Slashdot Mirror
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?"
Was she virtually asking for it?
Don't flame me, I know it's awful.
You could get sent to virtual prison.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing to my character>!?!?!"
"You said you'd f*ck me! It's in the chat logs! It's consensual! You have nothing on me!! HAHAHAHAHAHA"
Teabagging after a good round of pwnage will be illegal now.
Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
and offenders should be sent to virtual pound-you-in-the-ass prison.
Ridiculus maybe. But I wouldn't mind making teamkilling a felony :P
I Browse at +4 Flamebait
Open Source Sysadmin
If being raped in Second Life is a crime, then we need to invent new punishments for what happened to me on Furrymuck.
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
"In other news, ScuttleMonkey Industries reported that their profits were at an all-time high thanks to continued graft payments from the creators of Second Life to continue greenlighting stories about their company on Slashdot..."
Crow T. Trollbot
If you get tricked into clicking a goatse link, can you sue for ambush and rape?
If so then I'd be bankrupt and serving a life sentence as a serial offender.
Trolling is a art,
"if you are being virtually raped you should [jack] off."
MABASPLOOM!
Maybe she's pissed off cos she caught a nasty virus from the encounter.
With feminists like these, it's not a crime... it's a responsibility.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
But where should the line be drawn?
What about the kids reading Slashdot who were tricked into clicked on Goatse and Tubgirl links? I know someone it happened to and he was in tears.
Actually, there has been a case like the one you describe..you can read about it right here
(i am so getting modded down for this)
Infinite time means everything that can happen, will. You being you is absolutely incidental. You do not exist.
while playing Quake.. over and over and over again.
...could be as simple as, oh, I dunno, logging off, perhaps?
There is simply too much glass..
Let's see. virtual rape is all 1's and 0's. Has anybody examined the bits to see if any of the 1's were stuck through the middle of any of the 0's? I can forsee a day when a judge has redefined the bit '1' as male because it looks like a big cock, and a '0' could be a cunt hole.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
If there is such a thing (and there is not), then I'm going to warn you Hollywood; each and every time I pay to watch a movie, I feel virtually raped.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Not only is that an overly broad comment (each jurisdiction defines rape by itself), it is also completely wrong, as I don't believe any jurisdiction in the first world still uses that definition. The ones that use similar language also have special statutes (such as sodomy) to reenforce the inadequate rape laws.
The silly thing about your post is that you are right, but for a different reason. All of these statutes require some sort of force. Force or threat of force means the ability to confine or control the other person. Since you can instantly log off in second life, there can literally never be force involved. Some may argue coercion, but things like pressuring someone to have sex to keep there job generally isn't enough to render the encounter non-consentual (that is, however, a nice sexual harassment lawsuit).
You still have no idea what you're talking about, however.
I have to put away my Virtual Wizard Hat now?
Furry A: Give me all your virtual money!
Furry B: No!
Furry A: Then I pull a virtual gun.
Furry B: Then I pull a bigger virtual gun.
Furry A: Then I pull the biggest virtual gun in the virtual world.
Furry B: OK, here you go.
[Insert pithy quote here]
If the Sims were more sexually satisfying, I think rapers wouldn't even bother to go to Second Life to find a victim.
I'm sorry, this is slashdot. I need a car analogy in order to understand your point.
FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
I was raped in Second Life by a gang of thugs dressed up as Ham! /me rapes the reader
I asked them to stop, but all they said was: "HAM HAM HAM? HAM! HAM HAM HAM HAM!"
I tried to teleport elsewhere, but I glitched and couldn't move.. all that ham.. I was trapped in HAM!
Eventually they left... but the damage was done. I couldn't sleep for weeks afterwards... I still have flashbacks...
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
I virtually farted, when you virtually picked your nose.
Don't wipe it on the virtual sofa! Virtually wash your hands, you disgusting pig!
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
I am a victim of virtual rape... Totally owned me and I logged off.. I went to therapy for about a year after it...I am still a victim...I hope someone in hollywood..Possibly Susan Sarandon speaks out soon...
Ok, this article is stupid, but that link makes it all worthwhile.
A Goatse link got modded up. Somebody's gonna get burned in meta-moderation.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
My god. If I changed my .sig to "I'm inserting my virtual penis into your unwilling virtual vagina", would I become the worlds most prolific serial virtual rapist? That would be virtually awesome!
Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
Could you rate this offense in terms of libraries of congress please?
Nine.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
> Sentence them to Virtual time in a Virtual prison.
With Virtual assrape!
You virtually farted? So that explains what I thought I smelled.
Live forever, or die trying.
Actually he meant "Virtually Disgusting Virtual Pig".
As for this virtual rape. How do you even do that? (note I'm no longer a 2nd life user since I visited http://www.getafirstlife.com/ ).
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
Or worse: could she demand virtual child support? :)
I can just see it now. "Yeah that's CoolChick1392. She's my virtual-baby momma.".
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
MSRP - Tax, Title & Licence Extra Your Milage May Vary
This is slashdot. Perhaps you meant "I'm inserting my virtual penis into your unwilling virtual mangina".
Loose lips lose spit.
They click "Deny" but they mean "Accept"...
yes, but just in case you haven't gotten the point of the comments everybody is making of there being more virtual things, you should really be typing on a _virtual_keyboard_ and drinking _Virtual_Pr_Pepper_!
In all seriousness, I think as many times as the word "virtual" has been mentioned on this article alone, it should be permanently removed and banned from all dictionaries for the human language...
Last month, two Belgian publications reported that the Brussels police have begun an investigation into a citizen's allegations of rape -- in Second Life. ... you might've been able to infer that Brussels is, in fact, in Belgium.
ah, Slashdot... where I go to remember that the socially incompetent turn to misogyny to justify their incredible sexual frustrations.
Getting diabetes AND salmonella would be a bad weekend.
It's not a strip club, it's a series of boobs!
Sorry, you said lame analogy; only one thing comes to mind.
It's not exactly rocket surgery.
What they need is a virtual Bobbit.
Karma: Bad is the liberal way of saying this guy won't drink the kool aid here on slash dot. I wear my Karma with pride