We are in the process of implementing an improved electronic age verification system that will verify Residents’ ages by using different forms of identification, such as national identification numbers, passports, and social security numbers. This will enable us and our Residents to block mature content from anyone who has not affirmatively verified they are an adult.”

Why bother blocking mature content when access to the grid is what should be blocked? Verify you are over 18 to get onto the 18+ grid, it seems quite straightforward.

I hope Lindens appreciate that they could cause a serious International Incident by asking a US company to acquire such senstive information as passport ids (I’m not giving that to anyone bar the proper legal authorities) from European members. I am not over stating the position - air travel between the two continents was almost disrupted last year by a dispute between the US Govt and the European Commission over the demands of the US Government for sensitive passenger travel information (aka passport data etc). The Commission imposed strict safeguards on the use of such data - ie who could see it, store it etc etc before the measures were approved.

Please think again OR at the very least explore the possibility of using a European provider to collect this data. If I have extremely sensitive data stored somewhere - I want to be able to have the full protection available under MY laws for it.

Hmm… Bye bye roleplaying.

There are all sorts of rape and child sex places to go. They aren’t that hard to find if you really look. I’ve been trying to report this for ages now… at least someone has finally taken action.

How many times will people in blogs have to say : ASK 1$ ONE TIME fee in stead of free profiles and there is NO NEED for anonymity (unless Linden Lab cannot be trusted with their customer database, which I think isn’t the case).

Don’t take HALVE measures. Introducing age and identity verification and then letting the parcel owners set flags for mature content is not smart! And if LL thinks that with doing so there are no longer liable if minors access mature content because the landowner didn’t (willingly or by forgetting) set the flag, then think again. Just as with the casino’s the law is very clear : “…everybody who directly or INDIRECTLY contributes to …”.

So, Matures area’s are mature area’s! Period!

Of course then Casino’s would be in mature area’s and there we hit a soft spot. We want everybody to be able to go to Casino’s, so we build a HALVE solution and create a ‘parcel adult content’ flag.

Do all LL employees have a casino or so?

LL, for once do it right! You don’t want to be the “Child Porn” promoters by passive participations. The Germans said about Hitler (after WWII) “We didn’t know!”, you don’t want to be the ones that want to repeat that in relation to child porn, not after you where told so many times!!!

Sorry but … There MUST be a line between reality and Fantasy. There is NO excuse to cross that line whatsoever. I do not condone the real life acts being railed against here - just as I do not condone ANYONE stepping over the line and attempting to apply real life laws in a place where those they apply to, be it ‘children’, ‘animals’, or anything else, simply do not truly exist.

I did not bother to read all of the comments but I am certain someone has already said that an Avatar is not real. That SHOULD be where the line is drawn, it SHOULD be the point where laws concerning REAL people cease.

Again, there is no excuse for the mindset which makes people think that what goes on in Second Life is somehow REAL.

Personally, along with many residents, I am not happy about being forced to provide my personal details, if I wish to partake in adult activity or even, perhaps, visit mature sims. Why not just ask us to stand, naked, in a busy shopping mall, in RL?

I understand WHY LL want to perform age and identity verification, even though they are not being fully honest about their reasons, although their intentions are good (if it is for the reason I think it is). However, we residents cannot be guaranteed, 100%, that some of our information will not fall into the wrong hands. Mistakes happen.

I do, however, find it offensive to want to charge any fee, at all, for this service (I don’t care whether or not a resident is a Premium member or not, as I see this has become an issue with some residents).

But I can tell you that this will NOT work. People will ALWAYS find a way of side-stepping this process, whether they are paedophiles or underage users.

So, unfortunately, as much as this hurts my fingers to type, the only appropriate and practical action would be to implement some bans, such as child avatars.

I understand many people use these “costumes” as family role play, but, unfortunately, avatars are visually stimulating, hence the use of them in sexplay and I am sure the majority of residents would vote for the banning of child avatars - especially considering how much sexual ageplay occurs in SL.

Which brings me to my next point. If the decision is made to ban certain aspects or activities in SL, this will, obviously, cause unhappiness as most people will debate, to the last letter, about what should and should not be banned, but I have faith common sense will prevail!

I would suggest Lindens open a forum, whereby residents can voice what they feel is offensive in SL and for Lindens to, seriously, take into account what the residents do and do not want.

Mark my words, in the long run, the whole of the internet will end up being policied, to a degree, so Lindens, along with the residents’ opinions, may as well make this a smooth ride.