edit Aug 2011: LL have changed the age verification process. Now all you need to do is update your account with your birth date – see here for further details.
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There are two kinds of verification – payment and age.
- Payment verification comes from you either having given and used a payment mechanism on XStreet SL (or SL Exchange as it once was) or having given Linden Labs your payment details.
- Age verification comes from giving identification details and being verified through Aristotle. This is done through your account on secondlife.com
Currently the requirement is for you to state that the information you give to Aristotle is true not that it is yours. LL are well aware of this and have been for over 2 years. They have no stated intention of requesting Aristotle tighten the verification process.
[2009/06/10 15:54] Blondin Linden: [15:42] Xantarius Cain: Blondin: Is Linden Lab aware that several residents are reporting that they were able to use the personal information of the LifeLock (http://www.lifelock.com) CEO in order to age-verify? With such a major security hole, age-verification seems like a waste of time, no? If it cannot guard against the simplest fraud, how does Linden Lab expect it to work. I understand the “political” benefit of having it and being able to say that you have it when the parents/governments come calling, but it doesn’t work.
ANSWER: No system is perfect and we know that.
Anecdotally, there are many people in SL who have verified using data belonging to people such as Elvis Presley, Tupac Shukur and the CEO of lifeLock.
Many are chosing this option for a number of reasons including;
- the inability of LL and second life to correctly store and use this information to guarantee adult content access,
- lack of confidence in Aristotle to remove the data used as agreed,
- because they have tried to use their own data and cannot verify.
If you wish to read more on this topic, the slapt.me wiki has details, including the data needed to verify.
How To Confirm Your Verification Type:
There are a few things to do to check that everything is ok on your account.
1. Go to the verification centre at Bay City: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Concinna/152/35/32. Here there are both payment and age verification booths.
If you know you have verified using either method and yet you fail to confirm it here, open a support ticket.
2. You can then try to TP to the Arapaima which is currently the welcome area for Zindra http://slurl.com/secondlife/Arapaima/139/108/32.
If everything works then you’re good to go.
Current Verification Issues:
- If you verified with Aristotle and it is no longer showing on your account pages on the website you will be required to reverify, either by using Aristotle again or by sending your identification electronically to LL.
- If you have put payment details on your account but have not bought lindens then your account will still show npiof inworld and you will not be verified. There was a jira raised but it has not as yet been fixed.
- LL have not yet developed a working mechanism to copy the verification from Xstreet SL to the LL database and they have not yet given an indication of when this is likely to happen.
- If you are confirmed at the test points but you have problems accessing adult flagged lands then it’s the software bug in second life.
In all these cases there is little you can do except to lodge a support ticket and hope they fix the bugs eventually.
General Data Security Issues:
Aristotle are currently certified by the US Department of Commerce for what is called “Safe Harbour”. This means they are prepared to guarantee to the US government that the data they hold is kept securely or is used appropriately. This site is also where companies can verify that they are in compliance with the EU regulations regarding data.
here is Aristotle’s current status on the DoC site: https://www.export.gov/safehrbr/companyinfo.aspx?id=6205
Linden Labs are not registered with the DoC and they should be if they were committed to protecting their customer data. You can check to see if they do register at any time by using this search: https://www.export.gov/safehrbr/list.aspx
This doesn’t mean that the organisation makes no attempts to provide data protection, but of course the implication is that by not registering they know they fail to comply.
Where ever you are in the world before you make the decision to give LL your identification details you must accept that there is a likelihood these details will either not be held securely or will be used or sold on without your consent by the company concerned.
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