Laying Down the Law

I stumbled across a blog over at iViNNiE concerning the often debated question of whether real world laws apply to virtual worlds. Having nothing more than my own opinions to draw from in regard to this matter, I thought it best to simply post the links and let everyone read it for themselves. Then, of course...follow them with a tiny rant of what I thought about the matter.

The blog post, by Mike Masnick... Do Real World Laws Apply in Virtual Worlds?

The abstract and download for the original paper by Orin S. Kerr, to which the blog refers...Criminal Law in Virtual Worlds

To sum it up for those who don't feel like downloading and reading the original, or even popping over to another blog post while you're already reading one...here's the skinny.
Orin Kerr argues that legislative organizations in the physical world shouldn't have to make new laws to cover the activities in virtual worlds. While current Real World laws don't come close to covering the possibility of virtual crimes such as virtual theft, and virtual murder, it should be assumed that anything allowed within the boundaries of the VW by its creators should be considered fair play. That being said, it is then left to the VW reators to dictate laws within their own Terms of Service and outline any applicable laws, along with covering any enforcement issues thereof.


In some ways I certainly agree with Kerr.
It is very difficult to apply laws of the physical world to things that occur within the virtual worlds. This is true most especially when a VW spans many nations, though it could easily be debated that an individual should be beholden to the laws of his or her physical location. Even so, creating such laws would consume time and tax dollars that could probably be better spent on other things.
Enforcing such laws would become even more difficult, as governments were forced to institute policing organizations to patrol VWs, or at least respond to and investigate any accusations deriving from said worlds. Aside from that, such enforcement likely wouldn't be very effective. Even in the physical world policing agencies don't do much to prevent crime aside from acting as a visible deterrent. If said agencies are far removed from the source of the crime, the threat of punitive action becomes far less...well...threatening.

One option I do see as a possibility for enforcing laws in virtual worlds would be for governments to apply legal boundaries for how creators of VWs would have to create and enforce the laws of their environment. However, this in many ways would simply lead to a new form of censorship as it pertains to what actions could be taken in VW's...and I don't think that idea would go over well.

I'd love to hear the opinions of others on this, most especially those who have a legal background from which to draw. While I certainly enjoy tossing my opinions around, I have to admit to being a person who has always seen even real world laws as just a set of rules to be debated when they seem less than convenient. Perhaps this flavors my mindset when approaching the idea of laws being made for activities that can reasonably be viewed as games in most cases.