Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Zero known cases of SL child predation prompts new scare

Every time I begin to think I understand humans something pops up that exposes my woeful ignorance. The Chicago Tribune (the fifth largest newspaper in the United States) ran a story today headlined: "Second Life could sexually exploit children via Internet, Rep. Mark Kirk says."

Sounds scary, doesn't it? As a matter of fact, Mt. Prospect, IL mayor said at the press conference:
This Second Life is a new scare, unchartered territory..."
Oh my. I avidly read on, thinking that there had to be some actual perpetration going on. But, uh, well, judge for yourself:
Kirk said he knew of no cases in which children were targeted by sexual predators on Second Life...
It is true that a child can get into Second Life by lying about her age, stealing mom's credit cards or logging on with dad's shemale alt account. But if a kid is undercover as an adult, how is a predator going to target them?

Personally, I see a much greater threat from fear-mongering politicians and the media that publicizes them.






2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gosh, wait until he finds out there are child avatars and age play.

If you don't get humans, you won't get politicians any easier.

Of course, this is nothing new from politicians. Everytime some sort of new way of interacting socially comes out, politicians are always at the forefront to screech like a crack whore who's had her last rock taken from her about how dangerous it is and how we must THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!

*roll eyes*

Anonymous said...

Nice. Though, I must admit, I'm not shocked. No news? Make something up...