[NetBehaviour] Virtual Rape Is Traumatic, but Is It a Crime?

[marc]

Virtual Rape Is Traumatic, but Is It a Crime?

Commentary by  Regina Lynn.

Last month, two Belgian publications reported that the Brussels police 
have begun an investigation into a citizen's allegations of rape -- in 
Second Life.

I am half convinced that the tantalizingly brief story, printed in De 
Morgen and Het Laatste Nieuws, is a hoax or an April Fool's joke.

Yet it has prompted several threads of discussion, from a legal analysis 
to four pages of commentary at the Second Citizen forums.

Unfortunately, rape in virtual spaces is not unheard of. And I'm not 
talking about the "consensual" rape built into some games (although if 
you're interested in that debate, GameGrene has a good conversation 
about it).

There is no question that forced online sexual activity -- whether 
through text, animation, malicious scripts or other means -- is real; 
and is a traumatic experience that can have a profound and unpleasant 
aftermath, shaking your faith in yourself, in the community, in the 
platform, even in sex itself.

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