Fearing Second Life, again

Sexual exploitation of children in Second Life: such is the fear of an Illinois Representative.  It's a classic case of digital fear, with a focus on children and sexuality.

It's an argument breezily free of evidence:

Kirk said he knew of no cases in which children were targeted by sexual predators on Second Life, but...

"but."  Can you see where this is going?

... he said he considers the virtual world an emerging danger.

Note the persistence of extremely inflated numbers for Second Life "residents" - 13 million, in this article!  Which makes the article's emphasis on Second Life being new (it isn't) curious.

(thanks to Jamie Prince, via Twitter)

Comments

[HP]

Yet another case of projection from a lawmaker? Perhaps the Justice Department should start watching U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) a little more closely.

I believe that along with Godwin's Law and Poe's Law, there's an Internet dictum along the the lines of "What they publicly condemn, they secretly do."

(Which, come to think of it, would be a nice tagline for a gothic novel/movie/ARG/Internet tie-in.)