Is Virtual Rape a Crime?

cyberianpan writes "Wired is carrying commentary on the story that Brussels police have begun an investigation into a citizen's allegations of rape in Second Life. For reasons of civil liberty & clarity we'd like to confine criminal law to physical offenses rather than thought crimes but already threats, menace & conspiracy count as crimes. Could we see a situation where our laws extend?"

Comments

Re:Think about that.

[ShieldW0lf]

Regina Lee, why don't you go get pregnant and do something useful with your life.

Re:Yeah, not in public.

[Redlazer]

I dont reallt think the point is that nothing should be done, its that the government shouldn't be involved.

If you steal $100,000 (real dollars) of items and gold from someone in WoW, would you get arrested by the government? I would hope not, but you bet your ass your account would be banned.

Once again, this is a story about the government overstepping its bounds - not about what constituted as illegal or not.

And besides, Brussels is in England, right? I'm surprised theyre still allowed to use the internet at all. Im sure some psycho is going to equate online gaming to terrorism or crime, and then itll be banned. I honestly feel bad for these people, too - most of my family is english. Thank god none of them live there anymore.

-Red

Your Virtual Home is not a Right

[The Raven]

Virtual Rape will become a crime when owning virtual property is a law-sanctioned RIGHT. Right now it is a PRIVILEGE that people pay for. You pay Linden Labs to get your virtual property, to exist in their virtual world. That existence is a privilege you pay for, and it can be revoked at any time for any reason by Linden Labs.

This is similar to any business... you have no RIGHT to be there, just the privilege to do so if the owner allows it. That is why casinos can kick you out for any reason they like... they cannot arrest you or hurt you for counting cards or being a dick, but they can punt you from their property.

Now, let's imagine there is some future virtual world that is sanctioned and governed by law. It is your right to purchase 'property' there or to maintain your virtual presence. Once there are laws in effect that grant you the right to be there, then we will quickly see it become unlawful to harass someone when they are in their virtual world.

We have already seen this with services like the phone... in most states, there are actual laws that give you the right to own a phone as long as you pay your bill. The phone company can't arbitrarily deny you phone service just because you're unprofitable or something. The US government subsidized the deployment of phone lines to reach everyone. Having a phone is a right, though not as fundamental a right as things like free speech. Thus, if someone harasses you on the phone... calling you late at night, calling incessantly, etc... there are legal recourses you can take.

Once your virtual presence becomes a right protected by law, then virtual crime like harassment, rape, and theft will also become punishable by law.

Until then, anyone claiming that this was rape is an idiot.