Dutch demand ban of virtual child porn in Second Life

[helderheid]

'School for paedophiles'
By Jan Libbenga → More by this author
Published Wednesday 21st February 2007 16:45 GMT
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The Dutch prosecutor's office is considering legal actions to test the law against child porn in the popular virtual game Second Life. With no clear litigation, it is difficult to act against perpetrators.

Kitty Nooij, who is in charge of the sex offences portfolio at the prosecutor's office in the Netherlands, told Dutch news show Netwerk (http://www.netwerk.tv/# )that she will try to bring cases to court so precedents can be set.

Linden Lab's Second Life is an online digital world with almost three million "residents" claimed by the company. Some areas of Second Life allow adult members to have virtual sex with others who pretend to be children.

Experts, such as psychologist Jos Buschman of the Van Mesdag clinic in Groningen, say Second Life is "by definition a school for paedophiles", despite the fact that adult members like to roleplay as children. Second Life requires all players to be adults.

Virtual child pornography has been a criminal offence in the Netherlands since 2002. However, there is no litigation related to virtual sex with virtual children. Today, at least four political parties in the Netherlands demanded a ban on virtual child porn roleplay.

Discussions about virtual child porn in Second Life already started three years ago with the introduction of an avatar called Sasami Wishbringer, who has the body of an eight year-old. Lately, there are more serious reports about adult players with child avatars soliciting (paid) sex.

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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/21/dutch_demand_ban_on_virtual_child_porn/

[iconoclastic cat]

1. And yet they find porn with actual 16 year olds acceptable. Odd. nt

[MonkeyFunk]

2. the age of consent

in most of Europe is 16 or lower, so no, not that odd.

[iconoclastic cat]

3. Involvement in the porn industry is totally different than consenting

sixteen year olds having recreational sex, though, don't you think?

[MonkeyFunk]

5. yes they're different

but I don't know of any country, including ours, that has a different age of consent for acting in porn vs. engaging in un-filmed sex.

[iconoclastic cat]

6. Actually, many states vary:

http://teenadvice.about.com/library/weekly/qanda/blageofconsentchart.htm

[helderheid]

7. That is facinating - especially the list about homosexual sexual consent age and the break down

between F/F sex and M/M sex!

[iconoclastic cat]

9. Yeah, I found that odd.

What's the difference?

[MonkeyFunk]

8. yes

states vary. But there are two different jurisdictions involved. State-based age of consent laws, and federal obscenity laws.

I don't know of any state that has an age over 18 for consent, OR a age over 18 for consent to engage in pornography.

[Beelzebud]

4. Second Life is a pyramid scheme on a mass-scale.

The owners of second life use real money to represent their Linden Dollrs, and EVERY transaction that takes place, they get a small percentage of real money from it. They also have very underhanded ways to keep people from cashing their money out of the game.

When one looks closely on their entire model, it's clear to see that it's one giant pyramid scheme.

Their population numbers are also highly inflated. An account for Second Life is free, and when they say their virtual world has a population of 3 million, they are simply lieing. They count accounts, no matter if anyone even logged in on them.