LL's new Age Verification procedure

[Innula Zenovka]

LL's changed the Age Verification procedure, to match that used by most other places on the internet -- that is, you provide them an appropriate date of birth, and they trust you to be telling the truth.

I didn't believe it when I was told about it, so I created an alt to test it, giving my correct DOB.   I then went to her dashboard, chose the Age Verification option, and that asked me to confirm the DOB I'd provided was correct.   This I did, and that took me to a screen confiming that I could now access Adult areas of SL if I chose to adjust my preferences when I logged in next.   So my alt logged in, adjusted her preferences, and  was able to TP off to Zindra  without needing to trouble Aristotle or anyone else, or to put payment info on file.

I was not surprised to see that the landing state at the main Zindra sim is still set to phantom, by the way, so you end up in the river.   It's only about 18 months since Blondin promised to get it fixed.

[Pussycat Catnap]

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Innula Zenovka wrote:

 

I was not surprised to see that the landing state at the main Zindra sim is still set to phantom, by the way, so you end up in the river.   It's only about 18 months since Blondin promised to get it fixed.

---

Hey give him time. It takes a while to click that right mouse button when you're buried in... oh nvm.

 

Actually I don't blame the Lindens AT ALL for any of the troubles in Zindra anymore. Anything can have a rough start - so yeah they started it rough. And they should have fixed it by now. But after seeing how the Zindra residents behave towards each other and the Lindens...

I don't blame the Lindens for giving that place the cold shoulder. They're only human, and a human being can only take so much.

Its good to see verification easier now - but I dread the reception newbies will get when they land over there.

 

[Ishtara Rothschild]

Finally! It's about time. The previous system seemed to be designed to keep potential adult content customers away from SL, not to actually verify anything (such as if people really are the late Elvis Presley). Now they've finally implemented the same time-tested "verification" method that all the other adult sites use.

[Shannon Minoptra]

So, now nothing is ever going to stop minors from getting involved with sex with adults on SL?

Why do teenagers even make teen accounts these days?

[WolfBaginski Bearsfoot]

It's a tangled mess, but since 16-year-olds can lawfully bonk their brains out in RL, here, maybe it doesn't matter so much what they do in SL.

 

[Monica Querrien]

Hmm...if everyone can access adult sims now..hold on to your seats ladies and gentlemen, because we're in for a ride.

[Claireschen Hesten]

i was really surprised when i saw the new age verification lots of us had to use the old form failing that manually verifying which i wouldn't be in any hurry to do again. i like how easy it was to verify the age of my alt  with the new system but i feel it's like a lot of sites that confirm to ask if your over a certain age how many people are going to be honest about their age on the net.
since 16 is the age you can do adult activities in RL legally i don't see a problem if 16-17y/o's want to bend the truth a little with age

[Deltango Vale]

Forgive me, but I cannot help quoting from an article I wrote in January 2008:

The establishment of anonymous accounts in June 2006 opened the doors to underage players. This resulted in international legal scrutiny, increased exposure to legal liability and damaging media coverage. Linden Lab responded by intruding into residents' sexual relationships and expelling two consenting adults for underage roleplay - even though no underage players were involved.

Refusal to close the anonymous accounts and dogged insistence on an ineffective and unsound ID-based age verification system cost Linden Lab considerable political capital with no benefit. ID-based age verification is no better at screening underage players than credit-card verification, nor is it more fair. It rarely works for residents outside their home jurisdictions and, in many countries, it may not even be legal.

http://deltango.wordpress.com/2008/01/23/a-difficult-year-for-second-life/

So, what was the point of all the misery inflicted on everyone concerning age verification and the 'adult' zoning and content policy? Hundreds of landowners frog-marched off the mainland into Camp Zindra, thousands of blog posts on this subject, thousands of man-hours modifying server code, client code and search systems - all for nothing. What an incredible waste of time, effort and resources, all because Linden Lab couldn't sit down and use its brain for ten minutes to formulate a set of intelligent and coherent policies. Worse, no sooner did we go through all that 'adult' turmoil - during which LL repeatedly stated that SL was an 18+ world, i.e. adult - than LL officially announced an open door policy toward underage players. It boggles the mind.

[Ceka Cianci]

it's not an open door policy as far as the grid..they are only open to G..not the whole grid..G is only part of the grid..

LL still needed to make sure everything was separated before they could make a move like they did..that under aged would still have to lie or cheat to enter those areas they are not allowed..

breaking into restricted areas no matter how they do it..they are to blame for breaking in to represent someone they are not..

users in those areas would not fall to blame for looking at everyone in them as  18+..those are 18+ areas..blame falls to the ones breaking the barrier or climbing the wall..if not them then their parents..

not the users..

not unless they snuck under aged people in or knew that people were under aged and in there and did nothing about it and were found out for knowing they were under aged..

 

 

 

 

[Ceka Cianci]

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Shannon Minoptra wrote:

So, now nothing is ever going to stop minors from getting involved with sex with adults on SL?

Why do teenagers even make teen accounts these days?

---

 

 

 

nothing was ever in place to stop them..everyone knew you couldn't stop them..it was to protect everyone by making them lie even more than they did when making their account..to seal the deal..not only lying when the account was created..but a second time in verification to get to that content..

[Bree Giffen]

So are all existing accounts automatically adult enabled based on the age entered at registration? I guess I could try it myself when I get home.

[Ceka Cianci]

i beleive you go into your dashboard and then there is something to click to agree..i saw one in mine even though i already did age verification  lol

 here  is what it said in my dashboard  under he age verification tab..it had my birthday above it and a check box next to this  line..

By checking this box, you're confirming that the date of birth entered above is true and accurate. Adult content in Second Life is just that — for adults only. We'll spell it out for you: if you are under 18, do not check this box! If you are — check it, and off you go!

[Innula Zenovka]

---

Ceka Cianci wrote:

i beleive you go into your dashboard and then there is something to click to agree..i saw one in mine even though i already did age verification  lol

 here  is what it said in my dashboard  under he age verification tab..it had my birthday above it and a check box next to this  line..

By checking this box, you're confirming that the date of birth entered above is true and accurate. Adult content in Second Life is just that — for adults only. We'll spell it out for you:

if you are under 18

, do not check this box!

If you are

— check it, and off you go!

---

But I'm not under 18; I'm an adult and over 18 -- what do they want me to do?

[Ceka Cianci]

---

Innula Zenovka wrote:

---

Ceka Cianci wrote:

i beleive you go into your dashboard and then there is something to click to agree..i saw one in mine even though i already did age verification  lol

 here  is what it said in my dashboard  under he age verification tab..it had my birthday above it and a check box next to this  line..

By checking this box, you're confirming that the date of birth entered above is true and accurate. Adult content in Second Life is just that — for adults only. We'll spell it out for you:

if you are under 18

, do not check this box!

If you are

— check it, and off you go!

---

But I'm

not

under

18; I'm an adult and

over

18 -- what do they want me to do?

---

LOL

do they have to spell it our for you too? Damnit!! \o/ why are you asking me anyways..I am just the messanger!! I don't even know what they are asking me half the time Oo

hehehehe

[Lasher Oh]

Very well put, I still shudder from the memory of endless hours of trouble they forced on the adult community when they pushed us onto the Zindra bound cattle trucks. So where does that place the 'predictable experience' concept now I wonder.

Funny there was no official announcement about this  either in the blog or in the Adult community shindigs.

My guess is there's a new legal team in town the old one  got rich pickin's from their dodgy advice but couldn't squeeze out anymore so in comes the new blood resets the game and starts all over - just waiting now for the  reintroduction of gambling.

 

^L^

[Knowl Paine]

There was an announcement but not by LL

Jun 27, 2011 – WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court says California cannot ban the rental or sale of violent video games to children.

[Vania Chaplin]

---

Deltango Vale wrote:

(...)

What an incredible waste of time, effort and resources, all because Linden Lab couldn't sit down and use its brain for ten minutes to formulate a set of intelligent and coherent policies. Worse, no sooner did we go through all that 'adult' turmoil - during which LL repeatedly stated that SL was an 18+ world, i.e. adult - than LL officially announced an open door policy toward underage players.

It boggles the mind.

---

"O cérebro é uma coisa maravilhosa... todos deveriam ter um!" (Brain is a wonderful thing... everybody should have one!)

Pierluigi Piazzi (Brazilian teacher of physics)

[Gooden Uggla]

So... everything related to age verification, all the economy-destroying bullsh*t surrounding the forced ghetto at Zindra was a great big waste of time.

 

Congrats LL, a new low, even for you...

[Penny Patton]

---

Knowl Paine wrote:

There was an announcement but not by LL

Jun 27, 2011 – WASHINGTON — The

Supreme Court

says

California

cannot ban the rental or sale of violent video

games

to children.

---

Talk about non-sequitur. These topics are not related at all.

Anyways, I'm sure someone must have pointed it out by now but it's worth saying again, any minor could easily grab a celebrity's ID info off the internet and "verify" through the old system. It was worthless and broken. It probably kept more legitimate, rule abiding adults out than minors.

[Innula Zenovka]

---

Gooden Uggla wrote:

So... everything related to age verification, all the economy-destroying bullsh*t surrounding the forced ghetto at Zindra was a great big waste of time.

 

Congrats LL, a new low, even for you...

---

I don't know if it was all a great big waste of time.   I always had the impression -- and the more I heard from Blondin at Adult Content office hours, the stronger this impression became -- that LL were primarily interested in what the Mainland, search and (to a lesser extent) the Marketplace looked like and that "will no one think of the children???" was all a bit of a red herring.  

IOW, I don't think, "we've got to keep the naughty stuff out of children's impressionable eyes or we'll get sued/you'll get sued/Congressman Snooks will get upset and have a law passed" was ever the real worry.   It's just someone thought that might sound a bit better than "all this in-your-face sex stuff everywhere you turn looks rather tacky and is a bit of embarassment when we're showing the place off".   

[Darrius Gothly]

Let's boil this down to what really matters .. Lawsuits.

They are using a system that has been challenged in the courts and upheld. By insisting the customer "Verify" their age, they wash their hands of any liability. You can ask people to tell the truth, you can ask them a second time to make sure they are telling the truth. But if they lie both times, that's on them, not you.

The PITA standing on our head and whistling Dixie antics we've all been shoved through in the past are not "wasted effort". They are necessary to draw a clear and concise boundary between Adult and non-Adult content. Again, if someone lies about their age then they are responsible, not LL. LL is only responsible for making sure the Adult stuff stays behind "Adult Only" barriers.

BTW: Didn't Blondin leave? If my memory is correct, it's gonna be a little while longer before he gets around to fixing that problem at Zindra.

[Deltango Vale]

"But if they lie both times, that's on them, not you."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

When this was suggested to Linden Lab four years ago, the response was:

[16:09] Tali Rosca: No. But are there plans to allow teens on the main grid? (Irrespective of keeping the teen grid alive as-is, as a protected sandbox)

[16:10] Blondin Linden: NO

[16:10] Blondin Linden: LET ME SAY THAT 2X – NO

Oops, that was Linden Lab's response to the question of whether underage players would be allowed officially into SL. Linden Lab's response to the proposal of a simple verification system (as now implemented) was that it was impossible, could not be done, was ineffective, was not legal, yadayadayada.

For a brief overview of the long, arduous, grinding, painful history of this subject, see:

http://deltango.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/linden-lab-sexual-policy/

[Ceka Cianci]

---

Deltango Vale wrote:

"But if they lie both times, that's on them, not you."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

When this was suggested to Linden Lab four years ago, the response was:

[16:09] Tali Rosca: No. But are there plans to allow teens on the main grid? (Irrespective of keeping the teen grid alive as-is, as a protected sandbox)

[16:10] Blondin Linden: NO

[16:10] Blondin Linden: LET ME SAY THAT 2X – NO

Oops, that was Linden Lab's response to the question of whether underage players would be allowed officially into SL. Linden Lab's response to the proposal of a simple verification system (as now implemented) was that it was impossible, could not be done, was ineffective, was not legal, yadayadayada.

For a brief overview of the long, arduous, grinding, painful history of this subject, see:

http://deltango.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/linden-lab-sexual-policy/



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that was blondins response when it wasn't in the plans yet..he had no place to say yes to something just being kicked around the office and not on the list of things that are happening..

so when asked are there any plans for this..he answered no

he can't say yes to something that may not have been planned until 3 years later..A lot have called him a liar for somethinghe said back in early 2009..

 

 

[Void Singer]

and 4 years ago there were no plans... because at that time, they didn't have enough control of content to sell the idea.

once they ghettoized the adult regions (instead of more sanely sandboxing the G regions), bought out (and degraded) the web markets, and applied other changes, it became more salable an idea.... never mind that LL's CEO spot has changed 3 times since then, and many of the old staff have gone...

 

not to say no one expected it, we all knew it would happen eventually.

[Anaiya Arnold]

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Ceka Cianci wrote:

it's not an open door policy as far as the grid..they are only open to G..not the whole grid..G is only part of the grid..

LL still needed to make sure everything was separated before they could make a move like they did..that under aged would still have to lie or cheat to enter those areas they are not allowed..

Which all seems rather irrelevant if the point is to prevent them from accessing adult content, since G rated land conjoins M rated land and one can stand in G rated land and not only see content in moderate land, but interact with it, including vendors selling content teens are not supposed to have...

Teens do not need to tell a single lie to buy non-G rated content from a vendor situated on an M-rated parcel that conjoins a G-rated parcel.

Another hot mess brought to you by the fine folks at the Lab.

@Darrius, no such clear barrier exists given the fact that G and M sit side by side all over the mainland and teens can interact with content (including vendors) on M rated land.  Of course this problem could and would have been avoided entirely if they'd frogmarched the G rated content off to it's own continent...