Virtual Worlds Forum

You can always rely on the Virtually Blind blog to get to the legal nitty-gritty in relation to virtual worlds - it's a really useful resource. Now it's been poking into the Terms of Service for Lively, Google's new virtual world platform. It's got some criticisms too. You should read the whole post, but I've summarised the key points below.

Crisp Thinking describes itself as an 'online child protection specialist', so it's not surprising to see it setting its sights on the virtual worlds sector. Its NetModerator chat-monitoring technology has just been signed up by virtual world Xivio.

The UK Government is planning a crackdown on computer-generated images of child abuse, with anyone caught with such material facing up to three years in prison. Currently, the UK laws apparently only cover distributing this kind of material - not owning it.

Virtual worlds could be set to cop some of the flak traditionally attracted by the games industry, judging by comments made by US congressman Mark Kirk, who has asked the Federal Trade Commission to "take action to warn parents of the similar dangers and sexually explicit content found on Second Life".

They might drop the odd clanger, but it's nevertheless good to see politicians trying to engage with virtual worlds and their implications. So yesterday saw a congressional hearing in the US addressed by Linden Lab and IBM.

Reactions are coming in to today's Byron Review in the UK - the report into children's use of new technology (see our earlier story for the overview of what it means for virtual worlds). The UK's Internet Services Providers' Association has welcomed the review with warm words, although also a slight concern over its implications.

There's plenty of coverage in the UK media today of a government review carried out by psychologist Dr Tanya Byron, which focuses on children and new technology. Most of the coverage has focused on console games, and Byron's recommendation that the age classification system should be reformed. However, there's a lot in there that's relevant to virtual worlds too.

Yesterday, the British media was full of stories about Miss Bimbo, a virtual world aimed at teenage girls which lets them put their avatars on diets, or buy them boob jobs. As you can imagine, the tone of the media coverage was generally negative. Now, it seems the world could be facing regulatory action.