WASHINGTON – Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA), known in Second Life as EdMarkey Alter conducted hearings for the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet entitled “Online Virtual Worlds: Applications and Avatars in a User-Generated Medium.” The four witnesses were Philip Linden, Glitteractica Cookie, Larry Pixel and Colin Parris.

The hearing took place both in Washington as well as in Second Life. Rep. Markey started off by noting many of the great benefits that Second Life brings. He spoke about Wilde Cunningham, an avatar created by disabled people from a center in Massachusetts. He spoke about the use Second Life by groups like the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and The American Cancer Society (ACS) as well as the business potential of Second Life.

However, he noted that Second Life raises many important policy issues. They surround topics like consumer protection and personal privacy. In specific, he expressed concerns about banking, gambling and child protection.

He used the hearings as an opportunity to stress the importance of broadband deployment across the country; addressing concerns about the digital divide and for keeping internet access open.

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) noted that Chevrolet had space in Second Life where car buffs could speak with Chevy representatives and noted IBM’s use of Second Life. He said that Congress needs to be vigilant about crime in virtual worlds, particularly fraud and sexual predators. At the same time he expressed a hope that virtual worlds could flourish without over-regulation.

Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) who describes her Congressional Website as a Virtual Office had some of the best comments. She observed that many people may wonder if Members of Congress live in some sort of virtual world, based on the way they fly in and out so quickly. She also noted that she suspected that the real reason the subcommittee was holding the hearing was so that Rep. Markey could find how to get past the seventh level of World of Warcraft. However, she noted, you only get two experience points being at the hearing. On a more serious note, she expressed concern about the possible use of Second Life by terrorists as noted in recent news reports. That said, she did advocate censorship.

Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) noted that his children played Runescape, but expressed concern about the work avatar coming from a Hindu or Buddhist god’s name. Rep. Eshoo (D-CA) couldn’t help but think of the phrase “get a life”. She noted that social networking was once outside of the mainstream and now was part of the mainstream and pondered if the same would apply to virtual worlds. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) noted the importance of Second Life to education and then expressed concern about protecting children online and about the addictive nature of Second Life.