Virtual child abuse, Second Life, implications and net safety

filed under Gaming/PC by in5ane on November 1st, 2007 [blogs index]

The Register today are today telling us the police aim to stamp out virtual child abuse. Surely a controversial topic, and one I have no direct experience with, having never played Second Life nor interested in that particular sort of sexual role-play. However, I do feel strongly about virtual-worlds being affected by real-life laws and morals.

The very crux of my concern is the word 'virtual'. Virtual to me means not real. No matter how crude or sophisticated the simulation, virtual events are not real, and have no physical impact in reality. Therefore, the real 'law' has no jurisdiction, and moral objections are moot.

Also of concern is the 'slippery slope' aspect of the issue, where what constitutes 'virtual' slowly changes, and what activities, illegal in real life, eventually become illegal in the virtual world. Gaming is already an obvious target for the media and lawsuit-seeking individuals, and you can't play a modern game without breaking some law or other if the gameplay were real. Will racing games of the future need to obey speeding limits? How will FPS games fall into line with gun laws? What happens when GTA and Second Life collide in an uber virtual crime world?

Does 'virtual' just mean computer generated? How about movies or novels? How about me simulating an illegal activity in my mind?

Back to the story, and presumably all the 'sickos' engaging in the dodgy practices in Second Life are adults, or teens, not a mix of the two. 2.2 of their TOS states all Second Lifers should be over 13, and minors and adults are kept separate. So if the two parties are consenting adults, who cares what they do 'virtually'? (And if the two parties are both minors in cases such as these, they've already got problems before entering Second Life)

I'm also a proponent of the theory that doing something virtually can alleviate an urge in real life. I would rather people acted out their fantasies virtually than in real life, especially in regards to the news story.

Finally, the 'grooming' aspect of the story is rather laughable. Apart from the fact that adults and minors are kept separate in Second Life, the whole virtual world aspect is irrelevant. The whole net is a virtual environment! To completely eradicate the threat of adults grooming children online, we'd need to ban MSN and email, forums and blogs, etc etc. The sensible alternative is for the children's parents to take some responsibility and interest in their child's computer activity, as they would their real life activity.

This is exactly what the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre do, although I had never heard of them until today. They have a site full of info for parents, although I couldn't see the basics:

Leave the PC in a family area so the child cannot get private or round the clock access

Use a router that can block URLs ('sex' and 'chan.org' would be a start!)

Use an ad blocker such as Adblock Plus

Don't have webcams or microphones attached to the PC

Show trust rather constant monitoring.

more from in5ane

Testing new image uploads by in5ane on March 31st, 2008	Used Games are *not* Damaging by in5ane on January 18th, 2008
Google rankings slippage :( by in5ane on January 17th, 2008	Must. Stop. Buying. Stuff by in5ane on January 9th, 2008

Add your comment, no sign-up necessary!

[loading comment form]