You know, for the kids! [Proposal topic]

I’d like to propose we think forward and create some sort of system to protect children moving forward. The pseudo-anonymity of a user being known only by their name/eth account may cover most of what COPA (Child Online Protection Act) intended around identity. However, the metaverse is an interesting place but not all is wholesome for kids.

To put it plainly, I would like to be able to flag an account I make as a child (13 or under) which instigates a few rules.

No gambling, but the atari arcade would be fine.
Locations are whitelisted as kid friendly. Non whitelisted locations would cause the glowing do not enter walls to pop up.
Friends only communication enabled by default.

It could be cool if there was a wearable they couldn’t take off, instead of a flag on their file. That way others could see they were a kid too and act appropriately (or maybe that makes it easier for predators to target… unsure).

Anyway, right now it feels a bit like burningman. Oh look at that awesome art! Oh this thing actually works sooo cool. Huh. Wonder what these chickens are abou-OMG that is DEFINITELY tentacle porn.

I don’t want my kids seeing that :slight_smile: Thoughts?

-[g]

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Yes, full support for child protection. Flags, labels, restrictions, whatever. Maybe the Avatar could be scaled based on age?
Rating system for content. I pondered making the floors of my gallery rated G, PG, R as you go up.

Interestingly, what about adult accounts that interact with kids? Idk, that’s another discussion.

Please note, COPA was shut down by the US Supreme Court in 2009: Child Online Protection Act - Wikipedia

However, I respect that you brought this up and flagged this for the community. What does exist is COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act).

For those unfamiliar ~ “COPPA imposes certain requirements on operators of websites or online services directed to children under 13 years of age, and on operators of other websites or online services that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information online from a child under 13 years of age.”

That said, I’m not sure if COPPA is applicable in this sense, because DCL is not not a kid-geared website nor is it collecting personal information of anyone, and is specifically for US-based users.

Thanks Deidre!
Good reference. I think it will be a matter of “if” there is motivation or concern enough for kid safety in DCL. I think there should be some basic boundaries. It’s impossible for parents to protect kids from the internet. I think interested content creators need to set the protections up on their end.

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I would be happy to help with this. I work in this field. Let me know how I can help

Great call out D! I did not mean to put any standard on a pedestal; I meant what do WE want to do with our platform as it evolves, to engage, interact, protect, and yes possibly police the underaged.

I agree 100% with DCLEddie - it’s impossible to protect kids 100%. However, I disagree that only content creators need to set up protections. Kids can, and should, wander. We need wallet interaction with DCL that can set a parental flag, blocking non-friend chat, and a whitelist of some land to allow them a much safer environment to grow in.

You could do it with a wearable/NFT that corrals kids. Or with a kid browser (think youtube kids app) that does whatever protection as part of it’s custom code. Or a realm that is for kids only, and normal deploys don’t go there without review/consensus/whatever.

I’d also be fine with the community saying “nah, this is a place for adults - just parent them away”. But I think the metaverses that cater to all will do better in the long run.

-[g]

Crusty, heard, thanks! I’m going to mine this thread for ideas for a bit and see where it goes. I plan to sooner or later write an actual proposal, but it’s scope is being felt out now.

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Geff, I’m totally on board with everything you said. I did not mean to imply that only content creators are responsible, for sure. As a pediatrician I see that no matter how much we recommend excellence in parenting, we know there are so many kids who just will not be protected, even by well meaning parents. And since, as developers, we can only control what we can control, it seems an ethical responsibility to protect the kids who are left unprotected.
I’m new to this DCL process, how do we get started?
What I like about DCL is we can examine what’s already been done and tested in the world(Deidre’s post), and refine/change for what we want.

As far as what I would want: I’m pretty flexible as long as we have a solid discussion about the possibilities. If we wind up with some basic protections all the way up to a rated R maximum adult world only. I think things rated X need to be left for other settings. MHO

Geff, I love the owl.

Eddie

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The NFT wearable is a good idea.
Or any sort of flag. Maybe something automatically visible to 18 and over. Doesn’t even have to be visible to the kid, as it would embarrass them of course. Lol. As one layer of passive boundary making.

I’m not a coder, but I think it would be easy to put something in the builder wherein they could just check a box, and their parcel would be inaccessible to certain age groups. I think it would be interesting to even code invisible walls with specific or programmable designations. So, for example the upper level of a gallery could be off limits but the remainder of the site could be accessible.

I know many kids mostly hack and get around any age limitations but the requirement to be linked with metamask etc increases the hurdle. Maybe a bold statement there, at the very beginning, for the adults who are signing up for their kids exactly what content there are exposing their kids to if the age is fabricated. And the consequences, if there are any.

Just some more thoughts.

Are we getting anywhere on this? New to the forum

I disagree…
I don’t think anyone should be telling anyone what to do…

Hahah you were told to edit your post, troll!

I haven’t had time to move this forward myself @Crusty, but I think it is going to be a lead-by-example situation. I plan on making a kid friendly area, with an NFT which provides access. At least I can then hand them out to family and friends - then see where it goes.

-[g]

I found it ironic that my post got deleted for talking about sex and gambling…
On a topic about sex and gambling…

And apparently I can’t say that parents mess up their kids mental health with their restrictions… Even China would be rolling their eyes on this one…

Sorry. I should have editied! I work professionally in childen’s rights. Specifically providing governments with guidance regarding the interaction of AI and children. I think we can do this properly. Thabk you for emailing me. I am building a house and between digital zones until July 5.

I will send you some info on our group. I have some ideas on how to implement this and help guide. Im excited to see if we can get this going. I own some land and would like to implement chlld friendly days and zones.

So interestingly, now that I am doing some deploys, I have noticed this in the “scene.json”.

“policy”: {
“contentRating”: “E”,
“fly”: true,
“voiceEnabled”: true,
“blacklist”:
},

So there is an ability to opt-in to a content rating. Unfortunately it seems to default to ‘E’ in templates. Maybe we could lobby for this to be ‘R’ so it’s opt-in to family mode instead of by default?

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interesting concept, would be nice to this idea implimented properly

Although i do agree with some of the concerns around censorship, particularly since then the discussion moves to checking age, currently only possible through gov. issued ID’s, until we find an anonymous way to check age i think discussions like this are less meaningful…