May 13 2008 / by Alvis
Category: Metaverse Year: 2008 Month: May Rating: 8 Hot
The broader Second Life consumer backlash that many
predicted for 2007 (and actually occurred) may pale in
comparison to the regulatory backlash coming in late 2008 or
2009.
Marking what could well be the first resounding shot in a
full-fledged war on virtual worlds, and rich online environments in
general, US House Representative Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) extended his
crusade against online predators to the rapidly growing virtual
world of Second
Life , calling for “common sense reforms” that would make it
harder for predators to intermingle with youngsters. 
Coming on the heels of a
Congressional hearing on the positives and negatives of virtual
worlds , Kirk’s recent remarks are the most negative to date by
a U.S. legislator and marks a serious push to regulate new digital
terrain, especially during a presidential election year that looks
to pit young vs. old, innovation vs. conservativism.
In a May 11 interview with a
local news channel Kirk presented Second Life as “one of the
fastest growing websites on the planet” adding that he’s worried
“that they don’t properly screen for children.” “Parents should be
more aware of this,” he said. (cont.)
Kirk’s interviewer, local news anchor Mary Ann Ahern tellingly
agreed, “It’s uncharted waters. There’s just so much out there that
parents, and the teens and young kids just don’t realize where it’s
headed.”
Then Kirk got to the very heart of his argument, responding,
“That’s the biggest problem that I see. Most of the Senators and
members Congress are in their 40s, 50s and 60s. Most parents didn’t
have this when they were growing up. This was not part of my
childhood or most of the parents’ that I represent, but it is part
of your children’s growing up. Most kids now have MySpace pages.
The other day I was with a group of 10-year-olds at school and I
asked them who had a MySpace page and nearly the entire class
raised their hands. Well, it’s illegal for kids at 10 to have a
MySpace page, but they lied about their age and did anyway. I’m
worried that we have created virtual hunting grounds.”
So what exactly is Kirk, a big supporter of the
Deleting Online Predators Act that passed the House and nearly
the Senate, suggesting?
“The law has changed over time to take care of new technology to
protect kids. We don’t have this kind of material on radio and tv,
so I think [we] can say ‘We don’t want to ban this. If you’re an
adult you should be able to go and do what you want. But for the
protection of kids, some common sense reforms ought to take
place.’”
And that’s where we cut to the chase.
With the pace of change accelerating, enabling an explosion of
virtual worlds, bringing
BCIs- to the cusp of consumer reality, and catalyzing social
media structures that shake-up our established notions of work,
privacy and socialization, it’s clear that violent video games,
MySpace and Second Life are just the first in a long line of
disruptive technologies that will make many people very nervous.
Thus, the path to social influence will open wide to those willing
to take advantage of alarmism and knee-jerk social responses –
folks considerably more aggressive and socially conservative than
Kirk, who actually comes across as moderately reasonable.
When considering that parents of the
civic Millennial generation are becoming more protective of
their children, which occurs cyclically every four generations as
documented by generational scholars Strauss and
Howe , it begins to look like a perfect storm for a significant
technology backlash, spurred on in reaction to the graphic and
open-ended nature of virtual worlds.
(via Virtual Worlds News)
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