ANTenna Blog -- Business & E-Business

A hearing was held in Congress (!) about the possibility of terrorists using virtual worlds for nefarious means. Second Life founder Philip Rosedale and other virtual reality experts were even called to testify. The verdict? Nothing real about a virtual world – neither for terrorists nor for business.

The hearing at the House of Representatives was held in response to lawmakers concern that terrorists could infiltrate virtual worlds -- like Second Life -- and use them to recruit or launder money.

It seems that someone in Washington didn't get the memo that Second Life is not real. It poses no terror threat -- Rosedale noted in his testimony that any withdrawals over $10 are scrutinized and, as Wired is quoted, "if some jihadist were to take up residence, the community would know and report on those activities quickly."

The hearings were also held in Second Life and the description from Reuters only further demonstrates the very non-reality of this very virtual world: "On the video screen in the hearing room were about two dozen avatars from Second Life. They sat quietly, while their comments were displayed at the bottom of the screen. At least two of the avatars had wings. A third turned into a giant bumble bee as the hearing ended. Also on the screen was an avatar representing Rep. Edward Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the subcommittee."

As you can imagine, Jon Stewart had a lot of fun with this one.

But let's get serious for a minute. Businesses -- larger and smaller -- have been racing to establish themselves in Second Life, in some cases spending millions of dollars, and in most cases not seeing much in return.

The virtual world is fun but it's in the real world that smaller businesses should be focusing their dollars and energy. As Marketing Shift blogger John Gardner writes: "Virtual worlds have been in development for decades, and while they can provide some entertainment, they are not for business."