The official Linden Lab blog confirmed today the imminent implementation of an identity verification process for the virtual world of Second Life. While residents aren't forced to undergo the process, those who don't will be prevented from entering areas marked as 'restricted'. Estate owners are strongly encouraged to mark down "any content that is explicitly sexual or excessively violent in nature" as restricted.
What information will they be asking for? In addition to your name, age, address, and phone number, a cross-check against government databases will be required. "Exact documents may vary depending on your country of residence, but may include: passport, driver’s license, national ID number or social security number."
The new system is called "Identity Verification (IDV)", a shift away from the old use of the term "age verification". The shift is significant, as the focus now is in finding out who its users are, rather than whether or not it's ok to let them in. None of this information will be stored by Linden Lab, but no such assurances have been given about what the service provider will do with your personal details once they have them.
The service provider is Integrity, a subsidiary of Aristotle, a data-mining agency in the business of helping people run political campaigns. Users will have to trust that they won't ever use their personal details for anything that disagrees with their personal politics.
The only client Integrity has had so far is Bud.TV, who after dealing with much controversy, eventually dropped them (see previous Metaversed article for full story). First 23 attorneys general accused Bud.TV of using Integrity's systems specifically because they were too easily circumvented. Then, Bud.TV saw tens of thousands of legitimate users fail to make it through the system. The site was becoming a colossal failure, and the CEO was quoted as saying: "I can’t even figure out how to get into the website.”
Apparently Linden Lab feels they know better, and that people will love this process so much that they may be willing to pay for it. "Verification will initially be free; as we roll out the system we expect there to be a nominal fee for Premium members, and a larger fee for people with Basic memberships."
