U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800

Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001

50–918 PDF 2008

ONLINE VIRTUAL WORLDS: APPLICATIONS AND 

AVATARS IN A USER-GENERATED MEDIUM 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND 

THE INTERNET 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND 

COMMERCE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

April 1, 2008 

Serial No. 110–102 

( 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

energycommerce.house.gov 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE 

JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan, Chairman 

HENRY A. WAXMAN, California 

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts 

RICK BOUCHER, Virginia 

EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York 

FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey 

BART GORDON, Tennessee 

BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois 

ANNA G. ESHOO, California 

BART STUPAK, Michigan 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

ALBERT R. WYNN, Maryland 

GENE GREEN, Texas 

DIANA DEGETTE, Colorado 

Vice Chairman 

LOIS CAPPS, California 

MIKE DOYLE, Pennsylvania 

JANE HARMAN, California 

TOM ALLEN, Maine 

JAN SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois 

HILDA L. SOLIS, California 

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas 

JAY INSLEE, Washington 

TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin 

MIKE ROSS, Arkansas 

DARLENE HOOLEY, Oregon 

ANTHONY D. WEINER, New York 

JIM MATHESON, Utah 

G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina 

CHARLIE MELANCON, Louisiana 

JOHN BARROW, Georgia 

BARON P. HILL, Indiana 

JOE BARTON, Texas 

Ranking Member 

RALPH M. HALL, Texas 

J. DENNIS HASTERT, Illinois 

FRED UPTON, Michigan 

CLIFF STEARNS, Florida 

NATHAN DEAL, Georgia 

ED WHITFIELD, Kentucky 

BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming 

JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois 

HEATHER WILSON, New Mexico 

JOHN B. SHADEGG, Arizona 

CHARLES W. ‘‘CHIP’’ PICKERING, 

Mississippi 

VITO FOSSELLA, New York 

STEVE BUYER, Indiana 

GEORGE RADANOVICH, California 

JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania 

MARY BONO, California 

GREG WALDEN, Oregon 

LEE TERRY, Nebraska 

MIKE FERGUSON, New Jersey 

MIKE ROGERS, Michigan 

SUE WILKINS MYRICK, North Carolina 

JOHN SULLIVAN, Oklahoma 

TIM MURPHY, Pennsylvania 

MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas 

MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee 

PROFESSIONAL STAFF

DENNIS B. FITZGIBBONS, Chief of Staff 

GREGG A. ROTHSCHILD, Chief Counsel 

SHARON E. DAVIS, Chief Clerk 

DAVID L. CAVICKE, Minority Staff Director 

(II)

(III) 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE INTERNET

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts, Chairman 

MIKE DOYLE, Pennsylvania 

Vice Chairman 

JANE HARMAN, California 

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas 

JAY INSLEE, Washington 

BARON P. HILL, Indiana 

RICK BOUCHER, Virginia 

EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York 

FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey 

BART GORDON, Tennessee 

BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois 

ANNA G. ESHOO, California 

BART STUPAK, Michigan 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

GENE GREEN, Texas 

LOIS CAPPS, California 

HILDA L. SOLIS, California 

JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan (ex officio) 

FRED UPTON, Michigan 

Ranking Member 

J. DENNIS HASTERT, Illinois 

CLIFF STEARNS, Florida 

NATHAN DEAL, Georgia 

BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming 

JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois 

HEATHER WILSON, New Mexico 

CHARLES W. ‘‘CHIP’’ PICKERING, 

Mississippi 

VITO FOSELLA, New York 

GEORGE RADANOVICH, California 

MARY BONO, California 

GREG WALDEN, Oregon 

LEE TERRY, Nebraska 

MIKE FERGUSON, New Jersey 

JOE BARTON, Texas (ex officio) 

(V) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Hon. Edward J. Markey, a Representative in Congress from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, opening statement .................................................... 1 

Hon. Cliff Stearns, a Representative in Congress from the State of Florida, 

opening statement ................................................................................................ 3 

Hon. Jane Harman, a Representative in Congress from the State of California, opening statement .................................................................................... 4 

Hon. John Shimkus, a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois, 

opening statement ................................................................................................ 5 

Hon. Anna G. Eshoo, a Representative in Congress from the State of California, opening statement .................................................................................... 5 

Hon. Bart Stupak, a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, 

opening statement ................................................................................................ 6 

Hon. Gene Green, a Representative in Congress from the State of Texas, 

opening statement ................................................................................................ 7 

Hon. Mike Doyle, a Representative in Congress from the Commonwealth 

of Pennsylvania, opening statement ................................................................... 8 

Hon. John D. Dingell, a Representative in Congress from the State of Michigan, prepared statement ...................................................................................... 68 

WITNESSES

Philip Rosedale, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Linden Lab ................... 9 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 11 

Susan Tenby, Senior Manager, Community Development, TechSoup ................ 14 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 17 

Colin Parris, Ph.D., Vice President, Digital Convergence, IBM Research, IBM 

Corporation ........................................................................................................... 28 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 30 

Larry Johnson, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, The New Media Consortium .... 48 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 50 

SUBMITTED MATERIAL

‘‘The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They 

Know,’’ David Wolman, Wired Magazine, February 25, 2008 .......................... 69 

‘‘Virtual jihad hits Second Life website,’’ Chris Gourlay and Abul Taher, 

The Sunday Times, August 5, 2007 .................................................................... 78 

American Cancer Society, statement, prepared by Randall Moss ....................... 80 

(1) 

ONLINE VIRTUAL WORLDS: APPLICATIONS 

AND AVATARS IN A USER-GENERATED MEDIUM 

TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2008 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS

AND THE INTERNET, 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE, 

Washington, DC. 

235U 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 9:35 a.m., in room 

2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Edward J. Markey (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Members present: Representatives Markey, Doyle, Harman, Inslee, Boucher, Eshoo, Stupak, Green, Stearns, Shimkus and Wilson. 

Staff present: Amy Levine, Tim Powderly, Mark Seifert, Maureen 

Flood, Colin Crowell, David Vogel, Philip Murphy, Neil Fried, and 

Garrett Golding. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE COMMONWEALTH 

OF MASSACHUSETTS 

Mr. MARKEY. The avatar will gavel the hearing to order. The 

subcommittee will come to order. 

This is going to be, I think, one of the most fascinating hearings 

that we have ever had, and we thank all of you for coming and participating, and this is actually going to be the first simulcast of a 

congressional hearing in a virtual world. A recreation of this committee hearing room has been developed in Second Life, and my avatar is there as well in the virtual chairman’s seat. My avatar actually looks like he has been working out, and that’s one of the beauties of Second Life. 

There are also several other avatars who have been invited to 

watch today’s hearing from Second Life. In particular, I would like 

to welcome an avatar we have invited named Wild Cunningham, 

which was created by an inspirational group of individuals with 

cerebral palsy at an adult daycare center in Dorchester, Massachusetts. They are using their avatars to run, to fly, and to communicate with people in a whole new way. This is a prime example 

of how virtual worlds can empower and animate the lives of individuals with disabilities through the use of broadband technologies. 

Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus in Massachusetts and a transplant out to Silicon Valley and to Second Life, is also present with 

2 

his avatar in the hearing room. We have also invited the avatars 

of several journalists, online advocates, and academics, as well as 

the avatars of several Federal Government representatives from 

NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who 

have built an incredible locale in Second Life where individuals can 

watch the impacts of global weather conditions, as well as fly into 

the eye of a virtual hurricane. 

In fact, virtual worlds often permit people to do things in model 

conditions that would be difficult to do in real life. For example, 

emergency first responders can train for scenarios that are difficult 

to stage in real life. Responses to things like natural disasters or 

a flu pandemic can be practiced and analyzed by professionals in 

this virtual medium. In addition, the American Cancer Society has 

raised tens of thousands of dollars in charitable contributions in 

Second Life and is quite active in the medium. Colleges and universities around the country are also presently harnessing the power 

of this new medium for education, experimentation, cultural exchange, and fostering understanding. Virtual worlds are at the cutting edge of so-called Web 2.0 applications and services, which enable users to generate the content of this realm such as with 

YouTube and Flickr and Facebook. Virtual worlds can also support 

business operations and commercial applications from real estate 

sales to business conferences, product marketing, music sales, and 

the general buying of goods and services. IBM, which is testifying 

today, has been an early and active colonizer of this electronic frontier. 

Today’s hearing has been designed primarily to be educational. 

In time, virtual worlds will become ever more commonplace, and 

millions of Americans will inhabit such worlds for parts of their 

day for communications, for business, for education, for healthcare, 

for cultural interest. As that occurs, policy issues will inevitably 

arise that mirror the issues that confront policymakers in the real 

world: consumer protection, personal privacy, intellectual property 

protection, banking issues, online gambling, or child protection concerns. Policymakers will have to continue to monitor these issues 

to ensure adequate consumer protection as virtual worlds continue 

to evolve and to grow. However, online virtual worlds, as represented by Second Life or Zwinky or there.com, are at their best 

vehicles for understanding across borders and for building communities. They can empower individuals, companies, and professionals 

with the ability to visualize and conceptualize not only what is 

present, but also what is possible. To this extent, today’s hearing 

is both a glimpse into the future and also a window into the current reality for millions of people across the world. 

As the subcommittee delves into this first educational hearing 

about virtual worlds, it is important to keep in mind that if we 

want to foster the best of what this medium has to offer, we must 

consider the policies that will be conducive to such growth. These 

include upgrading our broadband infrastructure and speed, fostering openness and innovation in our Internet policies, and ensuring that we bridge digital divides in our country so that all Americans can benefit. 

I want to thank our witnesses for their willingness to share their 

experience with us this morning and look forward to their testiVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:37 Oct 29, 2009 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\CWELLS1\HEARINGS\110-102 SCOM1 PsN: JIMC
3 

mony. I would also like to thank the staff who have helped to pull 

this together today: Sharon Davis, Carla Hultberg, Phil Murphy, 

David Vogel, as well as Sue Singer from Second Life. All of them 

worked very hard over the last 5 or 6 days to put together today’s 

exhibition. 

That concludes the opening statement of the chairman. 

I now turn to recognize the ranking member of the Subcommittee 

on Telecommunications, the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Stearns. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CLIFF STEARNS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA 

Mr. STEARNS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me compliment you 

on this hearing. I think it is an exciting time, and I also feel this, 

being the first hearing on virtual worlds, is a great event, and I 

compliment you on doing this, and I compliment Mr. Rosedale for 

the development here, and I see that we do have an avatar Mr. 

Markey there, and I was looking at the details, and obviously he 

looks like he is a bit younger, and he probably appreciates that, 

having come off a little basketball injury, and it looks like he is 

whole there. 

The possibilities and the applications for what Second Life is 

doing with online virtual worlds are unlimited, probably only limited by the imagination and creativity of its employees. With the 

advent of higher resolution and high definition, the avatars that we 

have that we show for people here today are graphically worked 

out through artistic sketches in attempts to get the likeness. Obviously in the future these avatars could become photo or exact replicas in terms of viewing and a video representation that would 

look, walk, and act just like the real thing, and I think that is probably in the very near future. Advances in technology will lead to 

better graphics, easier to use and more innovative applications, as 

we see now in the high-definition digital cameras. We see it obviously in the cartoons and the comic book types of movies. 

It is going to be a highly competitive world. We just want to 

make sure it is not highly regulated. The rapid development of 

text-based e-mail, today’s audio- and video-rich worldwide web, we 

want to continue to have that. The unprecedented growth investment in broadband network services and applications is now leading to what some believe is the future of the Internet: virtual Webbased communities such as Second Life, in which users interact 

with each other through graphical representation of themselves. 

This hearing obviously will explore some of the unique things 

about Second Life’s users, what they are doing with the platform, 

as well as how Linden Lab, the company behind Second Life, is 

dealing with some of the challenges, and perhaps there are some 

challenges that we should talk about, their enabling unique and innovative ways to conduct entertainment, commerce, research, education, and political discourse. Mr. Markey was able to go to Bali 

on this virtual world and give a presentation. I think that was commendable the way you did it, and I thought it was very interesting. 

You can use Second Life as a storefront for real-world businesses 

or by selling virtual goods and services for use within Second Life, 

and you can start selling clothing, furniture and even buildings. 

Chevrolet now, I understand, owns an island where car enthusiasts 

4 

may converse with GM mechanics, designers and engineers to gain 

information on the repair of their automobiles, perhaps learning 

how to get better performance out of their cars. IBM employees 

worldwide use Second Life as an advanced video conferencing system for collaborative projects. This is all good. According to the 

Wall Street Journal, Second Life users spent a reported $64 million 

in 2006, and analysts estimate that Second Life 2007 GDP will be 

between $500 and $600 million. 

A recent survey of 30,000 gamers found that nearly 40 percent 

of men and 53 percent of women who played online games said 

that their virtual friends were equal to or better than their reallife friends, so that is a concern here. Furthermore, more than a 

quarter of gamers said the emotional highlights of the past week 

occurred in the computer world. 

Second Life has a great potential obviously, but we must remain 

vigilant, especially when it comes to criminal activity online, and 

these online virtual communities enable some of the most egregious 

social behaviors, social ills that we witnessed in the Internet. We 

could see it on Second Life. Child pornography is another one, as 

well as fraud. Sexual predators and con men have found their way 

into the Internet. They will find their way into the virtual reality, 

too. But like any business, virtual or real, it appears that Second 

Life must endure and must protect the safety of its users and be 

flexible in its platform so it can flourish at the same time without 

overregulation. So far, Second Life appears to be doing just that, 

and I commend them for that. 

I will close, Mr. Chairman, by offering a suggestion that if somehow, some way you, as distinguished chairman, find the virtual 

world so enjoyable that you wish to remain in it for a while, I will 

be glad to ease your conscience here and take some of your colleagues with you, and I will be glad to run the subcommittee in 

your absence. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back. 

Mr. MARKEY. I thank the gentleman. 

I will now turn to recognize the gentlelady from California, Ms. 

Harman. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JANE HARMAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

Ms. HARMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

For the record, my Web site has had a virtual office on it for 

years as a way to lead constituents around it. Some might also 

think of Congress as a virtual world. Many think we have little 

connection to the real world. We watch floor hearings and floor debates on flat screens or computers in the privacy of our offices. We 

fly into and out of town so quickly that we might as well send 

avatars to the Floor to vote in our stead. In fact, I even know an 

officeholder in my district along the beach in Los Angeles who conducts his office on the beach using a laptop. It sounds tempting, 

doesn’t it? 

But kidding aside, online virtual worlds, as you have just said 

and the ranking member has just said, play a valuable role. Second 

Life can provide language training to our foreign service officers 

and an open platform for e-commerce and innovation of new InterVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:37 Oct 29, 2009 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\CWELLS1\HEARINGS\110-102 SCOM1 PsN: JIMC
5 

net applications and many other things that we cannot even imagine yet and that I am sure our witnesses will imagine for us. 

But as the ranking member said, there is also a downside. He 

was talking about crime. I would just like to mention terrorism. 

Press reports suggest that Islamic militants are using programs 

like Second Life to transfer money, build online communities and 

win new recruits. I do not think this should cause us to advocate 

censorship. I do not advocate censorship, but I do suggest that a 

clear-eyed understanding of the potential of virtual worlds is essential to helping us fight the newest trends in terrorism. 

I would like to thank, Mr. Chairman, your avatar for holding this 

hearing. I actually suspect that the real reason we are here is so 

that you can get some pointers on how to get past the seventh level 

of the World of Warcraft, but I do think you need to know that 

chairing this hearing is only worth two experience points. 

I yield back. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentlelady’s time is expired. 

The chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Shimkus. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN SHIMKUS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS 

Mr. SHIMKUS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be brief. My second son just turned 13, so I have two teenagers now, and of course, 

they play a virtual reality game called RuneScape, with which they 

communicate with their friends. They both go online at the same 

time and kill dragons and get money and do whatever they do in 

that area. The other thing is an avatar, it is either a Hindu or a 

Buddhist name for a god, I don’t know if you knew that, which always gives me some concern about virtual reality and how they are 

nice, but they do portray things that aren’t real and I don’t think 

anyone perceives as gods. Well, maybe some people do up here in 

Washington. 

With that, I look forward to this hearing. I am going to learn a 

lot. I don’t delve into this arena, so I thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. MARKEY. I thank you, but I think only lobbyists see us as 

gods. I think the rest of the world has a clearer perception of who 

we are. 

Let me turn and recognize the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. 

Boucher. 

Mr. BOUCHER. No statement. 

Mr. MARKEY. The chair recognizes the gentlelady from Silicon 

Valley, Ms. Eshoo. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ANNA G. ESHOO, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

Ms. ESHOO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding another hearing on emerging technologies, and a warm welcome to all of the 

panelists, certainly Mr. Rosedale from Linden Lab. I am proud that 

they have operations in my congressional district and our constituent company. 

I can’t help but think of the phrase ‘‘get a life,’’ and now we have 

Second Life, and while some might think of it as a little peculiar, 

it wasn’t that long ago that social networking was outside the 

6 

mainstream, and it is very, very quickly becoming the mainstream. 

It is a vital way for the major presidential candidates to reach out 

to voters directly. Several Members have already mentioned so 

many of its manifestations, but what I think is so exciting about 

it is that the possibilities seem to be endless. It is the transformative nature of the technology that allows for individuals to 

connect with each other in new and creative ways. Universities 

have created virtual environments for instruction and new ways for 

students to collaborate. It is a very important use of it. And companies use Second Life to bring distant employees together on 

projects, and we have already heard that some Members of Congress have also created virtual town hall meetings. 

So there are many, many ways to make use of this, and Mr. Boucher is here this morning. There was a memorial for the tragedy 

in his district that included the pictures and bios of many of the 

students and faculty who had lost their lives. They created a place 

where anyone could leave a candle, flowers, or express their sympathy. So I think that this technology really taps into human 

beings wanting to socially interact, so there are fun applications, 

there are serious ones, and I look forward to hearing a lot more 

about this. 

As I said to Mr. Rosedale, I am going to have to excuse myself 

because we have an Intelligence Committee meeting at 10:00, but 

again, I welcome all of you. For those of you who are here for the 

first time, this is a real Markey hearing. He is always tapping into 

the future. So thank you to all of you. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you. The gentlelady’s time has expired. 

The chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Stupak. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BART STUPAK, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MICHIGAN 

Mr. STUPAK. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Today’s hearing encompassing online virtual worlds promises to be an interesting one, 

as the use of these applications continues to grow. The number of 

computer users subscribing to online virtual world services is growing at a phenomenal rate and is predicted to surpass 50 million 

users in 2008. One such online application, Second Life, has had 

an impact in the education field. Over 60 schools and universities 

have set up virtual classrooms in Second Life. Professors are creating environments designed not only to teach their students more 

effectively, but also to teach students hundreds or sometimes thousands of miles away. The business sector is also starting to join 

this growing medium. Companies such as IBM, Mazda, Disney, 

GM, Major League Baseball, and others have opened up a virtual 

property on Second Life, sometimes even showcasing their newest 

products for consumer feedback. 

Aside from all the positives of this growing medium, I do want 

to focus on an issue that is very important: how is the industry 

that is creating these applications ensuring that children are protected from potential dangers online? With my law enforcement 

background and my work on O & I, we find that in 2006 the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held 9 days of public 

hearings on online child safety. Our focus was on Internet service 

providers and social networking sites. These online virtual worlds 

7 

are similar to social networking sites and even more interactive. So 

I am interested in learning from our witnesses about what steps 

they have taken to ensure that children are protected when they 

log into these virtual worlds. Nearly one in five children reported 

receiving a sexual solicitation over the Internet, and an estimated 

8.2 million children in the United States from ages 3 through 17 

years old log onto virtual worlds. The anonymity provided by the 

Internet to those that seek to exploit and harm children and the 

lightning pace at which they can change identities and elude law 

enforcement provides a significant policy challenge. Nonetheless, 

we need to do everything we can to protect children that use these 

programs. 

There are also concerns about the addictive nature of these applications. The American Psychiatric Association has begun studying 

the effects of these virtual world applications to see if some users 

are becoming psychologically addicted. 

I look forward to discussing my concerns with our witnesses and 

learning more about what the future holds with this growing medium. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to all of our witnesses. 

Mr. MARKEY. I thank the gentleman, and now we recognize the 

gentleman from Texas, Mr. Green, for an opening statement. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. GENE GREEN, A 

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS 

Mr. GREEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and following my colleagues, I am glad you called this hearing, because I think maybe 

some of us, and you and I shared it before the hearing, that we 

played basketball together for many years. Some of us are getting 

much older. Maybe in our Second Life we will always make our 3- 

point shot and still run up and down the court like we did 20 years 

ago. 

Online virtual worlds like Second Life are growing in popularity,and I am not active in it like some of the members of our 

subcommittee, and I look forward to the educational hearing we 

are having today, learning more about the numerous uses and applications for virtual space. From commerce, grant promotion to 

philanthropic educational purposes, individuals, companies and 

universities and other groups are finding innovative, useful ways 

to make use of virtual space. Several years ago there were articles 

about former Governor Mark Warner creating an avatar in Second 

Life, which was unheard of at the time. Today, dozens of elected 

officials are in Second Life or virtual worlds, and we see presidential campaigns using Second Life to hold events, and grassroots 

efforts in virtual space have exploded. 

In the area of education, my alma mater, the University of Houston, created a design economics course that uses live modeling of 

business practices in Second Life, where designers can try their design and entrepreneurial skills against an entire market, rather 

than using simulation software. This provides a real-time simulation of real-time economy and customers, which makes a realistic 

and quick experience in running an entrepreneurial venture. Students are free to create content and learn business skills under the 

mentorship of architects and businesspeople, as well as successful 

8 

virtual shopkeepers and developers. As more people with different 

applied sciences join in a virtual space, the educational potential 

will broaden to apply to journalism, music, police work, law, and 

many more. 

In closing, I would like to comment that none of these uses or 

applications would be possible without high-speed broadband service, and as this committee moves forward, we should continue to 

promote innovation by supporting broadband deployment and competition in the marketplace. Fast and affordable Internet access 

will benefit consumers, foster innovation, and promote innovative 

and forward-thinking companies like Linden Lab. I hope we can 

continue and encourage the competition we have seen in the 

broadband marketplace over the past several years, which will be 

greatly increased with the creation of a third and maybe even a 

fourth pipe for wireless broadband service for the near future. 

Again, I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding the hearing. I 

yield back my time. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time is expired. 

The chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. 

Doyle. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MIKE DOYLE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 

Mr. DOYLE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Chairman, I noticed that we are holding this hearing within 

Second Life. As you have mentioned, Second Life isn’t the only online virtual world, and Mr. Chairman, you are not the only one 

with an avatar either. A more computer-savvy member of my staff 

made an avatar for me and my staff a few months ago, and hopefully we can put it up on the screen there for you to see. There is 

my staff and I. 

Mr. Chairman, my point is, Members of Congress, we have a lot 

of lives. Not only do I sit on this subcommittee, but I also co-chair 

the Coalition on Autism Research and Education, better known as 

the Autism Caucus, and since tomorrow is World Autism Day, I 

feel it is important to highlight some uses of this technology. For 

example, autistics.org has created the Autistic Liberation Front. It 

is a platform where men and women with autism or Asperger’s are 

able to find other people with autism and communicate more. Some 

of these people are what we might consider as uncommunicative, 

and we might have written them off and ignored their unique skills 

and abilities. For these people, Second Life has given them a voice 

in ways that other methods have failed. To that end, I would like 

to introduce this recent article from Wired magazine about people 

with autism and Asperger’s and how their creative uses of the 

Internet are causing some researchers to rethink their conclusions 

about people with autism. 

Mr. MARKEY. Without objection, it will be included in the record. 

[The information appears at the conclusion of the hearing.] 

Mr. DOYLE. Thank you. And just as important, Second Life and 

others like it are great examples of how the Internet is changing. 

Give people a connection and they find fascinating new ways to fill 

it. Peoples’ tastes and interests are changing, and the Internet 

9 

changes with them. You know, Mr. Chairman, sites like Second 

Life raise interesting questions about net neutrality. Too often the 

conversation about it has been about how to manage scarce bandwidth. I think that conversation needs to be flipped on its head and 

instead the conversation needs to be about how we can obtain an 

abundance of bandwidth. People like our witnesses here will find 

new ways to come and use it, but only if America builds it and 

makes it available to everyone. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back my time. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time is expired. 

The chair recognizes the gentlelady from New Mexico, Ms. Wilson. 

Ms. WILSON. I waive. 

Mr. MARKEY. All time for opening statements has been completed, so we will turn to our first witness. That is Philip Rosedale, 

who is the founder of Linden Lab and creator of Second Life. He 

has extensive knowledge in the development and pioneering of 

streaming technology, having been the chief technology officer at 

Real Networks for 3 and a half years, as well as the entrepreneurin-residence for Excel Partners, where he began his work that 

would lead to Second Life. We welcome you, Mr. Rosedale, and 

whenever you are ready, please begin. 

STATEMENT OF PHILIP ROSEDALE, FOUNDER AND CHIEF 

EXECUTIVE OFFICER, LINDEN LAB 

Mr. ROSEDALE. Thank you, Chairman Markey, Ranking Member 

Stearns, members of the subcommittee. We at Linden Lab very 

much appreciate the opportunity to come and talk to you, share 

with you our vision of how we think virtual worlds are fundamentally altering how both people and organizations can use the Internet, and I think more broadly, changing the nature of communication itself. It is certainly delightful to hear the depth of knowledge 

that everybody here has coming into this, and hopefully we can add 

something today. 

Through Second Life, the Second Life Grid, we believe we are 

creating a part of the evolution of the Internet as a new platform 

with vast commercial, scientific, educational and social potential. 

We founded Linden Lab in 1999 to try and develop a unique form 

of shared 3D experience. When we launched Second Life in 2003, 

we had enough server space to represent about a 1-square-kilometer patch of land in the virtual world. We also had about 500 

users of Second Life at that time. We welcomed our 100,000th user 

in January of 2006, and since then we have seen a great deal of 

phenomenal growth. Today, in the past month there have been 

about 900,000 people who have used Second Life, and at any time 

there are typically 50,000 to 60,000 people who are logged in together to the virtual world. Our servers today support nearly 390 

square miles of virtual land, which is the equivalent of over six 

times the area of Washington, D.C. 

So why have we seen this kind of explosive growth? We think the 

Second Life grid is essentially the next step in the fulfillment of 

what we all want to do or imagine ourselves being able to do with 

the Internet, allowing us as people to both create and consume content and also interact with each other in a 3D environment. As we 

10 

have discussed, the potential for education, entertainment, other 

types of interaction in a 3D environment that is filled with other 

people, is far greater than in the flat and isolated two-dimensional 

world of the Web today. 

So while Second Life began initially in its use with playful experimentation and self-expression, today we are seeing a very vibrant mix of in-world businesses, real-world brick-and-mortar 

brands, educators, scientists, and curious and creative individuals. 

These groups are creating content. They are engaging in commerce, 

and they are mixing with each other easily across what might otherwise be real-life gaps, gaps that are caused by geography, physical geography, by language, by culture, or even just by lack of information. 

So to help you understand what Second Life users are creating, 

we have prepared a short video especially for this hearing. We will 

share with you some typical Second Life stories, hopefully give you 

a glimpse of the many ways people are using Second Life, and you 

may even see a familiar face in here, so let’s watch it. 

[Video shown.] 

Mr. ROSEDALE. Thanks. As you have hopefully seen, there are a 

lot of new and very innovative things that are happening on the 

Second Life Grid. 

So, on a broader scale, why does this all matter? We believe virtual worlds, particularly Second Life, hold great promise for America, for our economic development, for our ability to compete globally, and most fundamentally, virtual worlds mark a significant 

leap forward in how we are able to communicate and work together 

over geographic distances. As you have seen in the video, in virtual 

worlds there is a sense of geographic place and personal presence, 

even when users are miles or continents apart. In Second Life, you 

can see the other person. You can verbally speak with him. You 

can also chat or instant-message with him. So you are occupying 

a multi-tiered communications platform with dimensions that do 

not currently exist with e-mail, telephone conference calling, or 

even the Web. This vastly expands our ability to collaborate over 

a distance. Large groups can hold conferences, they can engage in 

language training, as mentioned. They can design blueprints, plans 

or computer code as if they were in the same room together. In a 

virtual atmosphere, even people who haven’t met each other can 

rapidly establish rapport and trust. This is one reason why large 

companies are effectively using Second Life across distributed communities of employees. They are taking advantage of the ability to 

transfer and view information basically immediately in Second Life 

along with the reduced production and infrastructure costs and 

very low barriers to entry inherent in this technology. 

By making this kind of environment, this immersive environment, widely accessible, virtual worlds we think are poised to do 

what the telephone, the Internet and e-mail all did, which is to reduce communications costs and create new and faster ways to build 

and collaborate and thus increase personal productivity. These increases in productivity tend to occur exponentially, so we think it 

is vital to America’s growth that we lead the charge and continue 

to develop the expertise and framework to master this new technology. 

11 

Mr. MARKEY. If you could summarize, Mr. Rosedale? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. Let me just say in summary, Second Life, beyond 

being, as we have seen, a place to create and experience content, 

it is also a place that is creating businesses for some 50,000 people 

today, making money there, something that I as an entrepreneur 

am personally proud of, and in summary, I think that we as a nation have an ability to continue the technological leadership and 

development that will make the success of Second Life and virtual 

worlds broadly possible. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Rosedale follows:] 

STATEMENT OF PHILIP ROSEDALE

Chairman Markey, Ranking Member Stearns, and Members of the Subcommittee, 

we at Linden Lab very much appreciate this opportunity to share with you our vision of how virtual worlds are altering how people and organizations use the Internet and fundamentally changing the nature of communication itself. Through the 

Second Life Grid, we believe we are creating an evolutionary Internet platform with 

vast commercial, scientific, educational, and social potential. 

We founded Linden Lab in 1999 to develop a unique form of shared 3D entertainment. When we launched Second Life, in late 2003, we had server space representing a 1-square-kilometer patch of ‘‘land’’ and about 500 residents. We welcomed our 100,000th resident in January 2006. Since then, we have experienced 

phenomenal growth. Today, we have approximately six million unique registered 

users, roughly 50,000–60,000 of whom are online or ‘‘in-world’’ at any one time and 

roughly 900,000 of whom have been in-world during the last 30 days. Our users exchange approximately $850,000 worth of ‘‘virtual currency’’ per day on our platform. 

Our servers support nearly 390 square miles of ‘‘land,’’ or the ‘‘virtual’’ equivalent 

of over six times the area of Washington, D.C. 

Why have we seen such explosive growth? The Second Life Grid is the next step 

in the fulfillment of the Internet’s promise, where people create and consume content and also interact with each other in a 3D environment. The potential for commerce, education, entertainment, and other interaction in a 3D environment filled 

with other people is far greater than in the flat and isolated 2-dimensional world 

of the World Wide Web. 

And so, while Second Life began with a large ‘‘game-play’’ element, today we see 

a vibrant mix of in-world businesses, real-world ‘‘brick and mortar’’ brands, educators, scientists, and curious and creative individuals. These groups create, engage 

in commerce, and mix with one another across what might otherwise be real gaps— 

caused by geography, culture, telecommunications, or lack of information. 

To help you understand what Second Life users are creating, we have prepared 

a short video, especially for this hearing. We will share with you typical Second Life 

stories and applications so that you can get a glimpse of the many ways in which 

people throughout the world are using Second Life to broaden their reach. You’ll 

even see a familiar face or two. 

[video shown, and submitted separately] 

As you have hopefully seen, a lot of new and very innovative things are occurring 

‘‘in-world.’’ 

But on a broader scale, why does this matter? We believe it matters because virtual worlds, and particularly Second Life, hold great promise for America, for our 

economic development, and for our ability to compete globally. Most fundamentally, 

virtual worlds mark a leap forward in how we can communicate and work together 

over geographic distances. As you have seen in the video, in virtual worlds there 

is a sense of geographic ‘‘place’’ and personal ‘‘presence,’’ even when users are miles 

or continents apart. In Second Life, you can ‘‘see’’ the other person, verbally speak 

with him, as well as chat with or ‘‘instant message’’ him. You occupy a multi-tiered 

communications platform with dimensions that do not exist with e-mail, telephone 

calls, conference calling, or other platforms. 

This vastly expands our ability to collaborate over distance: large (or small) 

groups can hold conferences; view evidence, charts and other content; do language 

training; and design code, blueprints, and plans as if they were in the same room. 

Moreover, in a ‘‘virtual’’ atmosphere, even persons who have never met can establish 

rapport and trust with one another. This is one reason why large companies are effectively using Second Life across distributed communities of employees. Other reaVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:37 Oct 29, 2009 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\CWELLS1\HEARINGS\110-102 SCOM1 PsN: JIMC
12 

sons are the ability to transfer and view information immediately in Second Life, 

along with low production and infrastructure costs and barriers to entry. 

By making this type of ‘‘immersive’’ environment widely accessible, virtual worlds 

are poised to do what the telephone, the Internet, and e-mail did—reduce communications costs and create new and faster ways to produce, and thus increase, productivity. These increases in productivity tend to occur exponentially, so it is vital 

to America’s growth that we lead the charge and develop the expertise and framework to master this technology. 

There is another aspect of the Second Life Grid of which I, as a lifelong entrepreneur, am particularly proud. As of today, more than 50,000 users are ‘‘net 

gainers’’ on the platform, and this number is rapidly growing. In other words, these 

users are successfully creating goods or services in Second Life and making a profit. 

Second Life has provided thousands of people with a way to supplement their incomes, through no significant expenditure but their own time and imagination. 

This demographic of creators is diverse—more than 40 percent of active user time 

‘‘in-world’’ is spent by women and an equal percentage by persons over 40—not a 

stereotypical ‘‘gamer’’ profile. They range from semi-employed artists who design 

‘‘virtual’’ offices to stay-at-home soccer moms and grandmothers who design clothing, furniture, and new applications. And since more than 70 percent of our users 

are outside of the United States, Second Life provides an opportunity—if we continue to master this technology—for America to become a ‘‘net exporter’’ of these 

services. 

I am proud of and inspired by all that the Second Life Grid is making possible, 

for all of these individuals and businesses, and I believe that our nation’s technological leadership and standard of living ultimately will depend on the success of 

Second Life and other virtual worlds. We want to work with you to ensure we get 

it right. 

IMPORTANT APPLICATIONS OF OUR TECHNOLOGY

People in Second Life have created over 1 billion in-world ‘‘objects,’’ occupying 

total storage space of about 100 terabytes. Most of these objects derive their value 

from their intellectual or artistic appeal, or sheer utility. Second Life is as diverse 

as the real world in terms of types of activities it offers—maybe even more so. 

Political Outreach and Community. Virtual worlds offer enhanced opportunities 

for public participation in government, including new ways for Members of Congress 

to connect with their own constituents or with groups located around the world. As 

you saw in the clip of Chairman Markey’s address in Virtual Bali, virtual worlds 

provide a great opportunity for expanded political discourse, in ways not possible— 

or at least not cost-effective—in the physical world. 

Public luminaries such as Judge Richard Posner and former Speaker Newt Gingrich have held successful (and widely discussed) events in Second Life. The City of 

Boston has a Second Life prototype in the works, to extend community involvement 

and promote outreach. At the neighborhood level, residents of Queens have used 

Second Life to design their community garden. 

We are particularly proud that this very hearing is being streamed live into a 3D 

model of this hearing room, with in-world residents watching from their seats in 

this virtual environment. You may even see some spontaneous text chat emerge 

from the gallery. 

Education and the Arts. A wide range of academic and educational organizations 

use our platform, for research and modeling, distance learning and real-time collaboration. We offer a program called Campus: Second Life, which provides semester-long grants of ‘‘land’’ to educators who want to teach in the virtual world. As 

of today, there are more than 400 universities in Second Life and more than 4,500 

teachers involved in Second Life. 

Health Care. Hospitals, doctors, and medical researchers are sharing information, 

designing new treatment options, and collaborating on medical research using Second Life. The Center for Brain Health at the University of Texas at Dallas, for instance, is using Second Life in treating autism. Through virtual therapy sessions, 

clinicians help patients develop cognitive and socialization skills and prepare them 

for practical tasks like job interviews. And many emergency ‘‘first responders’’ are 

using Second Life to train for scenarios that are difficult to stage in the ‘‘real’’ world. 

Recently, IBM opened its Virtual Healthcare Island, through which it will assess 

how information technology can transform health care delivery to meet patient 

needs. Earlier this year, Palomar Pomerado Health, which is opening a new stateof-the-art medical center in San Diego in 2011, opened a simulation of the real-life 

campus now under construction. ‘‘Virtual’’ visitors will help the ‘‘real’’ hospital test 

13 

new concepts for health care delivery, such as the use of RFID technology to ensure 

that patients en route to surgery arrive at the right place, on time. 

eCommerce. Virtual worlds offer opportunities both for large corporations seeking 

to increase productivity and for individual entrepreneurs who can profit from virtual 

‘‘micro-economies.’’ (The average ‘‘virtual currency’’ transaction in Second Life is approximately one dollar—which might buy, for instance, new accessories or clothes 

for your ‘‘avatar’’ or admission to a museum or musical event.) Individuals profiting 

in Second Life from their own creativity range from young artists to retirees to 

semi-employed workers in non-technical fields—people who may never before have 

had an opportunity to use technical talents for profit. Second Life’s ‘‘micro-entrepreneurs’’ also include many individuals who have physical disabilities that challenge their abilities in physical space, yet who thrive, create, and earn money in virtual space. Indeed, many persons with disabilities have launched new careers inworld and gained enormous fulfillment from their new, ‘‘virtual’’ activities. 

Major companies such as IBM, Intel, and Cisco also are making wide and effective 

use of Second Life as a platform for corporate communication and information. 

They, and countless other companies, use our technology to unite employees scattered across the globe—for collaborative projects, business planning, and distributing their companies’ corporate culture. And many brick and mortar companies, 

such as Pontiac, Coca Cola, Starwood and Adidas, have used Second Life effectively 

and innovatively for brand-building and marketing. 

Public Diplomacy. Virtual worlds offer opportunities to connect people of different 

cultures, in ways not possible in the physical world. The USC Center on Public Diplomacy has created a Virtual World Project, for instance, to explore new ways of 

practicing public diplomacy. The Center has worked with the U.S. State Department, for example, to explore the possibilities that virtual worlds offer for hosting 

International Information Program initiatives, which can engage international audiences to create an environment more receptive to our national image abroad. 

Because of their strong sense of presence, ability to foster trust across borders, 

and multi-layered communication platforms, virtual world technologies offer a way 

to reach whole populations across the globe—even across unfriendly borders—that 

might be resistant to establishing rapport or trust through other means. Virtual 

technologies could provide the ‘‘Voice of America’’ for the new diplomatic age. 

POTENTIAL MISUSE OF VIRTUAL WORLDS

We believe that individuals within Second Life ought to have a considerable measure of creative and personal control over their own experience. And like any large 

platform, the sheer volume of in-world activity prevents Linden Lab from being able 

to police all in-world activities, at all times. That said, we take considerable steps 

to discourage and prevent illegal activity, and our users lend us a great deal of assistance in this endeavor. 

Our policies prohibit illegal activities, both in general and specific forms. And unlike some online communities, we have the ability to track, retain, and investigate 

information related to potential crimes—and thus the ability to closely assist law 

enforcement. Perhaps most fascinating, because so many of our users are deeply invested in Second Life, whether for economic or other reasons, they act to protect 

their own environment much as real world residents do. For instance, they will report inappropriate material in public areas, obstreperous or intrusive ‘‘ad farms,’’ 

suspected underage users, gambling, or other inappropriate activity. We in turn respond to these reports, if and when they arise, and suspend wrongdoers or report 

them to law enforcement. 

Among the issues we have tackled head on are gambling, money laundering, child 

safety, and so-called virtual ‘‘banking.’’ In addition, we are working hard to make 

sure that we address the concerns of parents about the use of Teen Second Life. 

Gambling. Because there are a variety of conflicting gambling laws around the 

world, we chose last year to ban games of chance in Second Life. Residents are not 

permitted to operate casinos taking ‘‘virtual currency’’ on games such as Baccarat, 

Blackjack, Keno, Roulette, Pachinko, Gow, Poker, and any other game, new or old, 

that relies on chance. This policy also prohibits sports betting. Our ‘‘G-team’’ actively searches for such activities, and where we discover gambling, we remove all 

related objects from the in-world environment. We take escalated measures against 

egregious or repeat offenders, including suspension from Second Life. 

Money Laundering. We have a large team dedicated to dealing with fraud and 

abuse, and we have systems in place that make it extremely difficult to engage in 

money laundering. We also have sophisticated anti-fraud and fraud-tracking tools. 

Since we implemented them, our fraud and chargeback rates are approximately 0.3 

14 

percent—a small fraction of the online industry average of approximately 1.2 percent. 

Financial activity on our platform is tracked and monitored. Users generally purchase ‘‘Linden Dollars’’ through a credit or debit card, or PayPal. Users who sell 

Linden Dollars on the LindeX ‘‘virtual currency’’ exchange can then receive payment 

for this ‘‘balance’’ (usually through PayPal) only upon passing through verifiers and 

fraud tools—designed to detect fraud markers (inconsistent activity, suspicious 

transaction patterns, inconsistent account information, etc.) or a lack of credible corresponding in-world activity. Moreover, as a micro-transaction platform, large transactions (e.g., in the thousands of dollars) clearly stand out. The result is that using 

the LindeX exchange as a money laundering or fraud conduit would be extremely 

difficult. 

Teen Access/Internet Safety. Second Life’s Adult Grid is just that: an adult environment. It is not intended for minors, and when discovered, minors are removed 

and banned. But we know teenagers are interested in virtual worlds, so in 2005 we 

created a separate secure environment for teen residents called Teen Second Life. 

We developed Teen Second Life for kids aged 13-17. With the exception of Linden 

Lab staff (who are available to help) and educators (who undergo a background 

check), no adults are permitted to interact with these users. We are committed to 

providing a safe environment for our teen residents. As part of this effort, we provide advice to parents on how to stay involved with their teens and help them, 

through the use of our online safety tips, to protect their identity and communicate 

safely with others while online. 

In addition to these efforts, we have joined other leading technology companies 

as part of the Berkman Center’s Internet Safety Technical Task Force. We have 

hired a former senior government Internet crime prosecutor to carry out these and 

other safety measures. Working with other leading technology companies, we collectively will focus our work on identifying effective online safety tools and technologies 

that can be used by companies across multiple platforms, to address Internet safety 

concerns. 

CONCLUSION

We are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. The fast pace of technological 

advancement allows for continued improvements upon ways in which individuals 

can stay connected. Imagine the potential that the World Wide Web held in 1994. 

What was once a novel concept, hobbled by clunky software and limited 

connectivity, is now ubiquitous. Most of us cannot imagine life without the Internet. 

It has become an extension of our lives. The Second Life Grid offers an even more 

advanced way to network with fellow human beings. 

Through Second Life and other virtual worlds, the real world will become a better, 

more connected place. 

Thank you. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Rosedale, very much, and thank 

you for that incredible presentation, and I just want to stipulate 

right now so that everyone knows, the only resemblance between 

that avatar and me is the request that I made that because I am 

of Irish descent that they give me a green tie, and beyond that, any 

resemblance is completely coincidental. 

Let me now turn to recognize Susan Tenby. She is the online 

community manager for TechSoup. TechSoup is a comprehensive 

Web-based resource covering all aspects of nonprofit technology 

and channeling over $50 million yearly of technology product philanthropy into the nonprofit sector. Susan plays a large role in the 

development of nonprofits in Second Life. We welcome you, Susan. 

Whenever you are ready, please begin. 

STATEMENT OF SUSAN TENBY, SENIOR MANAGER, 

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, TECHSOUP 

Ms. TENBY. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the 

committee. My name is Susan Tenby, and I am here as the senior 

manager of online community development at TechSoup to talk to 

15 

you about the potential of nonprofits in Second Life, and I am 

pleased to be here today. I have submitted my full statement to the 

committee to be made part of the permanent record, and my avatar 

name is Glitteractica Cookie. 

So TechSoup helps nonprofits get and use technology to further 

their missions. We have distributed over a billion U.S. dollars to 

the sector and technology product donations. We have community 

articles about nonprofits and technology, and specifically my role 

right now is to talk about online community social networks and 

Second Life for nonprofits virtual worlds. 

Social networks such as Facebook, YouTube, and MySpace are 

becoming the dominant force in shaping how society uses communications technology. Second Life is an example of a social network 

that combines the engagement of interactive tools with the richness 

of broadcasting. There is two-way interaction, user-created content, 

and international reach, and it is free to participate. Social networks such as Second Life have become an effective way to help 

nonprofits engage their communities, enlist new volunteers and donors and broaden their reach. Virtual worlds such as Second Life 

have forever revolutionized the way people and organizations connect, learn, and create with the element of fun. Identity exploration 

in the medium through the experience of character avatars allows 

people to empathize with communities that are different from their 

own. 

A number of philanthropic foundations are actively investigating 

the potential of Second Life to help them and their grantees better 

fulfill their missions. Through their Foundations Only Island, the 

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is leading the exploration of virtual philanthropy and soon will be sharing opportunities to help the social benefit sector both online and in the virtual 

space. The Ford Foundation has also expressed interest in this 

work, as have smaller foundations and individual contributors and 

donors. 

Second Life makes it easy to bring people together across the 

globe for no cost to the user to discuss issues such as climate 

change, human rights abuse, disability and other targeted communities. I am sure you all remember Congressman Markey’s Second 

Life participation in the One Climate Bali conference. Our community of nonprofits, The Nonprofit Commons, often has what we 

refer to as mixed reality events; in fact, what you are seeing right 

here, feeding live audio and video both directions through the virtual world into the real world and back again. Nonprofits are already active and exploring virtual worlds in Second Life, and Second Life has emerged as the leading virtual world in the nonprofit 

sector. This tool allows you to capture audio, video, and text, chat 

communications and allows users to easily upload the media to the 

Web and share activities after they have occurred, offering a free 

and easy publishing system and an easy way to bring communications and archive all that happens in the virtual world on the traditional Web. 

So a few examples of nonprofit activities in Second Life are the 

TheWallSL.com, which is an example of a virtual Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which allows people who do not have access to the 

real-life memorial to visit it and to check in and read more about 

16 

the people listed on the traditional Web. The disability community, 

as we mentioned earlier, is well represented, and Second Life gives 

them a venue to discuss and collaborate with others where they 

wouldn’t previously have had access. In some instances, for example, people who are wheelchair-bound are given the opportunity to 

walk, run or even fly. It provides a safe environment for support 

and recovery services such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics 

Anonymous. The American Cancer Society’s Virtual Relay for Life 

made a Second Life version of their race where they raised 

$118,000. They also have ongoing cancer support group meetings. 

It provides a rich educational experience that would not be possible 

in real life. For example, in Second Life you can walk through a 

human heart or take a spaceship up in space and explore. Organizations like Global Kids are providing youth with a participatory 

and creative way to learn about current and historical events. 

Our goal with The Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to play 

the role of the convener, to create a collaborative learning environment, a community of practice to help nonprofits meet with each 

other. We do this through a structure where we have built a community and offices. We have regular meetings in the virtual world, 

and we have created a seedbed for experimentation and a comfort 

zone and structure that we have provided. We are trying to create 

a program with other innovators in the space so nonprofits across 

the globe can take part in participatory learning and connect to the 

virtual donation connections and volunteers to benefit their reallife missions. 

Thank you for the opportunity to appear, and I am ready to answer questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Tenby follows:] 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Ms. Tenby, very much. 

Our next witness is Dr. Colin Parris. He is the vice president of 

Digital Convergence for IBM, and we welcome you, sir. Whenever 

you are ready, please begin. 

STATEMENT OF COLIN PARRIS, PH.D., VICE PRESIDENT, 

DIGITAL CONVERGENCE, IBM RESEARCH, IBM CORPORATION 

Mr. PARRIS. Good morning, Chairman Markey, Ranking Member 

Stearns and members of the congressional subcommittee. It is my 

honor to be here to testify before the subcommittee on what we 

consider to be a significant evolution in the Internet. 

As readily evidenced by the rapidly growing awareness to heightened media coverage and ever-broadening usage, we have firmly 

entered a new era in the evolution of Internet capabilities. This era 

augments the significant capabilities of the Internet by extending 

the current participation, collaboration and innovation 

functionalities to create what we at IBM call the 3D Internet. At 

IBM, we firmly believe that virtual worlds like Second Life, which 

are one facet of the 3D Internet, have the potential to transform 

enterprise and government processes by increasing top- and bottom-line growth, improving efficiency and productivity, and augmenting our ability to innovate and spur entrepreneurial growth. 

These virtual worlds allow the deepening and enriching of a customer’s product, service, or program experience, promoting and 

supporting commerce. They also increase individual and team 

learning capabilities, driving increased innovation with new products and services. 

We are working with our large enterprise clients and government 

entities to leverage these emerging technologies in order to unlock 

the business value that we believe will have a direct economic benefit to all industries. This technology will spur entrepreneurial activity and drive business growth, resulting in accelerated job creation and prosperity. 

To unlock this business value, there is a significant number of 

enterprise, government, educational, and nonprofit entities that are 

currently experimenting with new applications and services. These 

emerging applications can be loosely grouped into four functional 

categories. These are commerce, collaboration, training, and process management. Applications in the commerce category utilize the 

3D spatial and simulation capabilities of virtual worlds to provide 

customers with a richer, more immersive experience of the product 

or service in an environment that can be customized to look and 

seem like their own. These applications support the lifelike 

envisionment of a new city from acclaimed waterfront lands, of a 

travel experience with a virtual staff giving a tour of the hotel and 

sights of interest, of a green data center infrastructure and process 

design, or of a newly remodeled kitchen or home. These enhanced 

pre-sales activities can increase the percentage of successful sales 

and the level of customer satisfaction. 

Applications in the collaboration category are those that deepen 

the collaboration capability using 3D spatial functions to create 

new presentations or showings that leverage the space, distance, 

and simulation capabilities of virtual worlds. This would allow remotely distributed teams to collectively design and develop prodVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:37 Oct 29, 2009 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\CWELLS1\HEARINGS\110-102 SCOM1 PsN: JIMC
29 

ucts, services, and processes, leveraging spatial simulation and 

shared experience capabilities to better communicate their needs 

and to foster greater innovation and reduced speed to market. 

Applications in the training category leverage both the learning 

effectiveness associated with simulation-based instructions and the 

shared avatar experience of virtual worlds to allow team-based 

learning. In addition to the increased effectiveness of the training, 

there are significant cost avoidance benefits associated with reduced travel, lodging, and wasted time. These applications provide 

the improved training of civilian and military forces in situations 

of natural or manmade disasters or support the more accurate certification of expertise in complex, dangerous, or costly manufacturing and engineering tasks. 

Process management applications leverage the simulation, spatial and immersive capabilities of virtual worlds to model and depict business, government, and social processes. This permits insights to be gained by allowing shared observation and analysis of 

the process through rehearsal and critical event simulation. These 

applications allow the optimizing of manufacture and healthcare, 

transportation and other processes using both physical model simulations and real people personified as avatars. These applications 

can allow us to increase productivity gains and cost gains before 

real-world investments are met. 

The widespread adoption of these applications, however, is dependent on several underlying technological assumptions that are 

critical for success. These include improving the endpoint experience, providing an enterprise grade virtual world infrastructure, integrating legacy business systems and creating interoperability between virtual worlds. As these emerging capabilities are another 

evolutionary step in the development of the Internet, it is clear 

that we must continue leveraging the policy framework that has 

served us well and on which we have built significant experience 

and viable processes. 

Eleven years ago, when the Internet era began, government and 

industry came together to create an appropriate policy for global 

electronic commerce, one that would stimulate its growth and development while addressing the policy-related issues. I understand 

you were there, Chairman Markey, when the framework for global 

economic commerce was announced by the White House. That 

framework, with its fundamental principles of allowing the private 

sector to lead, of avoiding undue restrictions, of enforcing 

minimalist, predictable, legal environments, still hold true today in 

this new evolution of the Internet. 

I thank you for your time and the opportunity to share these few 

remarks on this very significant evolution before us. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Parris follows:] 

30 

31 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 

37 

38 

39 

40 

41 

42 

43 

44 

45 

46 

47 

48 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Dr. Parris, very much. 

Our final witness, Dr. Larry Johnson, leads the New Media Consortium, a not-for-profit association of more than 250 world-class 

colleges, universities and museums focusing on emerging technologies. We welcome you, sir. Whenever you are ready, please 

begin. 

STATEMENT OF LARRY JOHNSON, PH.D., CHIEF EXECUTIVE 

OFFICER, THE NEW MEDIA CONSORTIUM 

Mr. JOHNSON. Good morning, Chairman Markey and Ranking 

Member Stearns and the rest of the committee. Thank you for allowing me this time with you, and let me begin by applauding your 

leadership in this arena. I think the work you are doing is extraordinary. 

As you noted, my name is Dr. Larry Johnson, and I also have 

an avatar. Among the many exploratory projects that the New 

Media Consortium does, for more than 2 years we have led the 

largest educational project of any kind in any virtual world, one 

that involves hundreds of institutions and more than 7,500 individuals, educators and students all working and learning in the virtual world of Second Life. The project is self-sustaining, and it recovers all of its costs via operations and activities that are conducted within that virtual space. 

My comments to you this morning are the reflection of the voices 

of that community, as well as my own. They see the work they do 

in Second Life as another facet of the work that they do on their 

campuses, and that is the first point that I hope to leave you with 

this morning about the nature of virtual worlds. Any dichotomy 

drawn between the activities in the real world and that of the virtual world we believe is artificial at best. Behind every avatar is 

a thinking, living person, and in the case of my community, we see 

little reason to distinguish one’s virtual identity from the other aspects of yourself. I am the same person whether you encounter me 

here in this room or on the NMC’s campus in Second Life. 

My second point speaks to the notion of reality and unreality. 

Whatever happens in a virtual space, the space itself simply extends our notions of the real world, just as the Web extends our 

notions of the network. A virtual world like Second Life or other 

platforms like Project Wonderland are not games, serious or otherwise, and referring to the work done as games limits both the potential of the technology and the work it is enabling. After 2 years 

of focused research and demonstration projects in virtual spaces, 

we see them as nothing less than the evolution of the Internet from 

the flat two-dimensional Web in which it now resides into three dimensions, with all the richness and depth that it entails. 

And my third and most important point about the nature of virtual worlds is this: The emerging landscape of virtual worlds represents as profound an opportunity, as profound a driver of 

changes in the ways we think, learn and work as any technology 

that has ever preceded it, and more so. 

I am reminded of similar opportunities our Nation has faced in 

the past and how bold leadership and vision positioned America to 

make the most of those great moments in time. When the country 

was expanding westward, the Morrill Act set aside lands for uniVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:37 Oct 29, 2009 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\CWELLS1\HEARINGS\110-102 SCOM1 PsN: JIMC
49 

versities, ensuring that education would flourish as the country expanded. When it was clear that commercial interests would only 

provide electricity to the cities, where profits were easy, the Rural 

Electrification Act brought the modern age to all Americans. And 

when television was new, leaders like Freda Henoch stood up to ensure that channels would be set aside for learning. And in 1991, 

when the World Wide Web was still just an idea, the High Performance Computing and Communication Act ensured that the 

United States would have the infrastructure in place to lead the 

1990s, as it did. 

We very much need that kind of visionary leadership today. Already, an industry is beginning to form an ecosystem around this 

technology, and more than 4,400 people make a full-time living as 

professional developers in the virtual world of Second Life alone. 

There are nearly 55,000 small business operators who operate in 

the microeconomy there. More than 1,400 islands have been designated for educational use in Second Life, which is 10 percent of 

the entire 65 square miles, which is quite remarkable, I think, and 

there are probably, by my estimate, about 4,000 educational 

projects going on in Second Life. There are so many that it is actually not possible to keep up with them anymore. 

The future of virtual worlds that is yet to unfold is one that 

promises an exponential leap over what is possible with the technology today. Just over the horizon are cinematic-quality graphics, 

as several of the members have noticed, as well as seamless integration with business and other applications. Advances in social operating systems, in mobile devices and wireless technology are 

going to extend the 3D web in ways that will weave it transparently throughout our lives, and that web will connect us to each 

other, to goods and services, to knowledge and information in ways 

that we can only begin to imagine today. We stand at the frontier 

of that soon-to-come future right now. 

Thank you for allowing me this time to reflect on its profound 

potential. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Johnson follows:] 

50 

51 

52 

53 

54 

55 

56 

57 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you Dr. Johnson, very much. 

And now we will turn to questions from the members of the subcommittee, and the chair will recognize himself. 

Mr. Rosedale, you state in your testimony that 70 percent of the 

users of Second Life are outside the United States. Is there a correlation between the availability of high-speed, truly high-speed 

broadband overseas and its high growth overseas? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. Yes, Chairman Markey, I think there is. Seventy 

percent of Second Life users are outside the U.S., and as you suggest, the rate of growth of those users within different marketplaces globally does seem to be related to the pervasiveness of 

broadband, as well as the general availability within social groups 

of both broadband and the kind of computers necessary to run 

something like Second Life. We, for example, see extremely high 

rates of growth more recently in Japan, where broadband access 

and computing is fairly universal, at least in urban areas. So I 

think there is a high sensitivity between broadband and 3D computing and the ability of these types of social virtual worlds to 

truly become generally used. 

Mr. MARKEY. Now, I understand that Linden Lab reviews every 

transaction in Second Life over $10. What sorts of transactions 

would raise red flags for you? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. Well, that question is related to essentially the 

internal Linden dollar currency. In Second Life, when users wish 

to withdraw that currency into local denominations, we take a look 

at those transactions. We have a variety of systems in place, as you 

mentioned, one that for sure looks at everything over $10. The virtual world demonstrates patterns of use when you look at, for example, avatars’ transactions there, that are relatively easy with appropriate software and systems to discriminate and compare what 

look like routine transactions in the virtual world with something 

undesirable like, for example, people trying to do money laundering. Also, because the virtual world is a microtransaction environment where the average transaction has about a size of one 

U.S. dollar, it is relatively easy to spot larger transactions and then 

take a look at them and catch them. We have managed to, for example, maintain a fraud rate on the billing systems with Second 

Life which is about, for the last few months, a fraction of a percentage point, about 0.2 percent, where the industry average for e-commerce fraud is closer to about 1 percent. So we think that we can 

act as a model for the type of fraud systems that are going to be 

necessary to keep virtual world transactions legitimate. 

Mr. MARKEY. And what recourse would a consumer have who felt 

aggrieved by a transaction in Second Life? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. Well, like any open platform, the nature of individual transactions between individual users is not something that 

we attempt to regulate. Clearly, just like a transaction in the real 

world, in the virtual world, the buyer and seller have to be careful 

or be aware of what they are doing with each other. That said, the 

virtual world has a degree of accountability and journaling and 

traceability which actually in many ways is better than the real 

world. The likelihood of, for example, purchasing stolen merchandise is much lower in the virtual world due to the markability, the 

traceability of ownership, as an example, of a digital object. So I 

58 

think the probability that consumers will be distressed by the 

transactions they make there is probably lower on a sort of an 

hour-to-hour basis as comparing Second Life to life in a major city. 

So I think that we are in a reasonably good place there overall. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you. 

Dr. Parris, what types of jobs do IBM employees perform in Second Life? 

Mr. PARRIS. There are a variety of jobs there, Chairman Markey. 

I will put them in the category I discussed before. We actually have 

sales opportunities. The IBM.com has a sales presence in Second 

Life. We also have a telecommunications island, a healthcare island, and a retail island, so we have sales opportunities, so sales 

jobs are being performed there. We have development jobs being 

performed there, because it has been used as a platform for collaboration on designs, and these are collaborations that can take place 

across the full breadth of a global company like IBM. We have 

training types of opportunities that go on there, and we also have 

opportunities related to process management and process optimization that happen within Second Life. 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you. 

My time has expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from 

Florida, Mr. Stearns. 

Mr. STEARNS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Rosedale, do any of the presidential candidates have an avatar in Second Life? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. I am actually not sure. You know, Second Life is 

so large at this point that—— 

Mr. STEARNS. Oh, you don’t even know? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. We are often not involved in the creation of 

avatars such as Chairman Markey’s avatar. So I am actually not 

sure. To my knowledge though, I don’t think that the current presidential race has begun in earnest in Second Life. 

Mr. STEARNS. OK. What is the difference—since you started the 

company, who is Linden Lab? Are they the company you hired? 

Why didn’t you call it Rosedale? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. You know, the name Linden Lab, which Second 

Life users often ask about, comes from the name of the small alley 

in San Francisco where we had our first office. 

Mr. STEARNS. Oh, I see. OK. 

Mr. ROSEDALE. We had a fondness to that street name, and so 

we named the company that. 

Mr. STEARNS. Just another quick question. I notice in the resume 

you said you announced that you are stepping down as CEO on 

March 14. Why are you stepping down? It looks like you guys are 

just starting. 

Mr. ROSEDALE. You know, we are about a 250-person company. 

We believe that the sort of demands of growing this complex piece 

of software are going to cause us to—as well as our just general 

user growth and revenue growth—are going to make this a much 

larger company. I personally am very passionate and involved in 

the fairly detailed design of and skeletal construction of—— 

Mr. STEARNS. Rather than the management of something like 

that. I understand. 

59 

Mr. ROSEDALE. So I am less interested in that sort of large company management. 

Mr. STEARNS. I understand that you have a Second Life for teenagers, too, from 13 to 17, and obviously this Second Life that you 

have is for adults. So the question is, how do you keep the adults— 

I assume you try to keep the adults out of the teen Second Life and 

keep the teens out of the adult Second Life. How do you do that? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. Well, obviously the members of the subcommittee 

have discussed this already. We take child protection and access to 

content for minors very seriously. As you mentioned, we have an 

area of Second Life, Teen Second Life, which is just for teenagers. 

Because that area is just for teenagers, and because the environment is social with lots of people generally in contact with each 

other and communicating at the same time, you can—and we are 

actually following a best practice that has been pioneered by a 

number of other companies here. You can encourage the teenagers 

to actively identify and warn us, the company, about anyone whose 

language or behavior suggests that they are not teenagers, and in 

fact, this method is a best practice due to the different ways in 

which teenagers normally communicate on the Internet—— 

Mr. STEARNS. I think the problem would be that once a person 

is in there, he or she could camouflage themselves. What do you 

take as a front end to stop people from getting in, assuming that 

they give the money, they are ready to go, but let’s say they are 

55. I mean, how do you check? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. Like most Internet services, there are of course 

limits to how much we can check across an electronic—— 

Mr. STEARNS. Because of personal privacy. 

Mr. ROSEDALE. Right. Exactly. But we do, however, require a 

stronger degree of initial identity for signing up for the teen 

version of Second Life. 

Mr. STEARNS. Do you ask for a Social Security number? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. We do not ask for a social. 

Mr. STEARNS. Do you look at driver’s licenses? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. We don’t ask for a driver’s license. We ask for—— 

Mr. STEARNS. If you don’t have a Social Security number and you 

don’t have driver’s license, how do you know the age of the person? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. We ask for credit card information, telephone information and, of course, we ask the user to self-describe their age. 

But as I said, this—— 

Mr. STEARNS. A lot of people would not give the truth. If they 

are going there with overt intent or covert intent, they wouldn’t 

necessarily be truthful. So at the front end it doesn’t sound like you 

are screening them beyond their own word. 

Mr. ROSEDALE. We are screening them as much as we can across 

this type of connection and in keeping with what, generally, Internet services are able to ask about their users. But as I mentioned 

before, the segregation of that audience into its own world and the 

fact that it is rigorously self-policed, people are very aggressive 

about identifying anyone who they think shouldn’t be there, along 

with the vernacular of conversation that kids take as opposed to 

adults has reduced—has at least thus far provided us with no evidence of—— 

60 

Mr. STEARNS. Is the FBI involved at all when you find people? 

Do you actually bring in the FBI? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. We actively and proactively have involved the 

FBI in both—well, more actually main grid, as we say, activities 

on the adult side where we have involved them in looking into 

cyber crimes, where people have tried to deny service. 

Mr. STEARNS. My time is expired. One last question. You mentioned you are not proud that Second Life is making money, I think 

you said. Can you explain why you are not proud it is making 

money, because I think to exist it has to make money. 

Mr. ROSEDALE. Oh, no. 

Mr. STEARNS. Did I misinterpret? You said something to the effect—— 

Mr. ROSEDALE. I was actually saying that as an entrepreneur 

myself, a lifelong entrepreneur, I am very proud that users in Second Life—— 

Mr. STEARNS. Are making money? 

Mr. ROSEDALE [continuing]. Have been so, as Dr. Johnson was 

saying, have been so successful actually making money for themselves in the world. There are 50,000 or so people, individuals, who 

appear to be making a sort of profit net of fees in Second Life. 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentleman’s time is expired. 

Mr. STEARNS. Thank you. 

Mr. MARKEY. Strong capitalist sentiments in Second Life. 

The chair recognizes the gentlelady from California, Ms. Harman. 

Ms. HARMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to note the 

lovely humor in this hearing in addition to the serious content. It 

is April 1, and I thought I would recommend to everybody the first 

page of today’s Roll Call, which is truly hilarious, and we should 

laugh some of the time. I trust the panel and you agree. Yes. OK. 

Now, to the more serious stuff, I have in my hand something 

from the London Sunday Times online, and the heading is ‘‘Virtual 

Jihad Hits Second Life Website.’’ I would like to ask unanimous 

consent to put this in the record. 

Mr. MARKEY. Without objection, it will be included in the record. 

[The information appears at the conclusion of the hearing.] 

Ms. HARMAN. Thank you. 

The first two paragraphs read this way: ‘‘Islamic militants are 

suspected of using Second Life, the Internet virtual world, to hunt 

for recruits and mimic real-life terrorism. Police and the intelligence services are concerned that it may have been infiltrated by 

extremists to proselytize, communicate and transfer money to one 

another. Radicals may also be responsible for ‘virtual’ terrorist attacks in which buildings depicted on the website are blown up.’’ 

Now, these are just allegations, and I am certainly not asking these 

witnesses to confirm these allegations, but I do want to ask about 

the general subject. You heard me in my opening remarks say that 

there is a huge plus side to this, and then there is a possible huge 

downside to this. I am not advocating censorship. I want to repeat 

that to all the groups out there listening in. I am not advocating 

censorship. But I am asking what we can do in clear-eyed fashion 

to make certain that these glorious tools are not abused and not 

just abused but changed into tools that facilitate the use of terror 

61 

attacks on innocent civilians around the world, something that we 

are increasingly getting used to. 

So let me start with Mr. Rosedale. You said in your testimony 

that Second Life prohibits illegal activities, including money laundering and gambling. Can you tell us more about what specifically 

you do? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. So as I mentioned earlier, when people actually 

extract money from the virtual world, we run that money through 

several processes, and we built these over the last couple of years 

and think they are a good model for this type of system in general. 

First is that payouts which are larger than $10 U.S. in value are 

scrutinized. When we say that we do that, we mean that a person 

looks at the record of transactions that have been made in the virtual world. We have a number of tools that allow us, for example, 

to aggregate together account activity over multiple accounts if 

there is a risk that those accounts are collectively being used to, 

say, move money around in the virtual world. We believe that the 

degree of scrutiny that is created by the transaction history that 

one creates as they use a virtual world is quite rich, and the pattern recognition of non-standard behavior, something outside the 

rather obvious range of consumption that people make when they 

are using the virtual world, whether for work or for entertainment, 

is easy enough to spot that we are very likely to see on the money 

side those types of transactions happening. 

More broadly, let me add two things. One is that, with regard to 

a concern about specifically terrorist activities, though there has 

certainly been discussion about this, we as a company and as the 

final point of monitoring have never seen any evidence that there 

is any such activity going on in Second Life, but the second thing 

I think more broadly about virtual worlds to be said is that because 

we have a stronger identity there, a kind of a history of activity, 

a history of financial activity in many cases that is recorded, it is 

likely that virtual world activities are somewhat more policeable 

and the law somewhat more maintainable within virtual worlds 

than it is today on Web sites, and I think that point is an important one. 

Ms. HARMAN. Well, let me just ask the other witnesses, too, do 

you have a comment on this or a suggestion to be made? Clearly 

these allegations in the Sunday Times I assume were not made 

lightly. It sounds from your testimony as though you think that 

they are not true because you would see this activity, but nonetheless, do other witnesses—my time is running out—have any suggestions about what we can do to assure that this glorious tool is 

not abused in this very serious way? 

Mr. JOHNSON. If I might speak to this one, in my 21⁄2 years of 

being in Second Life virtually every day and interacting with thousands of people, the one thing that I have come away with is a tremendous sense of how much the people in there regard that community, and I think the strong asset in that particular virtual 

world that it has against that type of activity are the residents 

themselves, who simply would stand up almost as one if they saw 

things of real concern like that. I can assure you, and I am sure 

Philip could echo, that they are not shy about sharing what they 

see in that world if they don’t think that it is proper behavior. 

62 

Mr. MARKEY. The gentlelady’s time has expired. 

The chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Shimkus. 

Mr. SHIMKUS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do not have an avatar. I am not sure that I am going to get one either, but it is interesting. But this brings up some other issues, and Dr. Johnson, in 

your written testimony you point to the OECD rankings, and this 

is a thing we have debated here numerous times and claim that 

the United States is in poor position to take advantage of virtual 

worlds such as Second Life. Since my time is short and in the style 

of Chairman Dingell, I have four quick questions, if I have time 

afterwards I will let you elaborate more, but a yes or no would be 

helpful. Are you aware that Dr. George Ford completely debunked 

the OECD rankings at our hearing last year by demonstrating that 

if every country achieved the goal of 100 percent broadband penetration, the United States would actually drop in the rankings 

under the OECD methodology of measuring broadband lines per 

capita? 

Mr. JOHNSON. No. 

Mr. SHIMKUS. Are you aware that based on Linden statistics, the 

United States has the most Second Life users of any country, representing one-third of the active Second Life population, almost 

four times the second place United Kingdom and more than the 

next five countries combined? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, I am. 

Mr. SHIMKUS. You are very good with this yes and no. Most folks 

would like to interject here. Are you aware that even according to 

OECD, the United States has 66 million broadband subscribers, 

more than any other country, representing almost one-third of the 

broadband subscribers in all OECD countries and more than the 

next three countries combined? 

Mr. JOHNSON. I am aware that we have a solid number more 

people with broadband than anyone else. 

Mr. SHIMKUS. And are you aware that if we break U.S. residential broadband penetration down by State to make the size comparisons more realistic, U.S. States would take eight of the top ten 

spots if ranked with the European Union countries, and the bottom 

three States would be higher than the EU average? 

Mr. JOHNSON. No, I am not aware of that. 

Mr. SHIMKUS. And why I go to this line of questioning, I have 

done this before, is that I am ticked off at us being compared to 

Europe. I served in Germany 3 years as an Army officer. You could 

drive across Europe in 5 hours. I can’t drive across the State of Illinois in 5 hours. It is just unfair to do a comparison. It is like apples 

and oranges, and so that is why I get on this little rant every now 

and then. We are doing great, and I think we will continue to do 

it. I am a pro-market competitive Republican. We have got to encourage capital flow, businessmen to take risks, get a return on 

that investment. I am always concerned on the government intervention side, government picking winners and losers, manipulating 

other people’s properties, and so that is where I come from. I may 

give you some time if I can get through my other lines, but I appreciate those responses, and that is kind of my frustration on this. 

Mr. Rosedale, I understand that you are only allowing certain 

authorized users to attend this virtual version of this hearing in 

63 

Second Life and are blocking others from attending. Is that because 

you recognize that sometimes some users can interfere with others’ 

enjoyment of your service, making network management necessary 

in certain circumstances? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. Well, I would say broadly that yes, Second Life 

is a very powerful environment or platform allowing people to do 

lots of different things within it, and therefore much like in the 

real world, you do often establish, say, a capacity limit. In Second 

Life, you can even have pragmatic demands on whether someone 

can, say, bring a really elaborate avatar to an event where the 

presence of that avatar would essentially slow down the performance of the computers of everyone else at the event. So this particular event, I am not even sure how we set this one up. I think 

we did a simple ask to be here, and we will generally let you in. 

There is a pragmatic limit today in virtual worlds on how many 

people can be in the same room at the same time, so we also often 

have to do an invite list for events that might draw more than, say, 

100 or more people interested in attending. 

Mr. SHIMKUS. Yes, that is great. I appreciate those comments. 

Mr. Rosedale again, what about proselytizing? I am a Christian 

fundamentalist. Are there churches and are there church groups 

and communities or others that are actively using this? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. There are definitely many church communities 

that are using Second Life. I think as we touched on, the power— 

one of the significant powers of Second Life and generally of virtual 

worlds is their ability to very rapidly establish rapport between individuals, potentially individuals who are across cultural or even 

language barriers that they wouldn’t normally be able to come into 

contact across, and therefore I think that messaging like that and 

group formation of that sort is something that will be greatly 

changed and, I think, enhanced by virtual worlds. 

Mr. SHIMKUS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I could just for one 

second just finish up on—I am a democracy and freedom advocate 

around the world. I deal with democracy movements. One would be 

like the dictatorship in Belarus, where they attack, they kill journalists, they deny freedom. This is really a possibility if people 

could get on the Web and broadband capabilities for another way 

to enter discussion, freedom, networking of democracy advocates 

around the world. If they are doing it with terrorism, the flip side 

could be true also. 

Mr. ROSEDALE. I think that in general what we are seeing, some 

of the conversation and debates and town halls, as we mentioned 

earlier, that have gone on in Second Life are great examples of a 

very direct and honest and rapid conversation that one can have 

safely with a variety of interested people, and I think that for politics generally, this is something that will be, I hope, very empowering. 

Mr. SHIMKUS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. STUPAK [presiding]. Thank you. 

Ms. Tenby, how many nonprofits currently operate in Second 

Life? 

Ms. TENBY. I do not know the actual number of all the nonprofits 

in Second Life, but I can respond from my own community. So my 

own community started with just a handful, about 20, and we now 

64 

have over 400 members, 400 nonprofits represented. We have currently two sims which are nonprofits—sim is an island basically. 

We have two nonprofit islands housing about 70 or so—70 to 75 organizations, and the other members are volunteers of organizations. So about 400 members from approximately 60 different countries. 

Mr. STUPAK. Thank you. 

Let me ask unanimous consent that the American Cancer Society 

wishes to put in a statement. Without objection, so ordered. It will 

be entered in. 

[The information appears at the conclusion of the hearing.] 

Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Rosedale, what is the minimum high speed residents need in order to get into the virtual world? You have to have 

high speed, so what is the minimum requirement, and what is the 

ideal? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. The minimum requirement in terms of bandwidth 

is basically any broadband connection, whether wired or wireless. 

Second Life typically operates at several hundred kilobits per second, meaning that it will basically work on any consumer 

broadband network. That said, Second Life scales and can scale to 

meet the maximum amount of available bandwidth, which means 

that the quality of the virtual world experience will be sensitive to 

the quality of the broadband connection as well as the computer 

that an individual has. So as we improve the technology, we will 

see rapid commensurate gains in the quality of the virtual world 

experience. 

Mr. STUPAK. In my opening statement, I mentioned being chair 

of Oversight and Investigations, all the work we have done on child 

predators online and Internet service providers, and there were 

some questions along those lines. It appears that your review, if 

you will, of an application is based on credit card, telephone number, and then you ask age. But once they get into your virtual 

world, how do you—other than other people raising suspicions, do 

you have any other mechanisms or any other safeguards you have 

in place to try to find these online predators? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. Well, to date, we have—as we mentioned, we 

have a general ability which we use to review the history of both 

communications transactions and behavior generally. 

Mr. STUPAK. How long do you keep that communications transaction? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. We typically keep that information for a period 

of several weeks, which is enough to review any allegations that 

are made. The community is aggressively self-policed. Where we 

have any information that we need to be concerned, we certainly 

can and will as a staff look into the activities that are going on in 

the world. I should note that we have to date had very little to no 

activity of concern, and in those cases we have been very proactive 

as a company about bringing these things to the attention of the 

authorities. So again, we view child protection as being paramount, 

and beyond the concerns about maintaining an open—— 

Mr. STUPAK. And have you set up any kind of a sting operation 

within your organization—— 

Mr. ROSEDALE. We have tried to—— 

Mr. STUPAK [continuing]. To see who is out there? 

65 

Mr. ROSEDALE. We have not, although I suspect that other law 

enforcement agencies may well have done so, but we as an organization have not, nor have we felt the need at this point to do so. 

Mr. STUPAK. Dr. Johnson, if I may, many of these applications 

are designed to keep the audience engaged, and especially with 

education, they reward them for the time investment. Do you believe that a user could be logged onto virtual worlds for too many 

hours a day, basically addicted? Have you seen that with—— 

Mr. JOHNSON. That is a concern that I think goes across the 

video game market certainly, and I think it is something that we 

need to be aware of. In my own experience, I have not really seen 

any situations like that in an educational context, the activities 

that we have for students to be engaged in are fairly well defined. 

You know, of course, they can occupy the world on their own time, 

but we are not seeing any issues about that. There are lots of conversations that are held within education on this topic. I think as 

a general rule, educators are very sensitive to the downside of 

spending too much time on computers in general. 

Mr. STUPAK. Right, but after they were logged onto your educational sites and they went into another part of the virtual world, 

would you know that? 

Mr. JOHNSON. No. 

Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Rosedale, are there any efforts to limit excessive use of their application? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. You know, this question of excessive use I think 

is a fascinating one. It is very sensitive to what the application use 

is. Second Life, of course, and virtual worlds generally, will allow 

so many different types of use that the question of whether addictive or overuse is problematic is highly sensitive to the activity. If 

as a kid you are hanging around in virtual worlds trying to kill 

monsters, it is almost unquestionably the case that too much of 

that is going to make you unable to perform well in human society. 

On the other hand, trying to learn something or build a business 

in Second Life, I would argue is in many cases a kind of a lemonade stand experience that is superior to a lot of other forms of 

learning that you might have around you. So I think there is a sensitivity to how much—what people are specifically doing on the virtual world that will drive where the limit should be on usage. 

Mr. STUPAK. But Linden Lab doesn’t have any limitation on 

usage? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. No, sir, we don’t impose a limit on how much any 

individual is able to use the system. 

Mr. STUPAK. I think Mr. Stearns has a couple more questions, so 

let us go a second round. 

Mr. STEARNS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Dr. Parris, you had mentioned that the third-generation Internet 

is doing—or the next generation of Internet would be three-dimensional. So forgetting Second Life for the moment, do you visualize 

that in the future the Internet will be three-dimensional across the 

board, and how will this be implemented? 

Mr. PARRIS. What I believe will happen here is what we have 

seen in other eras of the Internet. We will see the gradual inclusion 

of everything that went before. So you will have all of the capabilities you had with your search and access enhanced by these threeVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:37 Oct 29, 2009 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00071 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\CWELLS1\HEARINGS\110-102 SCOM1 PsN: JIMC
66 

dimensional capabilities. So I would be, for instance, browsing on 

a normal two-dimensional Web site, and I would decide at that 

point in time I would like to include my friend to do maybe a look 

at the kitchen or a redesign of a room, and I can then put that person in a virtual world, and we can do that. So it is an inclusion 

of what we had before with what we have now, because, again, it 

all depends on the application the customer and the business is 

trying to achieve. 

Mr. STEARNS. With IBM’s position on Second Life, are you actually making money then, or is it just a marketing approach? 

Mr. PARRIS. Well, again, I can’t make any judgments on making 

money, but I will say this, because there are a couple of ways that 

you can look at this. One is clearly businesses experimenting right 

now with—— 

Mr. STEARNS. So it is an experiment of marketing for you, PR 

more than an actual business plan of making money? 

Mr. PARRIS. Well, there are some cost savings that occur, for instance, in training. Rather than people meeting face-to-face, there 

are quite a few groups that go into the virtual world and do training sessions or do collaboration sessions, so there is cost avoidance 

in terms of sending people traveling, lodging, those types of things. 

So there is money to be made in terms of lower costs, cost avoidance. There are situations in which we have seen clients come in 

and do designs in the virtual world and design a hotel. 

Mr. STEARNS. But you could do video conferencing in IBM and 

get the same thing accomplished with your employees or your customers. 

Mr. PARRIS. Except for the simulation part. Because of the lowcost simulation, you can now find ways to really express what you 

are trying to show about a product experience. I can actually take 

you into a cruise ship we are building and show you what the staff 

would be like. The staff would be real people. I can actually show 

you when the waves move in what you would see. 

Mr. STEARNS. And you can’t do that except in Second Life? What 

I am trying to find out, what is there in Second Life that makes 

IBM want to go in other than PR? Is there something constructive, 

tangible? 

Mr. PARRIS. Yes, there is. I think all of those pieces are tangible. 

The visualization is a familiarity that people have, so you will have 

more people engaged. The simulation is a capability that you have 

of expressing either new designs or expressing how my product 

works best for you in a way that is customized that makes people 

want to buy more. So those are viable ways. The training, we have 

looked at the fact that if you do simulation-based training, the retention is much higher, so it is much more cost-effective training 

people that way. 

Mr. STEARNS. I see. 

Mr. PARRIS. So there are a number of ways in which this actually 

does make money, but we are early in the cycle. 

Mr. STEARNS. You are just exploring at this point. 

Mr. PARRIS. Exactly. 

Mr. STEARNS. Dr. Johnson, you had indicated that the difference 

between the person and his or her avatar, you treat the identity 

no differently. I think those were your words. But I am not sure 

67 

I agree with you, because Ms. Tenby has given her avatar a name 

which is a glittering name which is pretty dramatic—— 

Ms. TENBY. And my appearance is a pink cat. 

Mr. STEARNS. Yes. I mean, here she is quite conservative in her 

dress, but her avatar is pretty quite showy, I guess, and I would 

think that people sometimes go into Second Life for the purpose of 

changing their identity or experiencing a lifestyle that if they can’t 

own a house in Malibu, in Second Life they can. If they want to 

own a motorcycle, they can, or perhaps if they want to have a 

whole different kind of lifestyle, they do. So my feeling is that I am 

not sure that you can say that the identity is the same between the 

avatar and the person. Maybe I misunderstood you. 

Mr. JOHNSON. I think you may have. There is a difference between how one chooses to express themselves. You have a great 

many more avenues for self-expression. 

Mr. STEARNS. But I think people express themselves in Second 

Life in a way that they wouldn’t express themselves in real life because they can’t. 

Mr. JOHNSON. Nonetheless, they are still the same person. That 

is my point. And the names are really a reflection of the platform. 

On other platforms you can use your actual name. In Second Life, 

a choice that they made was that you had to pick from the last 

names that they provide you, and that leads to a playfulness about 

it. You know, there certainly are all forms of avatars that people 

can take. You can be a cat, whatever you would like to be. You 

don’t have to actually even be an animate thing. You can be a cube, 

if you like. At the end of the day, what my experience is in working 

with the 7,500 people we work with, is that we connect in the same 

ways that we connect in real life, despite the fact there may be a 

playfulness at times, what some people’s choices are, or they may 

be exploring, you know—— 

Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Rosedale, do you agree with that, what he is 

saying? 

Mr. ROSEDALE. I think that people are both—I think people are 

extending their identity in the virtual world. As you said, Congressman, the—— 

Mr. STEARNS. I mean, that is the joy of this thing, that you can 

have another life, and you can do things that you cannot do here 

because, let us say, you are a computer analyst, and you work 8, 

9, 10 hours a day. You come home, you go into your home, and you 

don’t have much of a social life, you can get on Second Life and 

have a whole new social life. 

Mr. ROSEDALE. You know, I think that the information age has 

just generally allowed us to essentially come closer in our interaction and our projection of identity to what we imagine than what 

we are sort of physically able to project, and I think that that is 

seen in Second Life. But as Dr. Johnson says, there is a sort of a— 

I think what Dr. Johnson is trying to say is, when you are in Second Life, there is a very strong sense that you are in a way becoming more of yourself. There is a very, very strong sense of—— 

Mr. STEARNS. Self-actualizing who you really will be some day. 

Mr. ROSEDALE. True. Self-actualization, I think, is a good description. People have an intense attachment to the identity that 

they create there, which is one of the things, as I mentioned earVerDate Nov 24 2008 14:37 Oct 29, 2009 Jkt 037690 PO 00000 Frm 00073 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\CWELLS1\HEARINGS\110-102 SCOM1 PsN: JIMC
68 

lier, that makes the environment potentially quite safe as it grows, 

is because those identities are extremely durable and sustained. 

When you meet people there, when you walk up to someone, you 

are generally interacting with people who you know through these 

lengthy identities. So while there is a question of how we tie that 

back to the real world, a benefit that the virtual world has is that 

it has a real lack of anonymity. There is a draw to us all, whether 

in a business or commercial or social context, to create strong identities which are then connectable to us and to our histories of behavior. 

Mr. STEARNS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. STUPAK. Thank you. 

Well, let me thank everyone on this panel, and thank you very 

much. It was a very fascinating hearing, and I am sure we will 

hear more of it as it continues to grow and explode. The one thing 

in a virtual world though, to my friend Mr. Stearns, it won’t make 

the Minority the Majority. So we are still safe. So thank you. 

[Whereupon, at 11:15 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

[Material submitted for inclusion in the record follows:] 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

Mr. Chairman, online worlds such as Second Life are exploding in popularity. 

While these worlds offer Internet users new ways to interact online and encourage 

creativity and entrepreneurship through user-generated content, they also raise 

questions about online behavior and activities. I appreciate the Chairman’s holding 

this hearing today to learn more about the possibilities and pitfalls of this new virtual space. 

Some of the applications virtual worlds can offer are intriguing. In Second Life, 

users can attend virtual college courses, and corporations have opened virtual offices. Second Life has also afforded nonprofits a new platform in which to raise 

money and awareness. For example, the American Cancer Society was able to raise 

more than $100,000 through a virtual walk-a-thon last year. The Federal Government has even invested in Second Life through the funding of a virtual nuclear 

science program, and agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigations and 

Central Intelligence Agency provide training using Second Life. 

I find it interesting that virtual worlds have established their own currencies that 

have exchange rates with the U.S. Dollar. Ensuring that such virtual currencies are 

consistent with our financial services laws is worthy of further consideration. 

Virtual worlds also face potential problems regarding the safety of their users, 

fraud, and abuse. For that reason, I applaud Second Life for turning away users 

under the age of 18. Younger users are instead directed to a more circumscribed 

teen version of the virtual world. I was also glad to see Second Life ban all casinos 

and Internet gambling in its space, as well as shutting down banks. As with any 

innovative technology, new problems will arise as more and more people enter the 

virtual space. I will be watching to see how virtual worlds proactively address issues 

that emerge in the future. Thank you. 

69 

70 

71 

72 

73 

74 

75 

76 

77 

78 

79 

80 

STATEMENT OF THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY

PREPARED BY RANDALL MOSS

The American Cancer Society is the nationwide community-based voluntary 

health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by 

preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and service. One of the key activities of the American 

Cancer Society is organizing people to deliver on the mission of the Society. As a 

community-based volunteer organization, we have a responsibility to seek out communities and engage them in mission related activities. 

The Futuring and Innovation Center (FIC) is charged with the exploration and 

investigation of outlying trends that may impact our organization and our constituents. We proactively seek out trends by way of reading futures-oriented periodicals, 

attending conferences, and engaging thought leaders directly in order to develop scenarios. From these scenarios we make strategic suggestions on areas of opportunity 

to drive mission to new and existing communities and better service our constituents. 

In 2003, we identified an upcoming trend that suggested a substantial move towards online communities. The early 2000s saw an increased adoption of broadband 

as well as new software technology and less expensive mass memory storage and 

processor power. Along with the advent of Friendster, MySpace, and Facebook, the 

Futuring and Innovation Center also saw the development of 3D immersive virtual 

world environments. In April 2004, at the Association of Professional Futurists annual meeting, Philip Rosedale of Linden Lab introduced Mike Mitchell and me to 

Second Life. 

Looking beyond the technology, we clearly saw the foundation of this virtual world 

was a global community of people. Beyond the circuits and servers, the core of the 

emerging trend was a rebirth of community in a digital space. The Second Life community at the time was barely 50,000 active members, and the Futuring and Innovation Center believed the combined growth in computational technology and 

broadband adoption would increase the membership of Second Life and other virtual 

communities exponentially. 

What drew the Society to become involved in Second Life was the potential for 

in-depth constituent interaction. The platform allows for a rich visual experience, 

and we predicted correctly that it would very shortly support rich audio and voice 

interactions. The technology also supports the importation of images and text, as 

well as a monetary system that allows for financial transactions. After considering 

the capabilities of Second Life, we recognized it as a platform that would support 

the Society’s mission related activities. 

The Society’s initial activity in Second Life was a replication of our signature 

fundraising event, Relay For Life. The American Cancer Society Relay For Life 

began in May 1985, when a colorectal surgeon ran around a track in Tacoma, Washington for 24 hours, raising $27,000 to support the American Cancer Society. Relay 

For Life has raised more than $1.5 billion to support the Society and accelerate the 

progress in the war against cancer by saving lives, helping those touched by cancer, 

and empowering people to fight back against this disease. 

The Futuring and Innovation Center worked with the American Cancer Society 

volunteers in Second Life to create a virtual space large enough to hold a full 

fledged 24-hour walk-a-thon. The goal of this event was to determine the capacity 

of a virtual world platform to hold a re-creation of a real world event. The event 

attracted hundreds of residents to walk and to donate money to support the mission. 

The Society reached out through the community members to advertise the relay, attracting well over 500 people to attend and walk in the first annual Relay For Life 

in Second Life. The event was designed and built by a core of seven (7) volunteers, 

who created a 96-square-acre park. The fundraising results were just over $5,000. 

Of this, approximately $1,000 came from direct credit card donations and $4,000 

came from Linden Dollar donations. After the event, it was evident that fundraising 

and mission delivery were absolutely achievable in a virtual world community. 

Following the success of the initial event, we began to consider the options of how 

to further expand our mission delivery capabilities. The Society attracted a number 

of volunteers after the 2005 event who donated their skill, dedication, and volunteer 

hours to develop the 2006 Relay For Life in Second Life. The 2006 Relay was twice 

as large, covering 192 square acres, and had an official theme: ‘‘Cancer Around the 

World.’’ Each section of the track was built and decorated to reflect the countries 

where Second Life residents live in the real world. The countries represented included India, Ireland, China, South Africa, Australia, and Mexico. The 2006 Second 

81 

Life Relay for Life fundraising totaled $41,000, of which nearly $4,000 was collected 

from credit card payments, and $37,000 was collected in Linden dollars. This was 

the first year the Society encouraged team fundraising as an extraordinary way to 

mobilize the community and draw attendees. The volume of participants was higher 

than expected, numbering over 1,200, and even resulted in a temporary shut down 

of the Second Life server due to so many people trying to participate in the Relay. 

The financial and participation successes of the 2006 Relay For Life drew additional volunteers who were excited to help design, manage and execute the 2007 

event. During the 2007 Relay planning, we transitioned volunteer leadership from 

our original volunteer chair to a new volunteer chair who had been involved closely 

in the planning of the 2006 event. Our new chair expanded the scope and size of 

the Relay by increasing the physical space to 512 square acres. The volunteer committee also limited the number of teams that could participate to 40, and community leaders filled all 40 team slots. The volunteer committee named the Relay 

‘‘Quest For a Cure,’’ and the group of 20 worked for 13 days to create adventure 

themed landscapes and experience scenes to line the track. The event drew over 

1,700 walkers and raised $118,500, with $117,985 coming from Linden Dollar donations. 

More importantly, the Second Life members issued a call to the Society for supportive services and health content from the Society. In accordance with the wishes 

of the community, the Society initiated a program to create an office and a resource 

center located on what is today called ‘‘American Cancer Society Island.’’ The Society’s goals are to translate real-life patient support services into the virtual space 

as identically as possible. By considering Second Life to be both a self-contained and 

an extension of real world community, we appreciate the fact that there are cancer 

survivors, patients, and care givers here who did not have access to, or had not 

accessed, our services previously and can benefit from them. 

With the constituent experience in mind, the Society developed the American Cancer Society Island in conjunction with the development company IVM, who did the 

work pro bono. The centerpiece of the island is a set of interactive educational experiences. The first element is a set of virtual computer terminals that, when engaged, 

ask the constituent direct questions about the type of cancer information they are 

seeking. The interface leads them through a decision tree. The end result is a Web 

browser opening on the constituent’s screen with a Cancer.org page containing the 

information they want. At this time, the interface functions only in English, but as 

we are looking to add additional languages to Cancer.org, we will update the Second 

Life interface to follow suit. 

The second piece of our education mission is a theater. The space is equipped with 

a slide projector for group meetings and presentations. To maintain professional 

standards, only Society staff members are permitted to present medical information 

on the American Cancer Society Island. We have invited and scheduled medical professionals to present on nutrition, medical research, and epidemiology studies. Along 

with Society staff, various members of the Second Life community make presentations on their personal experience with cancer. A number of community-led support groups have developed, and the Society encourages them to use our space and 

resources for their meetings. 

The final piece of our educational activities is in development. The Society is creating interactive tutorials intended to help individuals learn the physical motions 

to conduct cancer self-examinations. First in line are tutorials for breast cancer and 

the Reach to Recovery program. Using the interactive nature of Second Life, we are 

creating a series of action scripts that will ‘‘take control’’ of a resident’s avatar and 

manipulate the avatar in an exact replication of the motions necessary to complete 

a breast self-examination. We also are working on a series of motion scripts that 

lead the avatar through a series of movements that coincide with our ‘‘Reach to Recovery’’ program. Reach to Recovery is a comprehensive program designed to help 

newly diagnosed patients and recovering breast cancer survivors improve their quality of life. The movements are designed specifically to build the strength in the chest 

muscles, particularly important for women who have had breast cancer operations. 

To complement the tutorial, we are investigating the possibility of training Second 

Life volunteers to undertake the counseling side of Reach to Recovery. 

This October, the Society launched our Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 

program in Second Life. It is an initial effort designed to highlight October as 

Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with numerous small awareness rallies and educational sessions. We hope to attract volunteers and supporters to future events, 

where we will be holding educational and community support activities. The backbone of all American Cancer Society programs is that the community must want the 

program and support it. 

82 

Future plans at the office include expanded Society support programs, as well as 

additional informational resources in the form of uploaded brochures and the most 

recent reports. With the advent of voice communication to Second Life, the Society 

is seeking ways to link Second Life constituents directly to our National Cancer Information Center, a 24/7 toll free call center. We also hope to collaborate with other 

international cancer organizations to expand our resources and capacity. 

The American Cancer Society is active in Second Life because it recognizes Virtual Communities as communities of caring individuals not unlike any city or town 

anywhere else in the world. We appreciate the unique nature of the platform and 

its abilities to bring together a global population. As cancer is a world issue, it 

makes solid business sense for us to engage this community by offering as many 

services as we can and replicating our fundraising programs to support our efforts. 

The American Cancer Society is successful in Second Life because we know that 

without our volunteer support, we would not be able to execute our mission delivery 

activities. We appreciate the efforts of our volunteers and thank them for all of their 

hard work and dedication. Together we can win the battle against cancer. 

Æ