Image credit to Nadine Nozaki and used under a Creative Commons License.

A somewhat underlying theme of the web revolves around it being this community which promotes the free and equal access to information and production, as well as disintegrating the levels of hierarchy and institution.

It stems from the early years of the internet when the World Wide Web was advocated by the political activists on the 1960s, and a free thinking community devoid of the constraints of government and media was allowed to run amok. What ensued was the birth of a power which outgrew everyone, and forms the greatest change in history since the birth of steam power in the industrial revolution.

Over the past two decades, we the people have come to watch, nurture and love this growing force of the Internet, and noted how it has become bigger than anything before – it has superseded any individual, corporation or government. It allows anybody to have a voice, and gives rise to the notion that we, the people, matter.

We therefore become sensitive when anyone uses the C word – Censorship. Australia’s recent push to control the content that its population can view has been met with great controversy, in no small part because Australia is recognised as a democratic nation.

Ask yourself this – a boy comes home from school and logs onto his computer. He creates an account in Second Life and logs in, not having to provide any form of age verification in order to be able to log in. Once in world, he has unrestricted access to view an assortment of adult material. Furthermore, he has the ability to engage in sexual activities, which may extend to fantasises that most of us may not be able to fathom.

The question though, lays in who is responsible for this censorship? Common sense dictates that the parents of the boy should be watching what he is engaging in on the internet, and filters should have been in place to control what he can access. Additionally, it can be argued that Linden Lab should have verification upon sign up, or limit access to adult content until such proof has been provided.

But what about censoring adults? We can’t be naive enough to think child-play doesn’t happen in Second Life. Sky News were kind enough to point that out to the whole world, and paved the way to the exit doors for corporations in SL.

Child pornography is rightfully illegal across the globe, and there is no safe harbour for it. So why should it not be regulated on the internet?

Again, this raises more specific questions aimed at metaverses such as Second Life. The Internet is not a controlled entity, and hence it is not anybody’s sole responsibility. Second Life is a controlled entity, governed by Linden Lab, whether they like it or not. It’s their product, and they’re the ones making money from it, so surely they are responsible for the content it holds?

And if Second Life can’t control the activities that its residents are engaging in, or verify the ages of the users accessing the grid, then what hope does it stand in the censorship battles?