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Republican congressman calls for ban on Second Life
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by cynthia yoo | May 8, 2008 at 09:45 pm
405 views | 19 Recommendations | 6 comments
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Rep. Mark Kirk, who is seeking re-election this year, staged a press conference at a library in his suburban Chicago district on Tuesday to highlight what he called the "dangers" of the virtual world to children. Flanked by local officials, he also released a letter asking Federal Trade Commission Chairman William E. Kovacic to "take action to warn parents of the similar dangers and sexually explicit content found on Second Life."Kirk said he was appalled that Second Life has no age verification features built into its registration process, and he claimed that there are "countless locations" outside of the service's teen-designated area where virtual prostitution, drug deals, and "other wholly inappropriate activities" occur.
According to a Chicago Tribune report, Kirk recounted an aide's failed attempt to create an avatar on the site as a 10-year-old--and a subsequently successful attempt to log in as an 18-year-old.
"Sites like Second Life offer no protections to keep kids from virtual "rape rooms," brothels, and drug stores," Kirk said, according to a press release. "If sites like Second Life won't protect kids from obviously inappropriate content, the Congress will."
Second Life creator Linden Lab, for its part, released a statement, according to various local news reports, saying, "Members of the Second Life community, including Linden Lab staff, actively monitor against minors accessing the (adult portion of the) service." But Kirk said company officials have acknowledged that it's possible for teens to get into the adult portion of the service, and vice versa.
Kirk's comments were yet another attempt to drum up support for a bill, which he reintroduced last year, known as the Deleting Online Predators Act.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (6)
at 03:27 on May 9th, 2008
Makes no sense this attack to Second Life (r).
Being in the Mentor Volunteer Program of Linden Lab(r) and as a resident for more than 1.5 years I can asure that all the residents are committed to report all minors on the adult grid. There is an age verification already enforced and several other measures taken in game, like forbiding the entrance to non age verified avatars (old accounts) in mature SIMs.
All the media fuss about minors on the grid isn't anything more than speculation and written by people that don't have the factual and real knowledge of the reality of Second Life.
I'm not American (I live in Portugal, Europe) but it amases me how a Congressman can waste his time and taxpayers money by attacking an online communication platform, where universities and other trustworthy institutions are present and doing a wonderful job in education, arts and technology.
Is he also attacking all the porn, pedofile, violence sites (just to mention a few) that keep popping up on the internet? Is he closing all the newsstands all over the States which show porn magazines to anyone who passes?
Is it not the responsibility of the parents and educators to take care of their children and educate them, explaining what they can and cannot do?
A Congress measure like the one proposed by Mr. Mark Kirk is only a way to gain votes among those moralist that see the phantom of sin and doom everywhere.
Not very nice of you Mr. Kirk...
at 05:02 on May 9th, 2008
cynthia yoo, I like your intro to his story. It's good stuff!
at 08:14 on May 9th, 2008
cynthia yoo, Good stuff. I remember a time when the Republicans were about small government and mind their own businesses. Now they, like the Democrats, have de-evolved into hall monitors and Nannies.
at 14:52 on May 9th, 2008
cynthia yoo, Good Story... my comment to it is above ;)
at 15:01 on May 9th, 2008
So Second Life has to go but GTA IV gets to stay? That would balance out the vice quotient nicely.
at 15:15 on May 9th, 2008
I think this only happens cause Second Life(r) has its own economy actually generating income for some of the residents (and I mean real USD), some of them living exclusively on their activities in world. Of course that all I have written in my first comment doesn't weight in Mr. Kirk's decision, nor does the fact that, among others, Relay for Life has raised thousands of USDollars in Second Life.
GTA IV is just a game where you play computer generated characters no matter how violent or how many sex scenes the game has ;-)