Age verification: won’t work

The Linden blog includes a number of posts about the proprosed new Age Verification system. I must admit that initially I was alarmed by this because it looks likely that I am going to have trouble proving my age. Despite my advanced years of 48, I have neither driving licence nor passport, and the UK has no identity card, thank goodness, at present.

After some thought, and talking to friends about the proposed system of age verification, I became more alarmed at the idea of placing my information in the hands of a data-mining US company than at the possibility that I may not be able to satisfy them even if I try, and I think this view is shared by many of the people in both the US and the rest of the world.

The Blog claims that the system is “voluntary”, but it seems to me that if you are working in SL it is “voluntary” in the same way that the driving licence is voluntary — you don’t have to have one unless you wish to drive, at which point it is not voluntary but a statutory requirement. Age verification remains voluntary in that you will not be forced to comply with it in order to visit SL, but if you wish to own adult-rated content, or visit adult-rated sims, it appears that it will be a requirement, and stops being voluntary.

Many people have serious problems with the whole philosophy behind the change. Many residents protested when accounts became a free-for-all, without any credit card or verification data required at all. Those same people may feel very alarmed at the request for them to provide sensitive information to a company which has collated information for political parties, and most expecially, which can be required to cough up their information if demanded by the US government.

My major objection to it is that it can’t work, however. The very nature of SL is that no one can ever know exactly who is sitting at the computer. You can have the best age verification process in the world in place, and still have a child sitting at the computer. That’s true for porn sites, and it’s true for SL too.

Most people will follow the rules. for those that don’t, no amount of verification will help. A 16 or 17 year old who can work out how to use Dad’s credit card to pay for their account can surely work out how to use Dad’s driving licence to verify his age. How does the extra layer of security help?

I do think that the triple rating of sims and content is a very good idea. I am not offended by nudity of avatars or people in RL, and I would not regard naked men or women in art as pornography. I think it would be good to be able to flag up the difference between mature — that is may involve nudity and avatar sex — and adult: may involve real pornography or graphic representations of sexual content. I think the ratings should be voluntary.

I hope that Linden Lab thinks again about the way in which they institute age verification. Otherwise it looks likely that I for one will be banned from holding or visiting adult content.