...You have to be kidding me

http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/05/04/age-and-indentity-verification-in-second-life/

Okay may I ask what the Lindens were smoking when they thought that this latest age-verification update would be a good idea?

As far as I can gather we already confirm that we are 18+ on signup and this should be enough and lets face it... if some little kid gets determined enough to get on they will just steal his parents details like they probably did their parents credit card and in such a case were back to square one.

Everyone I've talked to about this update so far are highly against it as they feel its an invasion of their privacy and I'm not sure how this works with most data protection acts especialy in regards to confirmation from international users.

Quite frankly if such a thing became a serious update it would ruin my second life experience and as such I would refuse to put any more into developing SL if all my hard earned cash is going to be thrown away developing something that is going to irritate the entire resident community and make a significant majority of them quit.

I will not provide a scan of my passport to ANYBODY. The State Department warns heavily against this, and I wonder what they would say if they knew a U.S. company was planning to require it.

I do agree with you. Please listen to us, Lindens.. you're going to wind up reducing the amount of your paychecks by causing the majority of people to quit... also, no matter what if you are trying to 'protect the children'.. CHILDREN WILL STILL STEAL THEIR PARENTS IDS TO ENTER SECOND LIFE! THINK ABOUT IT! Also, I am not going to give my info out and even if I could, I am deaf in real life.. how can I contact yah guys? Phone? Rightttttt! I remember when we all had to recover our passwords because of hackers hacking into the database, I had to get my sister to call Second Life to have my password changed... jeez... You're just making this worse, leave us people alone and you'll be gaining more steady income and keep us happy.

So did I miss the part that said what would be required of accounts that were already on the grid? Are they going to cut our service in the middle of a month (that we are paying for!) until we scan in one of those listed objects to send them? For one, I don't have a passport and number two I will not send a company thats had security issues before with CC info my SIN (Social Security Number, im Canadian =p)

Oh well looks like my SL experience will be dumbed down even more then it already is. Its amazing how that can be done without teleports and lag being the problem.

EDIT: What happens if a sim owner, or say a well known shop owner has to label their store adult because of something like skins they sell? There are some questionable outfits at some stores.

Those people without the verification aren't allowed to shop there now? Gotta say well thought out plan LL /sarcasum

Pffft. All they have to do is go to an adjoining parcel and play with their camera angles. How is this supposed to solve anything??

From the Q&A:

Do I have to pay for verification?
Premium Residents will access the verification system for a nominal fee (<L$10) as part of their subscription. Basic users will be charged a larger fee to verify their age, can upgrade to Premium to access the system, or simply decline to verify their age and continue enjoying the areas of Second Life that don’t contain adult content.

I think this is one of the best moves SL has made and I can't wait for it. They need to tighten the door on SL from the little kiddies. To be honest I think the only people getting ticked off about it and really throwing a fit are the under aged people in here that now know their days are limited.

"To be honest I think the only people getting ticked off about it and really throwing a fit are the under aged people in here that now know their days are limited."

Easily the most retarded observation I have seen on this forum. Ever.

Well, this is indeed pointless, as the others mentioned, ID cards can also be borrowed from parents.
And to state it even better, not all parents have Credit cards maybe, but that's a different story with IDs!

So, the most expected effect will be that quite a big deal of players will leave,
income will drop, but kids will borrow IDs and so the only effect it has is less players
and less income for LL, so we both won't get any better from it!

Unless SL can proof that we're wrong...

Someone alledgedly quoted:

Which leads to http://www.aristotle.com and specifically http://integrity.aristotle.com

"Integrity is an international fraud prevention, age and identity verification service that integrates a government-issued ID database check, algorithms and web-based signature capture. The service provides merchants and government agencies with Patriot Act compliance and compliance with age verification laws and guidelines."

http://thinkd2c.blogspot.com/2007/02/budtv-and-aristotles-integrity.html

NOWHERE DOES INTEGRITY STATE THAT IT DOES NOT KEEP AND/OR STORE INFORMATION SUBMITTED!!!!! IT ONLY CLAIMS TO KEEP THE INFO CONFIDENTIAL (YUH. RIGHT)

RATHER IT SAYS THAT THE "TRANSACTION HISTORY" IS KEPT CONFIDENTIAL WHICH IMPLIES THAT THEY DO STORE THE INFO.



Integrity

Products and Services - Integrity

Integrity is an international fraud prevention, age and identity verification service that integrates a government-issued ID database check, algorithms and web-based signature capture. The service provides merchants and government agencies with Patriot Act compliance and compliance with age verification laws and guidelines.

Integrity eliminates costs associated with manual intervention, simplifies, automates and streamlines the verification process. Verification information is returned real-time through a cost-effective, web-based solution.

What are the key benefits of the Integrity service?

Fraud Deterrent. Deters friendly fraud. Avoid losing revenues from customers who are declined by a fraud scrub or deterred by cumbersome questionnaires.

Fast. Process takes under 5 seconds to complete from the time information is submitted.

Robust. US and UK coverage (152 nations total covering over 3.4 billion citizens).
Legal. Complies with US privacy directives and laws.

Open. Not subject to Medical Records Privacy Laws as no credit or medical data is used.

Fair. Online verification incorporates Explicit Consent of the consumer and transaction history remains confidential.

Universal. Ability to utilize existing government issued documents to verify age or identity. No need to create new identity cards or institute special procedures.

Compatible. Requires no new hardware and is OS agnostic.

Privacy. Only a match code is provided to the merchant so the consumer's privacy is protected at all times.

Insured. Integrity insures transactions against fines imposed on the merchant for underage sales.

Effective. 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.

PR Friendly. Merchants are able to show federal, state and local authorities, public interest groups and concerned parents that they are progressively preventing minors from accessing restricted products, advertising and marketing materials.

http://integrity.aristotle.com/index.php_option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=32.html

Well I'm 35, and not too happy sharing the kind of documentation used to perpetrate ID fraud with countries outside the EEA which do not provide the same level of data protection as my own, and which reserve the right to disclose it "to any Government entity, regulatory authority or to any person we reasonably think necessary for these purposes".

But still, if you've made your mind up that we're all kiddies...

this will break sl

bye bye, people... had some fun here

That is an interesting website. Their privacy policy is interesting to me.

http://integrity.aristotle.com/index.php_option=com_content&task=view&id=45&Itemid=58.html

Security
This site has security measures in place, including server password and firewalls, to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control.

Confidentiality of Information/Correction
This site does not provide visitors' information to third parties.

This site gives users the following options for changing and modifying information previously provided:

E-mail to: [email]remove@aristotle.com[/email]

Contacting the Web Site
If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or your dealings with this Web site, you can contact:

Brian Williams
Aristotle International, Inc.
205 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20003
E-mail address: brian.williams ((at)) aristotle.com

I guess the government authorized this site to keep public records and information on everyone in 152 nations? They say you must email them to modify or change your information that was previously provided...doesn't that mean the same thing? What if I want to remove the information they have. By law, aren't they required to if I ask them nicely?

Check out this section of the Integrity tab on their site.
http://integrity.aristotle.com/index.php_option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=46.html
-Insured- Integrity insures transactions against fines imposed on the merchant for underage sales.

So this means the blame is shifted to this site which provides insurance in case you sell sexually explicit materials to a minor in SL? (LL is not to blame?)

Look what it says on this part of the On Site section.
http://integrity.aristotle.com/index.php_option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=45.html
Advertising Agencies, the Hospitality Industry and Event Marketers use Integrity OnSite and Integrity OnLine to collect consumer information and verify the age of those being served alcohol or tobacco. Integrity is unconditionally guaranteed to comply with all state and federal regulations governing the sale of age-restricted products online and on premises.

Is this a typo I found in the Sel section of their site? (This is for compulsive gamblers who want to be blacklisted and voluntarily put their information in to prevent themselves from accessing sites that are enlisted with Integrity)

How It Works
By inputting your contact information on the SEL application page, you are records are submitted to the SEL database immediately. You can choose to keep your account active in SEL for terms ranging from 1 year up to a lifetime.

Shouldn't you are = your ?

lol Ok, maybe I'm just being picky or imagining things.

I'm still not giving these people any information.

Presumably that means "third parties other than the government" (and any agencies or persons the US government sees fit to share it with)?

How they can claim to have UK coverage, when neither a drivers license nor government issued ID are compulsory in the UK (yet)?

Wonder if they'll accept my library card, which is about the only "official" ID I have.

Does this mean that one of my membership payments is going to be up to $9 more? So I may have to pay even more to access what I can already access as a 31 year old?

This is stupid, it should only be required of those reported as minors. I am not putting my SS#, Passport, or Drivers licence # on the internet in any way shape or form. LL has already proved they cannot keep our info safe why would we trust them with it again? AND everyone above is absolutely correct, minors who really want to play will steal their parents ID's and get verified anyway!

Yeah. I'm certain that they operate in compliance with PATRIOT, which is probably the greatest concern. Then again, so does my employer, my bank, my Internet provider, my cellphone provider, my landline provider, my insurance company, my 401k administrator, the list goes on and on and on.

About the only places I would voluntarily give passport details to are immigration officials and organisatiosn in countries that have data privacy laws at least as tight as those in my own country, and in that latter case, i still reserve the right to decline. LL may well like and admire that verification company, but if tehy want passports as verification, they are going to get a loud laugh from most of Europe.

Anyone can throw out accusations of childish behaviour as "proof" that someone is underage.
I know a lot of adults who act childishly though.
Requiring anyone accused to produce various personal documents is as bad as requiring everyone to do so. Anyone of us could be accused at any time.

I think this means that LL needs to get some people who know how to write clearly and concisely on their payroll. It appears that they're trying to say that the verification is included in the premium membership, which is less than $10 a month.

I took it to mean that premium accounts can choose to get verified for a one time payment of 10 linden dollars.