The ONLY appropriate approach is that Children are NEVER allowed in virtual worlds. Afterall, the Internet is intended for ADULTS ONLY, meaning "well-behaved and serious and knowledge oriented" rather than "sex or violence oriented".
--- On Wed, 7/8/09, Mark Dubin <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Mark Dubin <[email protected]> > Subject: [Opensim-users] Abuse protection, especially children > To: [email protected] > Date: Wednesday, July 8, 2009, 1:57 PM > This is more a philosophical > question, than technical, but there may > be technical approaches to it. A public OpenSim grid allows > access to > people of any age, adult or child. Then, the availability > of both > chat and IM makes the site the equivalent of a public > chat-room with > a private back-channel. This presents a situation in which > adult > predators can approach children, with the attendant > dangers. How can > this concern be approached? Any kind of "public" OpenSim is > prone to > this issue, which will thus need a long-term, broad-based > approach. A > specific example could be a museum. > > A significant advantage of having a public museum on an > OpenSim grid, > open to all, is that museums typically are valuable > learning assets > for children. Allowing chat/IM enhances the experience by > fostering > sharing of insights and questions. Thus, totally blocking > chat and/or > IM limits the value of the site. Another approach could be > to require > prior approval for each avatar that has access to the site. > However, > this is impractical in terms of resources needed to > accomplish it > (and difficulty in proving the nature of the requester), > except in > very limited (essentially non-public) situations. > Monitoring of all > the communication on a site is not practical (or even > possible). > Further, attempts by the site owner to monitor or otherwise > provide > security can leave one open to litigation. > > A typical, hands-off approach is to provide warnings and do > nothing > more. In the case of children, parents should know what > their kids > are doing and teach them safe internet practices. It is > essentially > analogous to going to a real, bricks-and-mortar museum, or > store, or > public place. Realistically, this may be the best that can > be done. > Or is it? I am interested in hearing ideas from others, > either via > this list or by e-mail to me at <[email protected]>. > If there is > significant e-mail exchange, I will summarize and post that > summary > here. > > Thanks, Mark > _______________________________________________ > Opensim-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-users > _______________________________________________ Opensim-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-users
