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Second Life could sexually exploit children via Internet, Rep. Mark Kirk says — chicagotribune.com
This would be silly if it wasn’t so scary. Do people actually spend that little time doing their homework? I agree with this article below, SL’s got one of the better systems for age checking, and since it has it’s own ‘teen grid’, and people on the main grid know that it is a TOS violation to even pretend to be younger than 18 (and I know people report violations), I’d actually rather have teens on the teen grid (and children under 13 out playing in physical activities), than doing most other things on the internet. There are potential dangers everywhere. Let’s focus on the ones that present a more clear potential for danger for children. Safe and well funded early learning perhaps? Marketing of unhealthy foods to children?
Second Life a danger to children? Lawmaker trawls for votes
It’s easy to understand the mainstream media’s fascination with Second Life: on paper, it looks like a big story. All those millions of players, real money being made, people opening virtual offices… the list goes on and on. However, the number of actual players is often in question, and the “game” isn’t exactly user-friendly. Still, that doesn’t keep the hype-train from chugging along. The next story? According to Congressman Mark Kirk (R-IL), Second Life is a danger to children.
“If you ask: Do you know about MySpace? The average parent will say yes,” Kirk said, as reported by the Chicago Tribune. “But the average parent doesn’t know anything about Second Life.”
Let’s say a few things here, because Second Life has one of the most amazing PR machines in the history of gaming. Never has a product with so few actual players gotten so many people not very well versed in technology so excited. First up, Kirk is running for reelection in a hotly-contested district, and using technology as a scare tactic to get parents on your side is an easy move. Second, Second Life has age-verification technology in place that meets, and in some cases, exceeds the legal requirements. Third, and perhaps the most importantly, there are far easier ways for predators to find teens in much greater numbers. I suppose that children could be victimized in Second Life if they managed to get in, and then managed to announce their childhood without getting their account yanked, and then happened to meet a predator, but if you’re trolling for youngsters online, Second Life is arguably one of the worst places to do it.
There isn’t anyone who wouldn’t agree that children need to be protected from online predators, but it’s almost as if Rep. Kirk singled out one the least likely places for such predation to occur. Parents should be aware of what their children do online, but Second Life is the close to the least of anyone’s worries in this regard.
