Can you be arrested for "online" theft or murder?

by Davey Winder on Apr 29, 2008

Tags: Virtual | Worlds

German law-enforcement agencies have already investigated acts of simulated sex between adult and child avatars within Second Life, although no arrests have been made. A German TV station claimed to have downloaded real child porn images from within Second Life, which the authorities are also investigating. Belgian police have gone so far as having detectives from the Federal Computer Crime Unit patrol the virtual environment to interview potential witnesses following an allegation of avatar rape.

Even in the unlikely event that the police catch the perpetrators, surely the real question is can an avatar be raped at all? To perform a sexual act in Second Life, for example, both avatars have to consent to the animation being activated, that even includes the ‘rape kit’ animations you can purchase as avatar add-ons. Indeed, does a virtual representation of an individual within a virtual world have any legal rights? Vincent Scheurer, a qualified barrister renowned for his legal work within the computer games industry, claims “the law of the land will apply to the real world only, not the virtual world.” Scheurer goes on to explain that he can’t see how rape could apply to avatars as they aren’t human beings. However, “a simulated rape of an avatar may,” depending on the detail, “constitute an obscene publication in the real world,” which could be illegal, depending upon jurisdiction.

Courts have enough trouble agreeing on jurisdiction in the real world, let alone throwing international servers and domains into the works. Take the example of someone living in Australia who publishes something that’s illegal in Canada on a website hosted in Singapore; does that person have to answer for breaking a law in another country when breaking none in their own? The short answer is no, unless the crime committed was extraditable and an extradition treaty exists between the countries concerned. Even then, the law as it stands doesn’t allow for a virtual extradition treaty. If the crime was a fraud or hacking offence online, extradition may apply to any country whose citizens were affected by it, but not for a ‘crime’ contained within a virtual world that only affects a virtual, and therefore borderless, population.

Clicks and mortar crime

You might think, considering the hundreds of dollars and countless hours spent developing property within a virtual world, that this investment would be protected under the law. Think again. Your hard-earned and fully paid-for property can be deleted without either warning or compensation from the Game Gods, or anyone else for that matter. Online casinos in Second Life discovered this last year when, following an FBI investigation into whether strict gaming laws were being broken (online gambling is illegal in the US), Second Life decided to ban gambling in its virtual world, even when operators and players are both based outside of the US. The owners of highly profitable virtual casinos found their property had been literally wiped off the map overnight.

Linden Lab, which operates Second Life, stated quite clearly at the time that “there will be no reimbursement if Linden Lab removes objects or activities that violate this policy.” For the people who had invested heavily in building these virtual businesses with a real-world profit margin, the loss was instant and not subject to appeal, online or off. Second Life, in the eyes of the law, is just a game and its players are subject to the terms and conditions they agreed to. To all intents and purposes, Linden Lab is judge, jury and virtual executioner. The worrying thing for Second Lifers is that it makes the law as well.

So where does this leave the likes of Ailin Graef, the Chinese-born German citizen who, as the Anshe Chung avatar, became the first person to make a real million-dollar profit out of a purely virtual business within Second Life? Yes, you did read that right, $1 million of real money. She did this in two years by buying “land” on the Second Life map and building a huge property portfolio of houses, flats, shops and even entire shopping malls, which are rented out to other in-world citizens. Her initial investment was just $10.

Although frowned upon, finding World of Warcraft gold for sale online isn’t difficult.

The Second Life economy operates using an in-house currency known as Linden Dollars, which you buy with real money. There’s also a currency exchange mechanism to turn your virtual cash into real money. On an average day, $1 to $2 million of real cash is spent within Second Life. Graef could lose everything in the virtual world at the whim of the Game Gods – a big risk for an entrepreneur with real offices in China and a staff of more than 60 developers.

This article appeared in the May, 2008 issue of PC Authority.