IT WAS created as a kind of cyber-utopia, a parallel electronic universe where online users could reinvent themselves and create the world anew.
But the shadow of real crime has intruded into the popular Second Life virtual world as it emerged that police are examining claims it is now being used by paedophiles.
Set up in 2003, the online world now has 6.2 million registered users who can
buy "land", create virtual houses and businesses and meet each other using "avatars" - or virtual 3D characters of themselves.
However, German television revealed that one user, who poses as a 13-year-old girl, has been offering photographs of real-life child pornography to other users. It also exposed the fact that avatar characters of an adult male and a child have engaged in a sex act in the Second Life world.
Peter Vogt, the head of Germany's Central Agency for the Prevention of Child Pornography, yesterday revealed his department was working with San Francisco-based Linden Lab, the owners of Second Life.
"Linden Lab has been working very hard here against this abuser who misuses this game as a platform for child porn," Mr Vogt said.
The investigator said he feared the incidence of child porn uncovered by broadcaster ARD was not isolated. "One can probably never totally stop them, though, just like one cannot totally stop the other criminal uses of the internet," he said.
Visitors to Second Life agree to abide by terms and conditions banning offensive language and behaviour when they log on to the virtual world, which requires a computer software download and a broadband internet connection.
However, the vast number of people inhabiting Second Life - 1.7 million have logged in during the past 60 days - makes policing it a near impossibility. Instead, like YouTube, it relies on other users flagging up offensive behaviour to the owners. Users have to be aged 13 to join Second Life, and even then are kept to a "teen world" before being allowed to join the main online area at the age of 18.
Critics claim it is relatively easy for Second Life users to fake their age. However, the company behind the virtual world says it is working on new electronic checks that will use different forms of identification - like national identification numbers and passports - to help prevent abuse. Linden Lab yesterday said it had "zero tolerance for depictions of child pornography within Second Life".
"We were outraged to see the images that ARD showed us, and will co-operate fully with any legal authorities that choose to investigate the individuals involved in such activities," the company added.
Second Life has about 800,000 users in Europe. The UK has about 6 per cent of active users.
Virtual worlds have existed in the internet community since the mid-1990s, and others like World of Warcraft and Runescape play on an interest in fantasy games.
However, Second Life is different to a game because users can in essence mirror their real-world activities, for example buying and selling currency and offering actual products and services to other residents.
BUSINESSES ARE CASHING IN ONLINE
MANY companies have scrambled to buy a presence in Second Life as the business opportunities of the virtual world have become clearer.
Second Life now has 65,000 "acres" that residents can buy, plus 16-acre "islands", available for £844 (plus £148 per month maintenance) on which they can build virtual shops and offices.
Computer giant IBM, BMW, American retailer Sears and Vodafone are among the companies with Second Life buildings. And American lawyer, Stevan Lieberman, sees clients in a virtual office for £163 per hour.
Second Life has its own currency, the Linden Dollar, which which can be bought and sold like real currency.
Others have chosen to mesh their real life with their online existence even more closely - one user has his real house linked to Second Life so that when his physical front door opens, the door of his virtual house opens too.
The full article contains 682 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
