A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee held a hearing this morning on "Online Virtual Worlds: Applications and Avatars in a User-Generated Medium."

Witnesses testified on the evolution, culture and future of online virtual worlds. The hearing explored safety issues and the use of real currency in virtual online worlds, as well as the growing presence of educational institutions, non-profits and other real-world organizations in online virtual worlds. Most notably, Second Life.

For a wrap of hearing click here.

Amazingly, this isn't the first time Congress has ventured into the futuristic virtual utopia. Last January Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) held a hearing in Second Life about the new Democratic Congress.

Some government institutions represented on Second Life:

    * National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
    * NASA
    * National Institutes of Health,
    * Centers for Disease Control
    * House of Representatives
    * Department of Homeland Security