Tech -- Culture -- Humour
After many months of development, Linden Lab have announced the beta version of their age verification system. Tateru Nino has a great summary of what it does and doesn’t do. Suffice it to say, it’s not compulsory unless you want to be able to access restricted areas in Second Life.
To test the system I contacted two SL residents I know who are casual users and asked them if they’d mind verifying their age for the system. One resident provided their actual name, address and NSW Driver’s Licence with a fake date of birth – they were verified successfully. The second person also provided actual name and address but used a fake Driver’s Licence and fake date of birth. They too were successfully verified.
You do check a box stating you’ve provided correct information so I imagine there’s some protection in the system for Linden Lab if false information has been provided. However, if Linden Lab started to claim that it was a fairly robust security measure, I’d be quite concerned. For the record, my age verification was flawless using a Driver’s Licence – so the company running the service obviously has some Australian information on its servers….
Update: A further missive from Linden Lab admitting to high rates of failures for international users.
Update 2: Another clarification on the process by which the verification occurs – I’m still fascinated how the third-party system has so much information about individuals in the first place.
Last Saturday, The Age ran a story on real estate in Second Life. I received a call from the journalist who wrote the article, Adam Turner, a few weeks back and it’s obvious he did some research. Aussie residents Juko Tempel and Earnest Candour are interviewed to name but two.
The striking thing for me is the fact that a mainstream newspaper’s real estate section is running stories on property in virtual worlds. It’s also a story that isn’t looking at the issue from just a novelty viewpoint. In small steps, virtual worlds are gaining mainstream credibility.
We covered Telstra’s new islands a month ago, but I thought it was worth paying another visit to see what progress had been made on what had been touted as a Sydney CBD replica. Here’s what I saw:
I think the pictures pretty much speak for themselves. Telstra deserve plaudits for their work to date in Second Life, but SydSim is looking increasingly like an exception to that rule. There’s a real risk of failing in any sort of engagement with the Second Life community when you have a maze of virtual roadways and tall skyscrapers to navigate. Telstra’s own building on SydSim is the pick of the small bunch but even it is nothing more than a promotional shopfront. Obviously, the whole build is far from complete – I’m unsure why the two islands are even open to the public given the state they’re in.
Have you had a look and what do you think? My impression so far is that SydSim is an extremely poor competitor to its Melbourne counterpart.
Ever wondered how Google works logistically and technically?Then check this fascinating, simply worded walk-through
We had a little shindig on Saturday night to celebrate a year of news reporting for Australian Second Life residents. More than forty individuals popped in over the couple of hours and much dancing was had by all.
A big thank-you to all those who have given their good wishes in recent days. As we’ve already mentioned, there’s some changes on the way that you should enjoy. Stay tuned 😉
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