Avatars at House Hearing on Virtual World

WASHINGTON(Reuters) – The founder of virtual world Second Life sought to reassureU.S. lawmakers on Tuesday that the online community is able to policeitself.

Second Life founder Philip Rosedale and a handful of other virtualreality experts, testified at a House of Representatives hearing thatwas also attended by on-line personas, or avatars, portrayed on a videoscreen in the hearing room.

"It is likely that virtual world activities are somewhat morepoliceable and the law somewhat more maintainable within virtualworlds," said Rosedale, chief executive of Linden Lab, the company thatruns Second Life.

Some lawmakers raised questions about what operators of virtualworlds are doing to stop them being used to stage real-world crimessuch as terrorism, money-laundering and the exploitation of children.

"I am not advocating censorship. But I am asking what we can to makecertain that these glorious tools are not … changed into tools thatfacilitate the use of terror attacks on innocent civilians around theworld," said Democratic Rep. Jane Harman, of California.

Harman cited a British newspaper report last year saying thatIslamic extremists were suspected of using Second Life to recruit andmimic real-life terrorism.

"We have never seen any evidence that there is any such activitygoing on," Rosedale told the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee ontelecommunications.

Second Life is an online community with several hundred thousandusers who create their own avatar identities and can fly around thevirtual world at will.

In addition to entertainment, Second Life has created its owncurrency — the Linden dollar which can be converted to U.S. dollars –in an active marketplace which supports millions of dollars in monthlytransactions.

Lawmakers on the panel said the hearing was held for informationalpurposes and no legislation is planned. Rosedale, appearing in bothphysical and avatar form, outlined steps the company takes to"discourage and prevent illegal activity."

He said gambling is banned and financial transactions are closelymonitored. Teenagers are restricted to a separate teenage-only versionof Second Life, he told them.

"The virtual world has a degree of accountability … andtraceability which actually in many ways is better than the realworld," Rosedale said.

On the video screen in the hearing room were about two dozen avatarsfrom Second Life. They sat quietly, while their comments were displayedat the bottom of the screen.

At least two of the avatars had wings. A third turned into a giant bumble bee as the hearing ended.

Also on the screen was an avatar representing Rep. Edward Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the subcommittee.

Rosedale and other experts said virtual reality was the next step in the evolution of the Internet.

"Virtual worlds and spaces are quickly becoming powerful tools withthe potential to transform enterprise and government processes byincreasing top line and bottom line growth, improving efficiency andproductivity, and augmenting our ability to innovate and spurentrepreneurial growth," IBM vice president Colin Parris told the panel.

(Editing by Tim Dobbyn)