Sentenced for a virtual crime

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:45:26 +0100

A crime scene in the virtual world, Second Life.

Two Dutch youths were sentenced for stealing virtual goods last week, while a Japanese piano player was jailed for killing her virtual ex-husband.

The 14 and 15-year-old boys forced, in reality, a 13-year-old to open his "RuneScape" account and hand over a virtual amulet and mask to the elder boy's account. Although the pair beat and allegedly threatened the victim, the boys were only charged with the theft of the imaginary items, and not for any physical abuse. In a rare case, the Leeuwarden District judge ruled early last week that "goods don't have to be material for the law to consider them stolen", and sentenced the pair to 160 and 200 hours community service respectively.

Meanwhile, a 43-year-old Japanese woman was jailed last Wednesday on suspicion of hacking into her virtual ex-husband's identity and deleting him, as he had recently divorced her virtual self on "Maple Story". If convicted, she could face a five-year prison sentence, despite having no plans to harm the real-life man behind the virtual character. The cases have highlighted a shift in the application of law in non-real scenarios and caused bloggers to question the emotional value of virtual goods and identities.