Tag: SL News

Age verification – the facts

Posted on by Inara Pey

In order to try and clear up some confusion and misconceptions relating the the upcoming Adult Content changes within Second Life, particularly around the question of age verification, I put out a NC to friends and members of my personal Group in-world recently, and thought it would be a good idea to reproduce (and expand) upon it here.

Why is Verification Required?

Because Linden Lab is making substantial changes to the way in which Second Life operates, particularly in reference to “adult content”. The details can be found elsewhere, however for the purposes of this blog entry, suffice it to say that part of the changes will result in land – and the sim level – gaining two new flags “Adult” and “Age Verified” and changes to filter-out “adult” material from SL in-world searches.

What kinds of Verification are there?

Blondin Linden, in replying to questions from Couldbe Yue, indicates there will be two means of being verified, and that for the moment it would appear to be an “either / or” situation:

  • Account verification requires a user to have payment information on file (PIOF) or Payment information used (PIU) in-world, or have given their payment details to XStreetSL. This will be sufficient to provide access to all adult-related content with the exception of land flagged with Age Verification.
  • Age verification requires (as it always has) verification via the Integrity Aristotle system. This will provide access to all adult content within SL, including land flagged as requiring Age Verification.

There are a couple of flaws in this arrangement that may yet lead to changes:

  • Some credit card companies (e.g Visa) have effectively decoupled age verification from their criteria and terms of use. So the use of credit card details as a verification of age is potentially problematical for Linden Lab going forward as Visa (the largest supplier of credit cards in the world) now give no guarantee as to the age of card users
  • The “Age verification” flag appears to be down to the land owner to set; it is difficult to see many situations where this will be the case, as few will likely want to put users off of visiting their land by making them go through the Aristotle Integrity verification process.

So it is entirely possible things may further change between now and the end of June.

The Age Verification Process

The only means at present of age verification is via Aristotle Integrity using the Age Verification link on your My Account page of the SecondLife website. While there are concerns – rightly so – about the system’s ability to verify accurate / inaccurate information & whether it is actually an effective means of ring-fencing a service, I don’t intend to enter that debate. All I’d like to do here is clear up a few misconceptions relating to the service that seem to be circulating.

  • “Aristotle breaks EU law”. No. Integrity is used in every major country in the the EU. Of the top 10 countries employing the software, 6 are EU nations: UK, the Republic of Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain
  • “The information is US-centric and doesn’t apply anywhere else”. No. Set your country of origin when completing the form, and then select the verification criteria applicable to your country
  • “You don’t know what information is being stored / datamined”. Linden Lab state outright that no personal information is stored by either Linden Lab or Aristotle-Integrity, the only caveat being “that [which] is required by law, i.e. pursuant to a law enforcement investigation and proper legal process”

Things (good and bad) to bear in mind:

  • The system is currently accepted by some 152 countries worldwide as a “safe” means of verification
  • The process is a simple secure system to secure system check. The data you provide is ostensibly validated against government-held information relating to you. This does not result in further information relating to you being passed by Integrity or any information about you being passed to Linden Lab. It results in a simple “tick-in-the-box” that you are age verified
  • While Aristotle as a company have had certification under the EU / US Safe Harbour data policy, the certification is currently listed as not current
  • It’s pretty easy to fool the system – Elvis Presley appears to be one of the most frequently-verified people to have used Integrity.

Yes, there are broader concerns relating to Aristole as a company and the use of more detailed information it captures. But again, these need to be balanced against several factors, including a) the actual information being asked for as a part of this verification process, and b) the systems referred to in articles such as the Vanity Fair link relate not to Integrity, but to Aristotle’s other products.

But – if you are concerned, there is an easy answer: don’t use Age Verification; it is very probable that the majority of “Adult” access will be set to “Account Verified” rather than “Age Verified” – at least initially.

Hope this clears things up a little!

LL to redefine “Adult content”

Posted on by Inara Pey

Adult content has always been a part of the Second Life experience. In this it is fair to say that not only have Linden Lab been aware of it given that the main grid is for “over 18s” – they have tacitly promoted many aspects of adult content in order to increase their user-base (look at the number of adult content references in the welcome areas for proof of this).

But…..sensitivities exists, and not just with regard to protecting minors – there are many users in SL who would just as soon they were not confronted with “adult” activities at every turn – whether those activities are sexual in nature, incorporated BDSM or are “simply” related to combat environments. Therefore, it is fair to say that some level of control to limit the risk of unwanted exposure to “adult” material should be part and parcel of the Second Life experience.

So it is no surprise that Linden Lab today make this announcement. On the surface it sounds pretty reasonable – almost a straighforward tightening of existing controls (we are, after all, already able to remove adult content from the results of searches; there is already something of an age verification system within SL, etc.).

However, appearances can be deceptive. Anyone with even the slightest interest in “adult” content reading this announcement and following the included links should have every right to feel concerned at the alarm bells the Lab’s words set clanging away.

Firstly there is the announcement of the intent to “relocate” those Mainland users with “adult content” to a new region within Second Life. Then there is Linden Lab’s amazingly broad description of the term “adult content”. so broad is it that it is actually hard to see where the line will be drawn, given that even photo-realistic skins could now be classified as “adult”, and thus the creators of such products with Mainland stores could be forced into relocating.

Of course, various individuals within Linden Lab (such as Jeska linden) have been quick to leap in with assurances that only “extreme” adult content will be affected. But where do you draw the line at “extreme”? While I think it fair to say that the majority of us view harsh sexual representations such as gross torture, snuff, gore, etc., as extreme; it is equally true than some people not involved in BDSM find mild whippings or floggings unacceptable, while others view any form of BDSM practice as “deviant” and quite possibly “extreme”.

Then there is matter of combat simulations. Where do they become extreme? Is shooting someone and seeing blood splatter from them extreme? Is decapitation in the field of combat extreme? Some may well say yes – and yet scenes such as this are precisely what is seen in many, many computer games, not all of them rated over 18 and thus not regarded as “adult content”.

And that’s the problem. While few of us would by-and-large disagree on what constitutes “extreme” acts of violence when taken to the obvious extremes of mutilation, etc., there is an awfully big grey area in which one person’s enjoyment is another person’s anathema.

So how then do you establish guidelines that are not going to be equally open to subjective interpretation and could lead to the unnecessary and involuntary forced relocation of Mainland users to a new “adult themed” continent.

And therein lies another rub. Not only would the forced relocation of Mainland users create a huge upheaval in people’s Second Lives (not to mention the associated ill-will towards Linden Lab it will generate) – it could quite possibly start a stampede towards private sims that could effectively kill-off large tracts of the Mainland. Even with the price differentials between Mainaland and private islands, there are doubtless many who will take a gamble and sell-up their Mainland holdings and move to private island sims rather than end-up in a glorified ghetto.

So what is the alternative? Some have suggested that, rather than creating an “adult content mainland”, Linden lab sould move in the other direction – create a wholly PG environment, possibly in the new Ursula content, and restrict all new SL users to this continent until such time as they opt to become Age Verified and/or place Payment Information On File.

However, it is not a complete answer. What about those who already have a stake in the Mainland and who are sensitive to any number of “adult” activities? They’d be unaffected by the creation of such a new PG-rated continent, so it could be argued that such a move fails to address the position in which they find themselves. Again, one of the major arguments roled out by early supporters of this proposed approach by Linden Lab is that it will mean that people are no longer “at risk” of buying a mainland parcel for their home and then finding they suddenly have a sex club as a neighbour – but these arguments are invalidated on two counts:

  1. Mainland is already zoned between Mature and PG: if people opt to purchase land on a Mature rated sim, then they must be aware of the risk they are taking in doing so
  2. Even under the new proposals – if the vague guidelines suggested by Jeska Linden et al are observed, then a move of “extreme” adult content won’t make one itoa of difference to where the majority of Mainland sex clubs are located because they won’t meet the classification of “extreme” adult content as given.

Does this mean that such people are stuck with their situation? No. How to re-align the Mainland to suit all sensibilities is a headache – and it is one of Linden Lab’s own making for failing to properly consider the nature of “adult” and “mature” activities from the outset and defining guidelines that were so vague as to be worthless. Again, one of the simplest guidelines that could have been adapted was that all Mainland residential land must be rated PG. That would have avoided many of the problems people now face vis-a-vis finding themselves with sex clubs sitting next door.

Even so, establishing a G or PG continent for new users offers many benefits over an ill-conceived move of Mainland adult content to its own continent:

  • It provides an acceptable environment for SL users of all ages – this being a particular concern given Philip Rosedale’s statements that he would like to see the main grid and Teen Grid “come together” in the neasr future
  • It provides a suitable environment for those corporate entities who wich to have a presence within SL but who are concerned with the more adult elements of the game with a safe environment in which to set-up shop
  • It could provide an environment where Mainland residents with concerns over Mature content could voluntarily relocate to (OK, this is’nt a perfectly straightforward thing, given the complexities of land ownership and rental, etc., but it could be worked through)
  • It provides a focal point for the who revamp of the “first hour experience” for new users

But it is not perfect. Doubtless there are those who would view such a G/PG-reated continent as the perfect target for mass griefings of the IACFPA* variety, which would totally undermine the function of such an environment. But it has to he said that such a risk aside, this step is infinitely preferably to what amounts to an otherwise forced relocation of what is liable to be – whether Linden Lab and non-adult oriented users like it or not – a very large section of the SL community.

But right now, this matter is simply too important for any of us with the remotest interest in adult activities -whether we engage in BSM, whether we enjoy lumping each other over the head with sharp bits of metal or pumping holes in one another using bang sticks, or whether we simply spend our time as nude models – to remain quiet.

So I strongly urge all of you still reading this blog to follow the link above – read the announcement, check-out the linked FAQs and then make sure your voice is poisitively heard in the forums.

  • It is important that any definition of “adult” content is properly conceived to achieve a genuine balance of interests, rather than a Lindenesque interpretation of “resident’s interests”
  • Whether or not you own land on the Mainland, input into the relocation debate is important if we are to prevent a potentially damaging route march of enforced relocations and the possible creation of a “ghetto continent” and sub-culture within SL.

*IACFPA – the Infamous Ashe Chung Flying Penises Attack, when a press conference with Anshe Chung was disrupted by the appearance of hundreds of flying penises….