Op/Ed: I’m Too Old for This…
Writing by Green Guy on Saturday, 15 of December , 2007 at 6:22 pm
Why are Residents believing in Linden Lab’s proclamations?
by Jessica Holyoke
The more people discuss Age Verification, the more questions are raised.  The biggest one is why are Residents believing in Linden Lab’s proclamations.
The Lab states that “[w]hile not foolproof, age verification can provide an additional layer of trust for inworld businesses and Residents. It also helps ensure that minors can’t gain access to inappropriate adult, mature content in Second Life.” In the first sentence, taken from the Knowledge Base FAQ given on the blog, it suggests that age verification will build up trust. But if you page down on the FAQ, it states “[o]ther Residents will not be able to view your age verification status — for example, within your profile. However, if you are on a parcel that requires age verification, other Residents on that parcel (or having access to your location information) may be able to deduce that fact.” So how does this build trust for inworld businesses and Residents? It would seem only to do so if you restrict access to your parcel or estate to age-verified avatars. Otherwise, a resident would never know if someone is age verified unless they ask for proof.Â
The second sentence lowers the standard of what should be age-verified. Inappropriate and mature content goes beyond sexual content and could mean other content such as excessive violence or even political speech depending on the country. Worse is that the Lab requests that “the community . . . continue to be effective and responsible in ensuring that Residents are sufficiently protected from potentially inappropriate and/or offensive content that is adult in nature. “ Apparently, all people who use SL need to be protected from content, not just minors.Â
In discussing age verification, two ideas are being promoted as to why it is good, one statement is leading to confusion and one point is being avoided. Please keep in mind that this is written by someone in the United States, which has laws that vary from state to state. The actual law where you live and how it applies may be different.Â
Does age verification limit liability? for whom?
The first idea that is being suggested as to why age verification is a good idea is that this will somehow limit liability. The problem with the limitation of liability theory is what exactly is a content creator being held liable for. Most “distributing ‘harmful to minors’ material to minors” laws require that you know or have reason to know the person is a minor. (California is somewhat interesting in that if you fail to use reasonable care to see if someone is a minor before giving them the material, you are guilty of a misdemeanor, but if you use the internet, you have to know that the person is a minor. Cal Pen Code §288.2. The question becomes what does reasonable care mean. Another question is, in a world where behavior and content are mixed, what does distribution mean.) If someone does not use voice, a person cannot tell if the avatar they are interacting with is above or below the age of majority. For the most part, you cannot be held guilty for knowingly giving something to a minor if you had no means to know that person was a minor. This is especially true when just accessing the Grid requires a minor to lie about their age.
Aristotle does offer to pay if a company is fined for underaged sales. However, its not quite clear as to how a landowner who clicks “Age Verified only” is protected. Paying Fines for underaged sales is a very narrow protection and one that is not part of the majority of cases concerning adult content and youths. And the protection would lean more towards Linden Lab, not the Resident.Â
Virtually Blind brought up the point of parents may attempt to sue content creators for exposing their children to harmful to minor content. When you Google parents filing suits like that, Virtually Blind is the first web site that comes up. I looked for a single case in Lexis Nexis where a parent sued a website for content that is harmful to minors falling into their child’s hands and could not find one. The closest two were where a parent sued a library and a town for negligence and waste of funds because her child could print up pornography at the library and the French parents group that sued Linden Lab. Both suits never made it to trial.Â
One of the difficulties of bringing suit as a parent for the child is that you would have to prove damages. How was your child harmed by viewing content that is harmful to minors? There’s no statute saying there’s a definite amount of damages. And most courts avoid determining how a person was damaged psychologically without medical proof, such as psychologist visits or physical manifestations of mental disorders, such as the physical side effects of anxiety.
If a law enforcement agency decided to go after a land owner for Obscenity, age verification will not help. While “think of the children” comes up often in obscenity prosecutions, the basic nature of SL being adults only would seem to protect against using “think of the children.” It would not help against the basic obscenity charge.
Does age encourage accountability? for whom?
The second idea that is bounced around is that age verification will encourage accountability. It’s just that the program as described would not be able to do that. Age verification does not retain records, or so the Lab tells the community. If this was about accountability, then the records would be retained. If they are not retained, then it is not about accountability. A Resident, in theory, is still as anonymous after verifying than they were before. Or taking the carding analogy further, just because I show the bouncer at the bar my real phone number on my license, doesn’t mean I’m going to tell you my real phone number.
One muddled idea is about who is accountable. At times, I’ve seen Robin Linden state that land owners are responsible for what occurs on their land. And that age verification means that the responsibility for content shifts from Linden Lab to the Resident. But that suggests that, at one time, Linden Lab was responsible for people’s content and actions. Additionally, if the Landowner is solely responsible for what happens on their ‘land”, then why is Linden Lab, the ultimate owner, not responsible for what happens on their “land”? I covered some of these issues in a previous Op/Ed.
If you use the “land” as website analogy, and the duty to moderate what is posted, the analogy fails because a reader cannot make a temporary adjustment to the experience of the website. YouTube might be able to stop a posting of someone singing that infringes someone’s copyright, but a land owner cannot stop a Resident from infringing on someone’s copyright. Residents have the ability to have sex with each other, anytime, anywhere, regardless of zoning. Its the Resident, any Resident, committing the act that needs to be responsible for their actions, not anyone else.
An idea is being buried that might be the key to age verification. Deep on the Knowledge Base FAQ, Linden Lab states that they currently do not charge to age verify. Previous plans have stated that age verification will cost a nominal fee when it comes out of beta for basic members, and L$10 for premium members. In that same sentence, the Lab states that it does not cost to host “Age Verified only” land at this time. This might be very important, either as a future means to price out adult content, making it too expensive to host, or as a way for the Lab to cash in on the money involved in adult content.Â
Granted, paying Aristotle to host “Age Verified only” may be the way that Aristotle insures the land owner, but why would Aristotle agree to insure something when they would not know what they were insuring? (For instance, many obscenity laws automatically list BDSM as something that is fundamentally obscene. Perhaps Aristotle would not want to insure against a minor seeing BDSM due to the notoriety involved. Unless the cost is so high that Aristotle wouldn’t have to insure the content.) That one point might be the key as to why we have age verification. Linden Lab is a corporation. It always comes back to money.
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