On the official Second Life blog, Linden Lab announced that they have pushed their “IDV” scheme — often referred to as “age verification” — into a live beta-version SL client. This means that you can download the IDV version of SL and try out the verification features (“Age verification enters Grid-wide beta“).
In short, Linden Lab will ask residents to pay them a fee to get “verified” status for their avatar. In the verification process, residents are asked to provide their real name, plus some ID, such as SSN, driver’s license number, passport number, among others. This information is sent to a US data-mining company called Integrity (whose sister company Aristotle, sells data…hmm), who sends back a “verified” or “unverified” response.
According to Linden Lab, landowners will be able to block unverified visitors from entering their land, and will be legally responsible for preventing minors from seeing anything objectionable should any happen to sneak into their land.
Reaction is sharp and overwhelming: residents hate the scheme, which they say may be illegal and possibly untrustworthy, among other objections. Despite months since the plan was revealed, Linden Lab fails to address these legitimate objections:
- In many countries, it’s illegal to require someone to submit ID numbers, like SSN, SIN, driver’s license, or passport to a website (or in some cases through any medium).
- Many feel that this isn’t information verification, but information gathering by Integrity, a data miner. I will not willingly provide my ID to a US data-miner, myself.
- Of those who provide their ID data despite the legal question, the accuracy of the Integrity verification is questionable. Many are verified with incorrect information, and other are not verified with correct information. Some report that Canadian residents can’t verify, even with correct information.
- Many residents don’t have any of the ID numbers required. If you’re a UK resident, who doesn’t drive and hasn’t travelled outside the country, there is no way to verify — banned from large portions of SL, perpetually suspected of being underage.
- Many estate owners are faced with a conundrum: If they want to allow their tenants to possess content above kids-level fare, they will be faced with legal liability if they don’t block unverified accounts. That would mean losing a great many paying tenants who are undoubtedly adult, though unable or unwilling to use the verification process. It also means estate owners are faced with giving away their ID to Integrity (if the process even works for them) or losing access to their own estate.
- Finally, any kid who wants to sneak into SL can just borrow a parent’s info. Even ignoring all of the above issues, the process can be thwarted by any child with half a brain.
I have to ask — why is Linden Lab pushing to implement an identity verification system that can’t possibly verify identity? All this will accomplish is to add yet another barrier to new residents and drive away existing residents.
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