Police aim to stamp out virtual child abuse

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UK authorities involved in the fight against child abuse are increasingly concerned about the depictions of child abuse in Second Life, the online virtual world.A spokeswoman for Ceop (the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) told El Reg that part of its concerns stem from the possibility that someone with access to children would arrange to meet them offline and then expose them to the sexual content in Second Life as part of an attempt to "groom" them for subsequent abuse. "This is an area of increasing interest to us,"she said, adding that Ceop is considering helping to set up a walk-in police station in Second Life where people might be able to report incidents of abuse. As previously reported, a virtual abuser area where child computer characters or avatars sell a range of sexual services has been created in the virtual world. The environment allows the depiction of sick fantasies including the rape and degradation of child characters.
In theory anyone accessing the area (including the child characters) needs to be over 18 and have use of a credit card. Nonetheless police are concerned that sick fantasies acted out in a virtual environment could be acted out in real life.
A recent investigation by UK Channel Five crime correspondent Jason Farrell discovered an area of Second Life called Wonderland where child-like characters sold sex for "Linden dollars", the currency used by the game. The name of the environment is a sick reference to the Wonderland gang, a notorious group of child abusers.
"There were virtual children of all ages, even toddlers. After talking to one child I was offered a range of sordid and sick sexual acts," Farrell said, the Daily Mirror reports.