Controversial age verification system begins

Concierge customers who look carefully at accounts will have noticed a new heading recently introduced: Age Verification. As announced some time ago by Linden Lab on their blog, Second Life clients are now being asked to use an age verification system to “prove” their age and location.

There is considerable controversy and disquiet surrounding the company who has been contracted to do the third party verification for Linden Lab, even though they claim not to retain any information. As Reuters reported, premature announcement of the involvment of Artistotle International Inc, caused a furore in May and all reference to their involvement has been expunged on the blog posts. People are very unhappy about the choice of this company to provide the third-party services.

It seems that someone has already been verified using a spoof identity.  Meanwhile other commentators since May have been unimpressed with the Linden promise that the details and data will not be retained.

As I wrote then, and believe now, unless someone proposes making webcams a requirement for logging in,  age verification will do nothing more than confirm that there is an adult with a driving licence or passport accessible to a particular resident, whatever their age … and if fabricated identities are confirmed, then it makes even that requirement unnecessary.