[Opensim-users] Abuse protection, especially children

Wed Jul 8 21:37:08 UTC 2009

I would propose that the parent is ultimately responsible for keeping
track of their children online.

I would also propose that the 'Open Grid' is also a service provider
and is ultimately not responsible for the content.

OpenSimulator server is to Apache as <take your pick of public grid>
is to 'playboy.com + chat'

It is, however, important that 'Public Grids' keep track of the laws
in their area and comply with all state/province/territory and country
laws.  Some, for example, require, at the very least, a space and
means to enter a birth date during the sign-up form.  And, in the
validation stage, some math is done to verify that the person is at
least 13 years of age(real years, not leap years) or they're asked to
provide their parent's e-mail address. Then, warnings and some
instructions, that require the parent to approve the sign-up over the
phone where they verify the identity of the parent,  are sent to the
parent before the sign-up is complete.   Additionally, in the cases of
'one man' or 'underfunded' operations, the situation is no excuse to
ignore said laws.

Given that there is no approval process, children can appear as
adults, there are no content restrictions or approvals, and there are
no investigated chaperones on any public grids that I know of, I would
tend to side with Jonathan Greenlee there.   Children should not be
logging onto virtual worlds with unknown persons.

However, IMHO, it is perfectly acceptable for a reputable children's
organization/state government/local government/school to set up a
private grid that is inaccessible except from approved computers and
accounts and ensure that those accounts are monitored.

One thing that OpenSimulator or the community can do to improve in
this situation is; accountability.   Chat logging, Instant Message
Logging, border crossings logging, Inventory Offer logging, and
logging of other activities would be useful here as optional
components.  A Forge project would fit this need nicely.  If people
know they're being monitored and their real world identity is tied to
their virtual world identity, then they're less likely to do anything
that would violate policy or the law.  Additionally, the organization
can get consent to monitoring and actively keep track of all
interactions.  Schools, for example, have a document that the
parent/guardian must sign before giving the student access to the
computer lab and/or the Internet.  The same type of document can apply
to virtual world access.

The other side of the coin is, many adults prefer not to be monitored
and being monitored is a deal breaker for them.  The two approaches do
not mix, so, ultimately, it must be an optional component.

Regards

Teravus

On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 3:51 PM, Ryan Tanay<ryantanay at newevolution.org> wrote:
> I wouldn't go so far as to call it trollbait.  I do however agree that it is
> not the responsibility of the OpenSim Devs to make OpenSim "safe" for
> children.  There is no such
> thing.  Even if you could somehow magically limit your OpenSim install to be accessible only by children, there's no guarantee that a child won't say something horribly offensive of sexually suggestive to another child.
> Ultimately the responsibility falls on the parents/guardians of the child in question, both in helping their child avoid exploitation and/or abuse, but more importantly teaching them how to react/respond when (not if) it does happen.
>
> On Jul 8, 2009, at 3:38 PM, James Stallings II wrote:
>
> The original poster is either woefully naive or is pushing trollbait. Apache
> can be used to produce websites that exploit children (or anyone else for
> that matter), yet I dont see people approaching the makers of apache
> software and asking them what they are doing to protect children.
>
> This is a classic case of someone trying to make a machine and software
> responible for that which they should undertake responsibility for
> themselves; or, as suggested initially, just trollbait.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 8, 2009 at 2:33 PM, Jonathan Greenlee
> <jonathangreenlee at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> 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
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Opensim-users mailing list
>> > Opensim-users at lists.berlios.de
>> > https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-users
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Opensim-users mailing list
>> Opensim-users at lists.berlios.de
>> https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-users
>
>
>
> --
> ===================================
> http://osgrid.org
> http://del.icio.us/SPQR
> http://twitter.com/jstallings2
> http://www.linkedin.com/pub/5/770/a49
> _______________________________________________
> Opensim-users mailing list
> Opensim-users at lists.berlios.de
> https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-users
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Opensim-users mailing list
> Opensim-users at lists.berlios.de
> https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-users
>
>