Age Verification: I wonder...

If they are using the same people who handle the Anheuser-Busch website, there's been a lot in the news about traffic on that website being far lower than expected - mostly because people don't want to give age verification information. And what they are asking for is a lot less than people entering SL from outside the States would be asked to give.

Example article: http://www.examiner.com/a-685948~Anheuser_Busch_to_push_Web_site_after_decrease_in_visitors.html

I'll comply. I DJ in SL so I have to if I want to work anywhere.

And hey, if I get my identity stolen.....LL has their address on the website. I'll just drop by and say Hi.


With my lawyer.

And do what exactly? Have some tea?

No, sue them for not protecting the private information I entrusted them with.

Excellent find Triz !

You go ahead and keep thinking that you have a case there... considering that neither the Lindens or this third party company, as per the blog entry, won't be storing this information.

The AB website verification is a joke anyway. Just to test it I entered my SL name and surname, a made up DoB and my Australian (four digit) postcode instead of a US zip code.

It verified me!

I tried it now with SL name, my valid birthday, and my valid zip code. It didn't let me in.

I assume it checked that name and DOB with a list it had of voters or drivers licences in that zip code and came up with no hits and thus rejected you.

In my case I must have thrown the system by entering a postcode and being unable to check on me it let me in.

If you give them your info they can and will do what they want with it. Unless they release your information maliciously there is nothing you can sue over.

Actually that's not quite what it said...

Jeska posted this in a comment...



That is a far cry from "it will not be stored" All LL said is that THEY LL will not be storing anything personal.

I sell skins and I will not be setting my parcel to adult, no way!

I would just like to make sure that you've all read Daniel's most recent blog post and seen Robin's comments in the forums on this topic:
http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/05/07/more-on-identity-verification/,
/327/64/181977/4.html, and /142/c8/181801/7.html.

We appreciate your feedback. Keep talking to us.

I have read that, and frankly that is what is worrying me.

It seems to me that Lindens just didnt think this through, they went off and picked a suspect company whose main business is selling personal data and whose age verification system doesnt work! Go and log into bud-tv Heretic, see how long it takes you to figure out how to avoid the verification there.

Do you really think people are going to hand over their passport details, let alone to Aristotle????

If Aristotle are telling you they can use my passport details to verify my identity then they are lying to you. I know for a fact that they cannot access any sort of list of Australian passport holders to compare it to:

We keep talking but no one is listening.

Pass the Law no alcohol and you have mobsters shooting each other down in the streets.

You pass this and then we will have bootlegers resaleing mature items to those whom do not have age verification . And at higher then normal prices.

Hidden secret PG areas hosting secret Mature parties.

The rate of Hackers hitting attacking areas will to get into Mature areas.

I am not a parinoid person... THIS IS HISTORY and will repeat itself.

And when all is said and done what have you acomplished??? the underage will still lie cheat steal hack their way in...

What I say is place the responsibility where it belongs... in the hands of those PARENTS of those Underaged people.. Create a fine for those Parents when their children are caught in here.

You are not protecting the Underage..... when the underage Lies cheat faulsifies documents or hacks their way into SL... THEY ARE THE PREDITORS.. lets not confuse this.
SL is asking us to pay an Extortion fee for protection against them. Mofia style... PAY UP OR SHUT DOWN.

It is SL Responsibility to secure SL and not at the cost of their Legal aged Members.
SL SHOULD STEP UP AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY... AGE VERIFICATION SHOULD BE FREE AND SL SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT INFORMATION COLLECTED.

Damn this sounds like the most interesting RP in SL, where's my orbit tommy gun ?

So now we have moved from not storing any information to storing some information for the purpose of sharing identity info. Aristotle cannot guarantee that the info applies to the SL account, so LL are left with a useless service. When LL claims the person is verified over 30 and it transpires they are not, this could land LL in legal hot water. The aristotle insurance will not cover them, as aristotle are not claiming that the data verified has anything to do with an SL account, but simply the data submitted.

LL asks if Mr Smith of Arizona was born on 13th January 1965, aristotle answers yes. Only if that answer is wrong will aristotle cover LL. LL claim that "Bungholi Oh" is in fact Mr Smith of Arizona, and as such is over 30, they are not covered in any way. This verification service being offered by LL is nothing more than half assed assumptions and wont be worth spit.

Notice also that the claim that the service provider will not store any information has gone missing.
Our verification provider, Integrity Services, will only use information to provide a match code.
No mention of storage of that data.

To all the Lindens, stop and take a minute to think!
The information being submitted to aristotle cannot be linked to a real SL account in any way whatsoever. You are purchasing a completely worthless service. The only thing you will be verifying is that somebody exists in the real world, not that they are linked to the SL account or even that they know who Linden Labs are.

but LL isn't collecting that information. they're paying another company to do the AVS work.

LL doesn't care if it's real info. If there is a problem with and underage person then LL will pass the buck to the verification service.

They can't though. Aristotle cannot guarantee anything beyond the submitted details being verified. They cannot make any guarantees about the submitted data belonging to the person being verified. If a child uses real details to get verified, you can bet they wont cover that with their insurance. The only thing they will cover is if submitted details are falsely identified as being over 18.

It seems they will.It's the main reason LL have gone with this company IYAM. Integrity are so confident that children won't slip through their net that they'll even pay LL's legal fees if it happens and results in litigation.

Edit: It's not so much about guaranteeing kids won't get in. It's more about guaranteeing LL won't go under if they do.

Exactly. LL want's all the rewards of SL without bearing any of the risks.

I hate to say it but in LL's place It would be hard to pass up and offer like that - especially if the company was also guaranteeing privacy.

Its like getting cheap liability service against their main liability - when no insurance company will sell you the same.