Here is a Serious Question which involves Kids exposed to Adult/Mature Content on the internet, and is this legal?

As we all know most Adult 18+ Websites, or most that i see have an 18+ Warning on them which explains the adult content and says if you are under the age of 18+ to leave, and redirects to google.com or something, and even registering with one of these sites you require to provide a Credit Card,  Real Life Information at least your name, and such.

Linden Lab on the other hand does not, since Linden Lab merged the Teen Grid with the adult grid I noticed while playing Second Life a month or two ago they made a serious change which can effect everyone who plays this game.

You are no longer Required to provide any type of Real Life ID to age verify, this means that as Second Life has Adult 18+ Rated Areas your kids could be being exposed to adult, and mature conduct just by using this service, without any warning, now I agree that parents should watch their kids, and Teens should know better, but this isn't always the case.

So Linden Lab has changed the following.

1. You do not have to provide any RL information when you sign up for an account, not even your name.

2. You do not have to Put your Real Age, and you can still age verify without any ID.

3. You do not have to Register with any Real Email, they send no verification email, this means anyone can register an alternate account under your email address, this means someone could register under an email, and grief pretending to be the actual user, and Linden Lab could ban all accounts registered to that email account, usually temporary if you appeal it and contact them, but even they made the contacting process harder when you get banned to appeal it, or terminated, This can be abused by Griefers.

4. You can still register as many accounts as you want by using Proxies/VPN services, and an illegal cheat client to spoof your IP/Mac, and not get caught, so basically you can go crash 5 simulators in SL get banned, and they can't trace it back to your main account, although it is best to always swap your Router, or change your gateway/modem just incase, and route through two VPN/proxies to be extra safe when griefing.

What is Linden Lab doing, I honestly have no idea, I mean I have been a user of SL for 3 years now, a little more than that, been griefed by many residents, been harassed by the Owner of Gemin Industries, Skills Hak who was a creator of Emerald, accused of being a CopyBotter by him some of his friends, Harassed by Zfire Xue, and many other residents in some RP sims which were all breaking the SL Terms OF Service by stealing from our content developers in this game.

Linden Lab has just made it easier for Griefers & Trolls to grief in this game.

I Mean I myself have a lot of 16 year old friends in this game, but I also do adult RP sometimes, and now I can't know exactly who is actually an adult, and I don't want to be caught by Chris Hansen doing something illegal, nor will I be held responsible for such as it is Linden Lab's fault for this.

I also Called Linden Lab and confirmed they require NO Real Life ID to Age Verify, it was a change, not a bug, or exploit so they told me.

I am quite sure this has been abused many times already, and the only way for a fix is if Linden Lab revokes all Age Verification from Second Life prior to this change they made with age verification, and requires RL ID to age verify.

This is pretty gross if you've ever "played" SL and SEEN some of the stuff in the adult areas.  I mean....I'm talking seriously gross, like.....with humans and horses and shit.  And I'm not even going to say the WORST thing I've seen.  And you can run across this stuff just by...LITERALLY....exploring the travel links on the map.  Just a mis-click and a kid could be seeing something that THIS adult wishes she could erase from her memory.  MY fault entirely.  However, some people just won't be responsible for their kids.  I think Linden Labs needs to......welll......They need to do SOMETHING.

You're the first long time resident that I've heard refer to SL as a game.  I guess it's changed a lot since I was last online two years ago ... except for the griefers.

Originally posted by Unlight

You're the first long time resident that I've heard refer to SL as a game.  I guess it's changed a lot since I was last online two years ago ... except for the griefers.

It's not a game.  It's a glorified porn chat.  Just my opinion.  Either way....it's no place for kids.

you probably should not of brought this info to bare/viewpoint etc.. it was all over 4chan, expect sh** to get a ton worse now lol..

oh and make sure you got good legal help hehe..

Originally posted by just1opinion

Originally posted by Unlight

You're the first long time resident that I've heard refer to SL as a game.  I guess it's changed a lot since I was last online two years ago ... except for the griefers.

 

It's not a game.  It's a glorified porn chat.  Just my opinion.  Either way....it's no place for kids.

It is what you make of it.  It just happens that many want it to indulge in fantasies that might not be possible in RL.  Chalk it up to the bullshit sexually repressed societies and/or crappy relationships that many find themselves stuck in.  Besides, when I was there last, there were far, far more PG places to visit than R-rated.  I'm always amazed that people find it so difficult to find them.

And yeah, it was never a place for kids -- with or without the adult content.

What was the old way of ID people for age? Did it work or could anyone just punch in a date? This reminds me of the McD thing where parents complained about McD putting toys into happymeals that made their kids fat and out of control. Really, got a problem with what your kids see's on the internet...DONT LET THEM US IT. What happen to trust between kids and parents? The old days Ma and Pa left alcohol in the fridge, car keys were tossed on the table and when we said we were going to Lil' joies house..back at 10, we were back.

The problem is parents, catch kids onsite where they are not suppose to be...take away the PC until they can learn.

frankly if you ask me... programs like SL, habo hotel or that junk imvu.. should not allow anyone under the age of 16 to use them (16 is legal consenting age here soo im using that as a base suggested age)

cause frankly all those great 3d chat programs that everyone treats like its all the rage... is nothing more then a glorified over priced 3d smut program... 

i cant even count how many people you run in to on programs like imvu that use it solely as a cybersex chat-athon... doesnt matter if you are 10yrs old or 70yrs old they will cyber you.. and best part is.. you can set any age you want.. there is no age requirement to sign up or proof of age unless you buy imvu's 20usd Adult pass program (like you really need it to "fool" around..... >>")

so ya im not shocked by this... SL is just following the trend of 3d chat programs that are turning to sex as a money making system... we all know clean chatting is limited to the check out line at a super market...

In the past, to age verify, you had to enter a drivers license, your social security number, passport information, or credit card information. The choice was yours based on what you had. It was fairly full-proof minus identity theft which goes beyond this game.

Most just used their credit information cause they were buying Linden money anyway so it was working as intended. A few slipped through with mommy's credit card but thats a parental fail, not a fault of the game.

These changes are disturbing to say the least...

Originally posted by Achillez

In the past, to age verify, you had to enter a drivers license, your social security number, passport information, or credit card information. The choice was yours based on what you had. It was fairly full-proof minus identity theft which goes beyond this game.

Most just used their credit information cause they were buying Linden money anyway so it was working as intended. A few slipped through with mommy's credit card but thats a parental fail, not a fault of the game.

These changes are disturbing to say the least...

 Surely you jest, if by "full-proff" you mean fool-proof, I have to disagree with you. How hard is it for  a teenage undrage to get mommies or dadies info? Parents supply kids with Credit Card info. all the time for other games not to mention if the kid wants do get on she will simple...procure whatever info. is needed. If a company wants to have a game for mature crowd then it is up to the parents to assure the kid does not use the $1000,00 PC for such use.

Originally posted by seabeast

Originally posted by Achillez

In the past, to age verify, you had to enter a drivers license, your social security number, passport information, or credit card information. The choice was yours based on what you had. It was fairly full-proof minus identity theft which goes beyond this game.

Most just used their credit information cause they were buying Linden money anyway so it was working as intended. A few slipped through with mommy's credit card but thats a parental fail, not a fault of the game.

These changes are disturbing to say the least...

 Surely you jest, if by "full-proff" you mean fool-proof, I have to disagree with you. How hard is it for  a teenage undrage to get mommies or dadies info? Parents supply kids with Credit Card info. all the time for other games not to mention if the kid wants do get on she will simple...procure whatever info. is needed. If a company wants to have a game for mature crowd then it is up to the parents to assure the kid does not use the $1000,00 PC for such use.

Pretty sure I covered your response in my answer. Kids getting a hold of their parents information is the parents problem, not the games or companies.

Frankly, the only real answer to anything regarding a game of this kind is parental supervision, period. Parents not paying attention to what their kids are doing will be the only reason their kids see any of the "bad" things any of the games of this sort have in them.

Besides, once a kid hits around 13 anyway, there is nothing in any game they won't have already at least heard about in a public school or at a friends house... lol

Still don't agree with LL's decision to make things even easier to gain access and grief the piss out of people. Its already bad enough... they just seem to be making more work for themselves with these, imo.

Second Life is pretty much the virtual version of the internet. When everyone is in control of the world with no limits, you're going to end up with a lot of sex. Just like when america first started, whore houses were everywhere. ITs not new, we're just more aware of it now.

I agree that "regular" SL is no place for kids, but LL took steps to keep them from adult content, which probably cut really deep into their profits as well as many many many adult and even risque vendor profits. Because a lot of people (adults) will probably never bother giving out their info to access adult content. But the children (who are usually snot nosed perverts anyway) are too important, right?