System and method for detecting inappropriate content in virtual worlds

A system for identifying virtual objects having inappropriate content in a virtual universe (VU), the VU having one or more virtual objects, the VU further having one or more regions, the system comprising:

• a rating unit for rating each of the one or more virtual objects based upon its content;
• a tagging unit for tagging each of the one or more virtual objects with its respective rating;
• an object tagging database for storing ratings of the one or more virtual objects;
• a policy database for storing policies associated with the ratings and the regions;
• an object monitor for monitoring movement of each of the one or more virtual objects;
• a security scanner for scanning each of the one or more virtual objects to determine the rating of each of the one or more virtual objects;
• and
• an enforcement module to enforce the policies of the policy database based upon the rating of each virtual object and its respective region.

A computer program product embodied in a computer readable medium for operating in a system comprising a processing unit, a memory, a bus, and one or more input/output (I/O) interfaces, for implementing a method for identifying virtual objects having inappropriate content in a virtual universe (VU) having one or more regions, the VU having one or more virtual objects, each of the one or more virtual objects having content, the method comprising:

• rating each virtual object based upon its content;
• tagging each virtual object with its rating;
• storing each virtual object rating in an object tagging database;
• storing policies associated with the ratings and the regions in a policy database;
• monitoring movement of each virtual object;
• scanning each virtual object to determine the rating of each virtual object;
• and
• enforcing the policies of the policy database based upon the rating of each virtual object and its respective region.

A method for deploying a computing infrastructure, comprising integrating computer-readable code into a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing a process for identifying virtual objects having inappropriate content in a virtual universe (VU) having one or more regions, the VU having one or more virtual objects, each of the one or more virtual objects having content, the process comprising:

• rating each virtual object based upon its content;
• tagging each virtual object with its rating;
• storing each virtual object rating in an object tagging database;
• storing policies associated with the ratings and the regions in a policy database;
• monitoring movement of each virtual object;
• scanning each virtual object to determine the rating of each virtual object;
• and
• enforcing the policies of the policy database based upon the rating of each virtual object and its respective region.