[Opensim-users] Abuse protection, especially children

[Jonathan Greenlee]

The ONLY appropriate approach is that Children are NEVER allowed in virtual worlds.
Afterall, the Internet is intended for ADULTS ONLY, meaning "well-behaved and serious and knowledge oriented" rather than "sex or violence oriented".

--- On Wed, 7/8/09, Mark Dubin <mark at 3demb.com> wrote:

> From: Mark Dubin <mark at 3demb.com>
> Subject: [Opensim-users] Abuse protection, especially children
> To: opensim-users at lists.berlios.de
> Date: Wednesday, July 8, 2009, 1:57 PM
> This is more a philosophical
> question, than technical, but there may  
> be technical approaches to it. A public OpenSim grid allows
> access to  
> people of any age, adult or child. Then, the availability
> of both  
> chat and IM makes the site the equivalent of a public
> chat-room with  
> a private back-channel. This presents a situation in which
> adult  
> predators can approach children, with the attendant
> dangers. How can  
> this concern be approached? Any kind of "public" OpenSim is
> prone to  
> this issue, which will thus need a long-term, broad-based
> approach. A  
> specific example could be a museum.
> 
> A significant advantage of having a public museum on an
> OpenSim grid,  
> open to all, is that museums typically are valuable
> learning assets  
> for children. Allowing chat/IM enhances the experience by
> fostering  
> sharing of insights and questions. Thus, totally blocking
> chat and/or  
> IM limits the value of the site. Another approach could be
> to require  
> prior approval for each avatar that has access to the site.
> However,  
> this is impractical in terms of resources needed to
> accomplish it  
> (and difficulty in proving the nature of the requester),
> except in  
> very limited (essentially non-public) situations.
> Monitoring of all  
> the communication on a site is not practical (or even
> possible).  
> Further, attempts by the site owner to monitor or otherwise
> provide  
> security can leave one open to litigation.
> 
> A typical, hands-off approach is to provide warnings and do
> nothing  
> more. In the case of children, parents should know what
> their kids  
> are doing and teach them safe internet practices. It is
> essentially  
> analogous to going to a real, bricks-and-mortar museum, or
> store, or  
> public place. Realistically, this may be the best that can
> be done.  
> Or is it? I am interested in hearing ideas from others,
> either via  
> this list or by e-mail to me at <mark at 3demb.com>.
> If there is  
> significant e-mail exchange, I will summarize and post that
> summary  
> here.
> 
> Thanks, Mark
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