Thought crimes, FBI in Second Life, Bully Gangs Steal Game Loot
These alternative realms are testing the long-held notions of what is criminal and whether law enforcement should patrol the digital frontier.
Source: washingtonpost.com
Rape is cyberspace has been around since before we could see each other, in the days of MOOs and MUDs. In the late 90's an artist who used photoshop to create seemingly life-like images of naked young men brought the issue of whether an image can be pornography if it looks real, but came from the imagination.
In Chicago, we have the work of Henry Darger, disturbing but somehow riveting, as an "Ur" example of when what one person is thinking seems like a crime to others.
WaPo reporter Alan Sipress discusses the evergreen questions of where fantasy and reality collide in this interesting story. From Second Life, with islands that cater to various sex predilictions, to gangs storming around World of Warcraft stealing player's game booty to sell on the choppy seas of Internet commerce for real money, he recounts how the FBI has even gotten into the game, literally,
Federal investigators created their own avatars and toured the site, he said.
Source: washingtonpost.com
So, the question lingers, are people in Second Life citizens of a new place or just travelers bound by the laws of their home countries.
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