Examining Virtual Crimes 85
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by
Soulskill
from the too-much-time-on-your-hands dept.
from the too-much-time-on-your-hands dept.
GamePolitics has an article about a research paper issued by the AU government's Institute of Criminology titled "Crime Risks of Three-Dimensional Virtual Environments." The paper discusses the legal questions raised by game worlds and avatars, ranging from regulation of in-game currency to a report of virtual rape.
"A person controlling an avatar that is unexpectedly raped or assaulted might experience the physical reaction of 'freezing,' or the associated shock, distrust and loss of confidence in using [3D virtual environments]. While civil redress for psychological harm is conceivable, the 'disembodied' character of such an incident would invariably bar liability for any crime against the person. However, Australian federal criminal law imposes a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment for using an internet carriage service to 'menace, harass or cause offence' to another user. Further, US and Australian laws ban simulated or actual depictions of child abuse and pornography. Therefore, any representations of child avatars involved in virtual sexual activity, torture or physical abuse are prohibited, regardless of whether the real-world user is an adult or child."
Re:So... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Raped in an MMO? (Score:3, Informative)
The article describes a 1993 incident where a female player was "raped" in a text-based multiplayer game, where
the harm involved 'a real-time non-consensual textual description of the rape' through 'the display of graphic and offensive sentences'
Inaccuracy in summary (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Why does only rape matter ? (Score:3, Informative)
What about murder or theft?
Well, virtual currency is considered equal to real currency [slashdot.org] in South Korea, and a man was arrested [slashdot.org] for virtual robbery in Britain. A Dutch Court [slashdot.org] punished a couple of teenage thieves as well. If I dug deeper I'm sure I could find more stories.
On a WoW server, a group of mates and myself played highwaymen. One of us would be a scantily clad Dranei, and the others would be hidden near by. Stand and deliver! d:
Re:Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (Score:3, Informative)
Uh, not quite. See Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234 (2002) [wikipedia.org].
Yes, quite. See "PROTECT Act" (2003): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_Act_of_2003 [wikipedia.org] The short version is obscenity can, as always, be prosecuted, and the PROTECT Act remedied the missing element in CPPA, which was the law struck down in Ashcroft, thus once again allowing the prosecution of virtual child pornography found to be obscene.
Re:Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (Score:3, Informative)
That's what I meant by "not quite." The law they passed afterward contains the "lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value" phrase oft found in obscenity laws, which makes it almost impossible to prosecute someone.