Your Secret Is Out: Online Anonymity Is Disappearing
Companies are working to link your real world information to online IDs.
Oct. 3, 2007 Special to ABCNEWS.com — -- Second Life is a place where you go to live out fantasies. The virtual world lets you pick your body shape, eye color, age and gender. But now Second Life wants to know the real you.
In August, it began testing technology that verifies people's identity and age. "Trust is the foundation of any community," blogged marketing chief Robin Harper. "And one cornerstone of trust is identity. You've got to know something about the person you are dealing with before you can trust them."
This marks a big shift in the world of Web communities, where people often share excruciatingly intimate details about their lives even as they neglect to say — or outright lie — about who they really are. Will denizens of the Web soon have to reveal their real world selves?
See how companies unmask your ID at our partner site, Forbes.com.
"There will be a Web equivalent of 'No shoes, No shirt, No service'," says author and tech futurist Paul Saffo. In other words, if you want to join the club, show your card.
Second Life is tapping technology called Integrity, from Washington D.C.-based Aristotle International. Soon only those Second Lifers willing to divulge their social security numbers (or passport data) will get access to content that other members have flagged as "adult."
Second Life isn't enforcing online ID — just giving members the option. If you run a bar in the virtual world with scantily clad dancers, you can chose to let anyone in, or only those who have proven their age — much like the real world. Of the hundreds of Second Lifers who have weighed in on the proposals, a few have welcomed such virtual velvet ropes: "About bloody time!" wrote one. Far more Second Lifers, however, are worried about losing their privacy.
As more people wander into cyberspace, however, the norms of the "real" world may get imposed on the virtual one. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, for instance, is pressuring social networking sites including MySpace, owned by News Corp., to verify age. "If we can put a man on the moon, we should be able to verify ages online," says Blumenthal. Attorneys general in all states are joining his campaign.
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