Second Life Unsafe for Kids?

U.S. Representative Mark Kirk (R-IL), who last year tried to revive a bill to protect kids from online predators, is setting his sights on a new target: Second Life.

Kirk says the 3-D gaming site, in which users control avatars that participate in virtual activities, offers “no protections to keep kids from virtual 'rape rooms,’ brothels, and drug stores. “If sites like Second Life won’t protect kids from obviously inappropriate content, the Congress will,” he says.

In a recent letter addressed to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman William Kovacic, Kirk protested that Second Life has no age controls in place. The site “claims to prevent children under the age of 13 from accessing the site, but there are no age verifications built into the registration process,” he wrote. “Many features require a credit card, but other areas offering explicit content are free and available.”

Meanwhile, Kirk has included a series of FTC requirements in his Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) legislation, which was refiled last year. The bill would require that the FTC, within 90 days of the legislation’s passage, create a Web site with a “distinctive” URL to educate parents and educators about online dangers to kids.