I think it’s stupid that someone somewhere has decided that someone else has to be the parent, just not the parent. I for one will not be sticking up that age verification system on my properties. all it means is that I will think harder about any design and work I do, and god forbid it means less profits.

P.S. That tagging game? Go find someone else. I’ve been tagged four times and I’ve replied with comment deletes each time. I am not interested in a game that puts me on the spot, and there will be no reply on it beyond another CD.

But, let’s not full ourselves and let’s not full anybody else out there: age verification will not stop a 14 year olds from accessing the main grid if they want to access it. All this is not to protect children but to give LL an excuse before the court of law and to transfer the responsibility to Aristotle/Integrity. Aristotle/Integrity has no scapegoat to pass the guilt to, so they will be the one to pay. But it is obviously OK with them. Why? Because they, as an insurance company, count on that, that is regular output in their business. What is input? Well, lot of data can bring lot of money. Even suing them for privacy intrusion, data collecting and the like is counted in.

But, the most important, while Aristotle is collecting our numbers, while LL is buying security in front of the law, while German TV stations are hunting adults in what they play on their own virtual land, while residents are protesting or praising verification system and while parents are looking for excuses for neglecting their own kids…. some teenagers are wondering around the main grid! And nobody cares.

On the other hand, governments has to do that. I don’t want to sound like a sci-fi futurist prophet, but in a way internet is dusk of the government system as we know it. And no government wants to get into transition. No matter how progressive, that is the huge step into unknown. Which is silly as refusing to go to the dentist. More you delay it, more it’s going to hurt.

I know this is a hot topic, but frankly, I’ve never understood the controversy regarding some sort of age verification. When you have a service where so much of the content is sexual in nature (let’s not kid ourselves about it) and interactive, these types of restrictions are inevitable.

I think the privacy issues, i.e. what will become of the personal info that is collected through the age verification process, is a much bigger concern than age verification itself. In the history of the Internet, I don’t think any content provider has ever gathered information on its members without trying to repackage and sell it to someone else (most recently the FaceBook-Beacon fiasco).

I checked into the verification last night (didn’t do it though). They even bring up the minors issue there. So I agree, it’s covering their asses.

What I DO admit though is that only int he last 5 years there’s lots of issues around the internet, regarding international legislature. Companies like Google, Yahoo or Linden Labs *DO* have a problem with their global service offerings. And even though I do not like the approach LL does, I admit that they have quite an issue there. The solution, however, as I see it is that international law needs to change. In the age of the internet it is ridiculous that a German court might rule against a German ISP and have him block Google because Google allows access to pornography without age verification…