Virtual Law

James Ku sent an email that read, "I was just sitting here doing my explosion simulation and I started thinking - Is virtual rape a crime?"

Here's my reply:

First I need to say that’s profoundly disturbing.

Damn, the metaverse really is going to change things. We’ve had people buying and selling virtual real estate for years now … real money. Honestly, I think these things are going to become criminal acts, and here’s why: because they’ll affect a person’s reputation which will affect their livelihood. Let’s step away from rape and take a less disturbing example of harassment. You’ve got a guy who’s a merchant in Second Life, but some grief-player decides to dedicate his online hours to ruining this guy’s existence. Maybe the griefer is much more technically adept than the merchant, or he’s got a posse of fellow 12 year olds who’ll join him in making his own fun, or in rl the griefer lost a girlfriend to this guy, but in any case he successfully disrupts the merchant’s business. The merchant appeals to Linden Labs but maybe they don’t act quickly enough or he blames them for not taking prior measures and now we’ve got multiple lawsuits. After this scenario plays out enough times, legislators start getting lobbied to do something about it.

There are lots of legal issues that are going to come out of the metaverse. Months ago I saw an interview with one of the big real estate guys in Second Life (if you google “Neverdie” you’ll probably find it), and he brought up several of them. Since your avatar is you in the metaverse, who owns it? Who owns it after you die?