Age Verification and Transexuality

I hope this hasnt been covered already, but is a possible issue that would lead to the detriment of those currently undergoing gender reassignment.

As I have already discovered to much problems, during this process big descrepencies with documents come about which can take months and years to get rectified.
In the UK one document ends up depending on another to get the fine details changed. As such you can end up with 2 seperate identities and figgting to tie it all together. Bank cards in one name, driving licence in another and passport taken away altogether (As what is currently my case)
The situation was not so bad a few years ago, but with the new anti-terror laws after the US blew that tower? up (Cant remember details, long time ago ), it has changed the situation to close to impossible, even in the UK.

I am asking this with the plea that such people wont be locked out of enjoying second life in the same way the change in the world has locked them out of being able to gain employment or hold bank accounts (Sounds extreme, but it happened in my own case due to a minor descrepency... And the ID problem is a common one among Transgendered residents in various countries)

My best regards & hopes that this potential issue could be avoided. I am asking this as Second Life is one of the few things in my life that are free of discrimination.
Abigail

Excellent point. Robin, Liana, and Zero Linden all have office hours today, someone should bring this issue up with them. (I would, but unfortunately, I am out of the loop until later today and won't have access to a computer until well after the last office hour.) I would think that in cases like this, LL would be able to accomodate the person by validating them individually at the Lab (say via a faxed copy of a driver's license), rather than via a third party, but I don't know whether the system is set up for that kind of functionality. I do think it's worth bringing up, though.

Kam

Oh and all this time I thought transexuality meant the 3rd sex or gender dysphoria. My bad! Thanks for enlightening me on this topic.

Glad to see you here, Wrom.

What is the purpose of the above quoted post?

It's related to this:
/327/4d/182511/1.html#post1500450

This makes me think of another funny case: The person now known as Faybot Foxley whose original chosen name started with a "G" - until it was changed suddenly and without notice, and he had a helluva time getting back into SL. He never did get a satisfactory explanation from LL.

I wonder if there is a rogue Linden who has serious gender/mental issues and is monkeying around without telling anyone?

(PS Heretic Linden may be a Linden avatar, but does it always have to be the same Linden running it?)

If the identification service is as widely used as they claim they shoudl already have a policy or procedure in place for this.

I hope so. I really wish we had more information. I won't be able to hit the daytime office hours until next week, if anyone does go talk to the Lindens about it please let me know how it went, otherwise I will try on Monday.

Many thanks to the OP for bringing this up.

.

Sue, I posted that comment to let Wrom know that we're reading the forums. Many Residents, Wrom included, have expressed concerns that the blog was the only means of viable communication between Lindens and Residents. Because I've been directing Residents to the forums when blog threads have closed, I wanted those Residents to know that we're here reading and paying attention to your concerns.

Not to highjack a thread, but along this lines, if a person joined SL, and, as is the case with a lot of online 'subscriptions', used an online name to log in thier account, will this effect the verification from the 3rd party?

And if it will, is there a way we can change this?

I looked at the My Accounts section, and according to information displayed, LL doesn't have the name I registered with. Only my CC information. I assume the regerstation information is on file, but for my own part, the address I registered from is no longer where I live due to RL moves.

In brief: Will our SL registration information be what is used, or jsut the Account Name to verify accounts? And Where and how do those that need to change this do so?

~Jessy

In the United States, it is legal to perform a "Useage" name change. That is, adopting a name that is not your legally identifying name. An example would be an actor. Many people in America "Do business as" other names... and in the case of online services, may create a pseudonym that they use consistently or inconsistently for various purposes.

Many transgendered persons do not perform a "Legal name change" in the United States... As doing so can be costly and time consuming... until after any surgeries they elect to have. This is not just limited to the Transgendered though. Many people concerned with online privacy may regularly use pseudonyms to register accounts. (I recall that my father received several catalogs under an assumed name).

As such, many may have registered their accounts using a ficticious name.

I am all for AGE verification.. so long as that AGE verification is applied to every man, woman, and child on the main grid. I am not.. repeat.. NOT in support of "Identity verification"

The more I hear about this, the more conviced I become that the user response to "are you 18 years of age or older?" should be more than sufficient... and recent decisions in US courts would seem to agree.

That might be true - but the problem is, I think LL are responding to the fears that some landowners have expressed: that since the landowners are mostly private individuals, if such a lawsuit does wind up directed at them and going to court, their real lives are already significantly damaged before the judge has even sat down (legal costs, time off work, friends/family/employer thinking they are a pervert, etc.) The fact that the landowner might then win the case has no effect on this.

I honestly hope that, if the age verification plan does go ahead, LL will be able to remove the clause in the TOS that says they make no guarantees about age.

Awesomeness... here's an idea... have a section of the forums where residents (customers [people who pay to participate in SL] and non-customers [people who don't pay to participate in SL]) can post their concerns and questions. It could be called "Linden Answers."

All kidding aside, speaking for myself (and not for the resident population as a whole), "means of viable communication" to the Lindens have been disappearing for a while now. I've seen too many blog posts where a Linden funnels out some bad news and marks it "Comments are Closed." (One Linden is so notorious for this habit we refer to them in-world as "CommentsAreClosed Linden".

The lack of a "means of viable communication" has fissured out in the form of Project Open Letter and drawn notice of LL's Board of Directors. Though, in classic "leadership by bad example" fashion, at least one board member couldn't even spell the POL leader's name correctly and felt a standard form letter was the perfect response (link). [Tip: It's time to know who your customers are instead of looking at us collectively as residents. I'm not sure why Christiano would want to continue paying account and tier fees to an organization that can't spell his name correctly.]

I'm actually burned out by all of this. If a Linden was about to get hit by a bus there'd be no way to warn them. Do I warn them using Linden Answers or Live Help or by means of a comment on a blog post? Abuse Report or e-mail to Support or a phone call? What if I simply don't care anymore solely on the basis of, feeling like I haven't been heard in the past, that I'm not likely to be heard now or in the future? What if we all feel like that?

Don`t even bother with him......seems like he only talking but nobody is hearing him with good reason............common sence lacking