German Media Notices SL Unverified Accounts and Ageplay
by Pixeleen Mistral on 08/05/07 at 9:18 am
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
Ageplay is on german TV, too
Two reports arrived on the mojo wire this morning that may help explain Linden Lab’s sudden interest in account verification – an apparent reversal in direction after opening the metaverse to essentially anyone last June with unverified access to the “over 18” garden of cyber delights.
Mainz TV and Speigel Online report that German authorities are taking an interest in the ageplay scene in Second Life. The media appears to have found the story interesting as well – with the German reporters making a visit to Robin Linden to show her some of what they found.
Ageplay? in Second life? shocking!
This could not have been the happiest day in Robin’s work life since, as reported previously in the Herald, the Linden’s crackdown on ageplay has been largely ineffective – and now the mainstream media has noticed.
We can hope for a happy ending however, as Robin Linden’s real life typist appears on camera and promises to find out who is behind the ageplay and report them to the police. Here at the Herald we are sure this will all end well, given the Linden’s stellar record for careful planning and thoughtful consideration of complex issues. In other good news, at least the grid was working well enough that those television reporters could get those simulated child porn videos – so perhaps the resident’s Open Letter complaints can be swept under the rug.
Verbena P.
May 9th, 2007
Prok, it’s considered common Internet courtesy (not something you know about) to flag something NSFW/tuck behind a link images that someone might find disturbing, degrading, nasty, or *GASP* Not Safe For Work! I’m pretty sure 90% of the readership of SLH really feels no need to see old guy fucking a child avie, pixelated or not.
MIka Koltai
May 10th, 2007
As seen on TV… Today it was reported o swedish national TV that SL is a “paradise” for pedofiles. They said that the german state attorney is investigating LL (!) for childpornografi crimes. The germans will hold LL responsible for the kiddieporn activies in world… Stay tuned…
dandellion Kimban
May 10th, 2007
Are Lindens doing anything like counter-campaign? Or their PR service is out to lunch?
Benjamin Duranske (avatar 'Benjamin Noble')
May 10th, 2007
As Verbena said, it’s just common practice (much like not putting opinion in a news piece, which is why the two criticisms went together).
The idea of it being for people at “work” is a bit of a fiction. One tags and/or links to NSFW material when the site’s typical content isn’t NSFW for several reasons, among them so people who look at non-work sites at the office — which is permitted in many places — don’t force their co-workers to see NSFW content, so people who don’t want their children to see the images over their shoulders on a family computer can surf the site safely at home, and most importantly, to shield people who themselves may find the images distasteful from being forced to look at the by loading the page. It is just considered somewhat tasteless not to follow this convention. The last reason is the one that matters most here, because that is also the kind of image that might really disturb some readers.
janeforyou Barbara
May 10th, 2007
SL will prolly get 1 mill newbees cuz of this giant ageplay cover in the press all over The World! Even in Little Norway its on the frontpage!!! Sadly many off this nebees will be pedos! I did a test, Type in “age” in search,,, clik on them and the maps , this SIM are now packed withh ppl!!! Why are thay NOT closed??? Do we want SL to be known as ” The Pedo Game” ??? I say ban all ageplay groups, close the places before SL get taked off!!!! I do not wish to be related with the game if not!! And all this huge companies like IBM- NBC- and a lot of other,,do thay want to be related with this pedoshit??? i just ask!
Obscure Doodad
May 10th, 2007
Folks, it is becoming more and more clear every single day. Anyone who registers to verify as Adult under their upcoming age verification plan is putting themselves into a database of people who specifically, explicitly asked for access to what the public will know as a den of child porn and pedos.
This is just insane. And as parcels get declared to be Adult, fewer and fewer places will exist for people to go. SL is in trouble. They simply have to endure the reduction in profit growth and fund a team of Lindens to patrol the grid looking for illegal content. As for limiting underage residents, they have to strengthen the TOS and repeatedly, even more than now, inform residents that they cannot be under 18. Yahoo has age restricted areas and these repeated warnings are deemed sufficient at Yahoo. Yahoo does not require age verification.
It is mindboggling that LL is choosing to eliminate all its residents who will not put themselves in a database of admitted seekers of porn.
Angel
May 10th, 2007
janeforyou rants “I do not wish to be related with the game if not!!”
Woot, finally, don’t let the door hit your ugly far arse on the way out love, good riddance to another blowhard idiot.
Anonymous
May 11th, 2007
PATRIOTIC NIGRAS WILL PWN PEDOS
WhicCla
May 11th, 2007
Good ole Germany!
The most ironic thing about this entire story (excluding the real child pornography which captures a real crime) is that Linden Lab now attempts to censor Americans’ free speech because of GERMANY, of all places. According to wikipedia, beastiality is legal in Germany. It’s also legal in some other countries in Europe, from where Linden Lab would rather generate income.
So to recap, in Germany:
Virtual sex with virtual children = ILLEGAL
Real sex with real animals = LEGAL
Thank you, Germany, for providing clear moral compass and leadership for us pathetic, immoral, Americans!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoosexuality_and_the_law
And don’t forget that the age of sexual consent is generally lower in Europe than the US, as low as 13 in some places. So you can have real sex with them, but don’t you dare do it virtually!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_Europe
WhicCla
May 11th, 2007
Prostitution legal and widespread in Germany, and 16 year old prostitutes (age of sexual consent) apparently legal too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Germany
dandellion Kimban
May 11th, 2007
Tired of badly animated kids with old perverts behind the keyboard?
Get a first life! Move to Germany!
NigrasOnMyLawn
May 11th, 2007
if you call it ageplay, boylove, girlove or any of that nambla shit, your’e a pedophile
case closed
Karen Palen
May 12th, 2007
“if you call it ageplay, boylove, girlove or any of that nambla shit, your’e a pedophile”
Oh boy the self righteous name callers have set the record straight for ALL of us!
Can there possibly be ANY further question about this? – OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!
NigrasOnMyLawn
May 12th, 2007
GB2/NAMBLA, Karen Palen, before Chris Hansen catches you
Anonymous
May 12th, 2007
Yes! Kill all pedophiles!
While we’re at it, let’s get the Gays! And the Jews! Let’s not forget the Muslims! Why stop at sexual tendencies and religious choices, let’s get the Blacks too!
*end sarcasm*
Intolerant asshats.
WhicCla
May 13th, 2007
Hahaha, dandellion.
An important thing to remember, especially for Mr Nigras over there, who I think is trying to capture the sarcasm award (I was hoping I’d win, but I think dandellion beat me):
It is perfectly normal to be a “pedophile” in much of Europe. Why do I say something so absurd? Because the definition of a “child” and the age of consent for sexual activity differ as much as they do. In the US, as common usage of the term, you’re a “pedophile” if you are sexually attracted to someone under 18 years old, as a minor/”child” is defined. Whereas Europeans generally define a child’s age to be lower, to Americans, many Europeans should be considered “pedophiles”, yet they don’t think of themselves as that. To them, they’re just normal people.
As an American, if someone have pornographic picture of someone taken on the 364th day of his/her 17th birthday, 5 minutes before midnight, that person is technically in possession of “child pornography” and I know Mr Nigras over there would upon hearing that, probably call that person a pedophile, yet have a wildly different perception of what it means.
And this is besides the fact that on the first day of your birthday that made you an “adult”, Nigras (assuming you are one, anyway…), you were in all likelihood still attracted to a 17 year old, so you were probably at least at one point in your life a “pedophile”, in common usage of the term.
I don’t think most people would argue that it’s wrong to sexually engage in anyone who is not mentally mature enough or capable of consenting. My point is to instead clearly describe for people like Nigras what you’re really saying when you say “pedophile”, how the perception of its usage relates to locally accepted ages of consent, and how different regions of the world define these ages differently.
The ridiculous thing to me in this story, aside from Germany’s views of morality generally, is the concept that two pixelated avatars with off-color skin controlled by two adults rolepaying can be illegal for ANY reason. Whether they’re bumping around with stupid looking private parts poking through each others’ bodies, or shooting each other with their virtual brains and blood splattered about, it’s just a fictional world that does not exist. The US Supreme Court (which for all its faults, I still trust more than any German “expert”) has already correctly explained that the harm of any “virtual porn” like this “depends upon some unquantified potential for subsequent criminal acts”, such that the only people whose inhibitions are lowered are those who would have had their inhibitions lowered as a result of their fantasies eventually, anyway. These are the kind of messed up people who would have gone to shoot up their school after playing their first person shooter games on their X-BOX, and if no X-BOX, then the latest blockbuster action film. The logic simply doesn’t follow that ANY speech should be banned for everybody because SOME people are going to see the message and then go out and act on it negatively. But that’s Germany for you.
And btw, that has to be the most deformed looking virtual child I’ve ever seen. It looks more like a midget to me. Add a little color or fur and I’d swear I’d mistake it for one of those 1980′s gremlins.
http://images.google.com/images?q=gremlin%20movie
dandellion Kimban
May 13th, 2007
“some unquantified potential for subsequent criminal acts” is not a crime. And U.S. court should know that because that is the reason every U.S. citizen is allowed to own and carry weapons, which are “potential for subsequent criminal acts”. Potential is not a crime or the whole jurisdictions of some countries will go straight to trash bin.
WhicCla
May 13th, 2007
I’m glad it didn’t take long to read your comment Nigras..those words were raping my eyes.
We should all remember that every time Nigras crashes a sim with a Doomsday device, it lowers his inhibition to build neutron bombs for terrorists attack against real cities.
Uh oh, Gitmo time for you, Nigras. Hope you like honey glazed chicken and rice pilaf served in paradise. lulz
Incriminating quote of the day: “anonymous loev loli. however, loli haet anonymous”
-And a lot of the jurisdictions that are already in the trash bin all happen to be thought-policing nanny states in Europe, whether it’s illegal to simply DENY a historical event
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_denial#Laws_against_Holocaust_denial
or to depict of a couple lines and a maybe a circle,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika#Germany
these countries have no inhibition for legally enforcing the “truth.” Potential is not a crime? No problem. Just claim it is and pass a law making it illegal to say otherwise!
mootykips
May 15th, 2007
come on, who doesn’t wish to be the little girl once in a while?
NigrasOnMyLawn
May 15th, 2007
WhicCla is a dumbass, obviously the jews did the holocaust, like they did WTC
ana's sex toys
May 22nd, 2007
It looks like pedophilia
ana's sex toys
May 22nd, 2007
Regarding this I’ve found an article http://www.love-shop.biz/news/media-pedophilia.html
get them
Jul 26th, 2007
Get these pedophile creeps off SL now.
There is no reason to allow this crap. Supporting the right of a child rapist to practice his skills as some kind of free speech just shows how lazy some people are. “Don’t want to be bothered to take a position.” “Free speech and Free love for all.” “Tra La La.”
Screw that. Put these assholes in handcuffs, drug them, give them electroshock therapy. Whatever it takes to get them off the idea that having sex with kids is EVER ok.
And get them the hell of SL!
Chris
Oct 20th, 2007
…its a friggin video game…
i mean, killing is forbidden in RL too…so why can we do it in videogames legally? because noone actually dies…
if they show real CP, its a crime, if they just roleplay…why not? i dont care coz i dont play SL, but cripes…
ps: im german, i dont wear lederhosen and we dont like offensive shit more then any american or whatever…there are always the extremists…
racism agains germans is still racism…
Chris
Oct 20th, 2007
i would just chop off their balls
N/A
Oct 13th, 2008
@Chris
…..And racism against Americans is still racism, too
I started playing Second Life back in the day, until it started to crash my system. Then I quit playing. Glad I did, I prob would of jumped on the murder wagon too, hearing about the pedies.
But guess what, IT’S NOT REAL LIFE.
You guys make a big deal out of a small problem.
BTW: Just my opinion, the authorities need to arrest the actors and not just the viewers.
Good night friends
I mean people are already on this problem, and it’s being dealt with. No need to spew your anti-isms and hatred around.
rob since 1989
Jan 25th, 2009
I LOVE KIDDIE PORN LOL..iagh first of all shut the fuck up about this stupid game..its not even that fun and this stupid patriotic niggras guy get a fucking life..second life is a pointless game with sub-par graphics and constant glitches so just take a deep breath and remember ITS A GAME AND NOTHING MORE NO MATTER HOW MUCH U WANT IT TO BE UR REAL LIFE CAUSE UR TOO MUCH OF A LOSER TO HAVE A REAL LIFE