How many times do you have to prove it?
by Tateru Nino 
Mar 11th 2008 at 5:00PM
Filed under: Culture, Second Life, Virtual worlds
One of Second Life's (non-sexual) child avatars -- let's call him "Joe" for the moment -- used Linden Lab's beta Age Verification system to forestall any issues of being possibly suspended for being an underage user.
Unfortunately, "Joe" was subsequently suspended after being abuse-reported as an underage user. Subject to an age-check, he had to provide copies of assorted government-issued identity documentation to Linden Lab's office, where, satisfied that he had proved he was an adult user, his account was re-enabled.
Unfortunately for "Joe", it doesn't end there.
"Joe" was reported and suspended again a month later. And guess what -- he has to send the same identity documentation in again, to prove that he's not a minor.
That apparently makes three times that "Joe" has had to prove his physical age in documentary form (once electronically, and two more times with faxed documentation).
The Second Life kids community is full of stories like these, as well as stories about adult avatars who are operated by users who boast publically about being underage users, yet have never been suspended or age-checked despite numerous reports. We know of at least three of the latter.
How many times is "Joe" going to have to prove his age?
Is there some limit or guideline as to how many times a user must provide documentary evidence of their age to Linden Lab before they are no longer at risk of suspension from abuse-reports alleging that they are underage users?
We've put that last question to Linden Lab, but in our experience, the answer will be something very similar to: "Linden Lab of course cannot comment on specific account sanctions or particular Residents."
We'll be surprised if we get something different, but we're not going to hold our breath on it.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ghen said on 8:52PM 3-11-2008
I'm not surprised. For as innovative as SL might be, LL has absolutely no common sense.
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Patchouli Woollahra said on 10:33PM 3-11-2008
All that and in the meantime, Joe is getting older. and older.
If he wasn't 18 at first, he'll be sooner or later. and then he won't be 18 anymore. Not at this rate xD
I wonder if this is caused by Linden Lab policies on privacy. Mayhaps its time to consider allowing for storage of proofs of age in the system?
Loki said on 8:20AM 3-12-2008
or maybe just a note pad titled "verified" that they can write names on
Kes said on 12:54AM 3-12-2008
I am not a child avatar, but it saddens me greatly to read this. You should be free to have any avatar you want. You shouldn't have to prove your age at all in my opinion, let alone three times.
No one has ever reported me for being underage, because I am tall. But I have not verified my age. Saying a child avatar is likely to be a real child is ridiculous. That's like saying everyone in RL under 4 ft is underage. It's very unfair.
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Jay said on 4:41AM 3-12-2008
I am a child avatar, I know one of my friends has been ARed (Abused Reported) for being underage twice even after he had performed the verification procedure. Lets call him FC.
Likewise for my ex partner, he was ARed as underage after verifying he wasn't, and believe me he is in his late 20s. He can be called SF.
One of those I dislike has also been ARed twice, in a period of just two weeks. This one is TF.
It seems many Kid Haters use the "underage card" as a good way to get back at kid avatars, it is an all too common occurrence. One the verification process means less than zero against.
But despite this... never once have I seen action being taken against the one who files the fraudulent reports.
The process of sending in scans of your national documents takes upwards of a week. A week that person is denied Second Life.
This is grief, yet the perpetrators get away with it.
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Jay said on 5:20AM 3-12-2008
BTW: Is there really a need to say non-sexual every time?
You don't say "Non-paedophilic catholic priest" when talking about Sunday Mass do you?
Or do you really personally see that a community of many thousands of avatars is that tainted by Wonderland-SL?
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Tateru Nino said on 5:34AM 3-12-2008
All too many people can't seem to tell the difference between sexual and non-sexual ageplay - and given the amount of fuzzy and ignorant press about the issue, it seemed best to make it clear.
I hope it's not an adjective that we keep having to use for clarity.
Jacek Antonelli said on 2:12PM 3-12-2008
There seems to be a disconnect in the abuse report handling system. Either the folks handling abuse reports don't have access to the user's verified/unverified status, or they are ignoring it -- as a matter of policy, or perhaps out of their own ill-will.
Unfortunately, the people handling abuse reports, like all people, have their own set of values and biases. The same ignorance or intolerance that motivated the original reporter, could just as well motivate the report handler to ignore the facts and unfairly punish someone they personally dislike.
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Nock Forager said on 2:53AM 3-14-2008
It's very storange. According this story, it seems as if GTeam doesn't have tracking records for each account... If they really ignoring it again and again, it's so...unfair.
Tateru Nino said on 2:59AM 3-14-2008
Well, there's customer service records on every account. It's a mystery as to why this seems to keep happening.
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BasilBrush Dufaux said on 5:02PM 3-16-2008
I registered this account and got sent by mistake to Sl Brasil and got chatting to another lost English speaker, the convo ran:
"Why are you a fox"
"Because Basil Brush is a British CHildren's TV character"
"Oh you are underage then"
"No I watched it as a child 30 years ago"
Then he poofed.
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