Your2ndPlace

Fox news are carrying a story about the dangers of Second Life for children.

The headline "Does the Internet site Second Life pose a risk for kids?".

Here's a tip for Fox news and Mark Kirk who wants to issue a warning. Second Life main grid is 18+. No if's, no but's, no why's, no wherefores. Kids should not be on the main grid. Kids are not welcome on the main grid. Kids are lying to get on the main grid. Why oh why is it so hard to get this message across? Why does nobody ever mention this. Channel 5 don't mention it, SKY don't mention it and now FOX aren't mentioning it.

Linden Lab provide a teen grid, with checks and balances that make the teen grid a lot more safe for children than sites like Myspace, facebook and Bebo. There's never any mention of this in these news reports, that's grossly unfair to Linden Lab.

Let's deal with some of the issues here, kids can get onto the main grid. The issue is how to prove identity on the internet and quite frankly, it's simply not possible. However, Mark Kirk would do well to put pressure on Visa and Mastercard to flag whether a card number is owned by an eighteen year old or not. This won't mean Visa and Mastercard are held responsible if a minor uses the card of an adult, but it does get around the silly situation of kids with cards being able to access adult content with their own card.

Linden Lab in turn should change their own Identity process to a credit card based one. Integrity can confirm if someone is over 18 via name, address and date of birth, Linden Lab should then charge a nominal fee to a credit card and if the credit card details match the details Integrity confirm then you have a match. The credit card payment gives the cardholder an audit trail, something which is lacking with the current farcical system.

Overall the message needs to be made loud and clear to parents, 18+ means 18+. It doesn't mean 18+ (but it looks like a computer game so it doesn't really mean 18+), it means 18+ and parents need to stop burying their heads in the sand over what their kids are doing on their computers, because there are a hell of a lot more dangerous places for their kids to go than Second Life.

So Mark Kirk, by all means point out that the main grid is 18+, by all means point out that parents should be aware of their kids activities, but make sure you give the full facts when you're talking about an issue and at least give Linden Lab credit for working to ensure the teen grid is a child safe environment, which is a fine example to other sites.

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