VIRTUAL LAW
(Posted 2008-10-24 13:17:20 by ArchPaladin)

A [ http://www.pcworld.com/article/152673/.html?tk=rss_news ] [pcword.com]
couple [ http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/10/23/avatar.murder.japan.ap/ ]
[cnn.com] of interesting articles.

It appears that meatspace law is executing judgment on cyberspace actions. 
I wonder just how far this will go.  It will certainly make international
cases all that much more complicated, unless of course we were to enact
some form of virtual judicial system.

There's an interesting corollary that goes with this.  Just who owns all
this virtual property anyway?  According the hosting companies, they do.  
And while I can certainly understand physical courts making rulings on
individual actions that had physical counterparts (which both of these
cases involved), it would seem to me that the hosting companies of virtual
worlds should be the final say of arbitration for any purely virtual
grievance.  Although, I doubt said hosting companies really want to set up
a serious judicial system.

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