The FTC on Dec. 10 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 agency first had to decide what constituted "explicit content" and investigators decided to fold sexually explicit and violent material into the 90-day probe. The study targeted virtual worlds populated by those under age 13; those popular among older youth; and sites that are populated mainly by adults, she said. FTC employees traversed a sampling of virtual worlds in search of explicit content, which Marcus said was "really outside of our comfort zone."