'), or held in a 'relevant filing system'.


The data protection act creates rights for those who have their data stored, and responsibilities for those who store or collect personal data.

The responsibilities of those holding or collecting the data are that:

Personal data should only be processed fairly and lawfully. In order for data to be classed as 'fairly processed', at least one of these six conditions must be applicable to that data.
The data subject (the person whose data is stored) has consented ("given their permission" to the processing;
Processing is necessary for 'the performance of' (to speed up the completion of) a contract;
Processing is required under a legal obligation (other than one stated in the contract);
Processing is necessary to protect the vital interests of the data subject's rights;
Processing is necessary to carry out any public functions;
Processing is necessary in order to pursue the legitimate interests of the "data controller" or "third parties" (unless it could unjustifiably prejudice the interests of the data subject).
Personal data must be obtained only for specified and lawful purposes.
The data collected must be adequate, relevant and not excessive.
Personal data must be accurate and up to date.
The data should not be kept any longer than necessary. Data collected for research or historical reasons may be kept indefinitely
Personal data should only be processed in accordance with the "data subject's" (the individual's) rights.
Personal data should be securely kept, and not transferred to any other country without adequate protection.
The person who has their data held has the right to View the data an organisation holds on them, for a small fee, known as 'subject access Request that incorrect information is corrected. If the company ignores the request, a court can order the data to be corrected or destroyed, and in some cases compensation can be awarded.
Request not to receive direct marketing.

Eight principles
Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully and, in particular, shall not be processed unless-
at least one of the conditions in Schedule 2 is met, and
in the case of sensitive personal data, at least one of the conditions in Schedule 3 is also met.
Personal data shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purposes, and shall not be further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or those purposes.
Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed.
Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.
Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.
Personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under this Act.
Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.
Personal data shall not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data.

References
Data Protection Act 1998, Part IV (exemptions), Section 36
http://www.staffs.ac.uk/legal/privacy/dpfaq/index.php#basic_rules
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts1998/80029-ah.htm#sch16ptI
Child fingerprint plan considered, BBC, March 4, 2007
Your rights, ICO
As of 2006, the maximum fee is £10 per item, FAQs, ICO
Correcting information, ICO
Data Protection Act 1998, Section 11

See also
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Data privacy
Computer Misuse Act 1990

There are enough residents that ban people for doing nothing wrong - we don't need LL to do basically the same. There are enough residents that treat newbies like dirt and second rate - we don't need LL to do basically the same. There are enough residents that annyingly restrict movement within regions - we don't need LL to do basically the same.

Just a few words from a concerned European