Quicklinks: Germany Investigates Second Life Child Porn; Virtual Vigilante Cops; and New Research Paper
May 8th, 2007 by Benjamin Duranske
Virtually Blind periodically runs “quicklinks” — items that are not long enough for a full story, but are worth a click. Here’s today’s batch:
- Several sites are reporting that Germany joins the list of concerned countries (who aren’t the US) that are looking into sex and pornography crimes in Second Life. This time, it’s an accusation that real-life pornographic images of children were made available in-world. Appropriately, these reports have a slightly more serious tone than the usual stuff on virtual pornography. Why so much concern from abroad? That one’s easy: most Second Life users are now not from the US.
On a less serious note (though you’d not know it visiting their headquarters) The Blog of Love has an interesting post up that discusses, among other things, a self-appointed vigilante police force in Second Life. They fight griefers, stand up for the rights of virtual citizens, sell police equipment, and, if they’re anything like everyone else in Second Life, probably spend a fair bit of time getting their uniforms just so. The highlight is this bit of dialog: “Love: ‘You guys just decided to become cops?’ Cop: ‘Sure, it’s Second Life.’”
- And finally, an academic note: CALIopolis reports that Gene Koo at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society has a paper out called “New Skills, New Learning: Legal Education and the Promise of Technology.” It’s going on my reading list. A wiki based on the paper is here, and there’s a .pdf of the published version there too.
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