Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customise your settings, hit “Customise Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences

  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.
Sign in

Dutch demand ban of virtual child porn in Second Life

'School for paedophiles'

Jan Libbenga Wed 21 Feb 2007 // 16:45 UTC

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 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.

Last year, Robin Harper, Linden Lab vice president of community development, wrote in a posting on the official Second Life forum, that "if Second Life has evidence of child pornography or abuse that involves children in the real world, it will act to protect the child and notify the authorities". However, virtual roleplay is allowed. ®

12 Comments

Other stories you might like

  • Coca-Cola probes pro-Kremlin gang's claims of 161GB data theft
    Life tastes not so good right now
    Jessica Lyons Hardcastle Tue 26 Apr 2022 // 18:58 UTC

    Coca-Cola confirmed it's probing a possible network intrusion after the Stormous cybercrime gang claimed it stole 161GB of data from the beverage giant.

    "We are aware of this matter and are investigating to determine the validity of the claim," Coca-Cola communications global vice president Scott Leith told The Register on Tuesday. "We are coordinating with law enforcement."

    The ransomware gang, which has declared its support for the Russian government's illegal invasion of Ukraine, this week bragged it "hacked some of the company's servers and passed a large amount of data inside them without their knowledge." It's now trying to sell the stolen data for about $64,000, or nearest offer "depending on the amount of data you want," Stormous wrote on its website where it leaks pilfered information.

    Continue reading
  • d-Matrix gets $44m in quest for efficient AI server chiplets
    d-ream team or a d-isaster? Let's see what Microsoft's money can do
    Dylan Martin Tue 26 Apr 2022 // 18:09 UTC

    Another day, another US chip startup raising tens of millions of dollars.

    This time, it's one you likely haven't heard of yet: d-Matrix, which has raised $44 million from Microsoft, SK Hynix, Marvell Technology, and others for a new kind of efficient AI chiplet design for datacenter servers.

    The Santa Clara-based startup disclosed its funding and initial roadmap last week, saying it will use an "innovative digital in-memory computing" architecture to build processors made of chiplets that offer what it claims will be faster AI inference performance than CPUs and GPUs for large transformer models.

    Continue reading
  • USA's plan to decouple its tech with China lacks a strategy – report
    The Schmidt hits the fan
    Laura Dobberstein Tue 26 Apr 2022 // 16:30 UTC

    The USA's policy of decoupling its technology industries from China lacks a strategy, a theory of success, and an understanding of how to achieve its ill-defined goals, according to a new paper by Jon Bateman from the thinktank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP).

    "The United States cannot afford simply to muddle through technological decoupling, one of the most consequential global trends of the early twenty-first century," wrote Bateman, a former senior intelligence analyst, policy adviser and speechwriter at the US Department of Defense, in the document, titled "US China Technological 'Decoupling', a Strategy and Policy Framework."

    Bateman acknowledges there is bipartisan support for measures controlling China's access to US tech, but contends that the issue of which strategic technologies should be controlled and to what degree, are left undefined.

    Continue reading

Biting the hand that feeds IT © 1998–2022

Your Consent Options Cookies Privacy Ts&Cs