FTC Virtual Worlds Report Due Dec. 10

On December 10, the Federal Trade Commission will unveil the results of its congressionally mandated examination of online virtual worlds like the popular platform Second Life, an agency official told a Commerce Department Internet safety working group Tuesday. Commission attorney Phyllis Hurwitz Marcus said the report will include recommendations for best practices for industry, parents and youth. The examination was required under the 2009 omnibus appropriations bill but Congress didn't give the FTC much guidance other than asking them to zero in on "explicit content," Marcus said. The report, which will be released as part of an OECD conference the FTC is hosting on e-commerce, breaks down categorically to describe the content and volume of what investigators found, Marcus said. While she was hesitant to offer a preview of the Commission's findings and recommendations, she said the study revealed a glut of user-generated text-based explicit content. She also indicated that sites not typically thought of as virtual worlds, including interactive gaming sites, were reviewed.