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Virtual theft on the rise

by on21 November 2008

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Second life undermined by crime


A report has called for European legislators to create new laws to prevent the theft of virtual goods.

A position paper, cobbled together by the European Network and Information Security Agency, a group representing industry, government and the academic world, puts forward a number of suggestions to help the European Union deal with the rapid growth of virtual worlds, such as Second Life and World of Warcraft.

More than 30 percent of registered accounts in online worlds have lost something of value as a result of criminal activity. Only a quarter have recovered the items because the laws and procedures for dealing with such situations are often fuzzy. The real money value of such thefts are estimated at €1.5bn and there is little that a user can do if their virtual property is stolen."

Giles Hogben, editor of the report, said that governments and financial institutions need to collaborate over better procedures and regulations — similar to the changes made when e-commerce became popular in the late 1990s. It added that there were a number of other risks that it believes could become increasing problems for the creators and users of virtual worlds – including the danger to privacy and computer security, as well as online harassment and the need for child protection.

It's said that without any law inside virtual environments, such criminal growth could have serious impact. In Asia, where massively multi-player online games have had a huge following, a number of high-profile court cases have arisen following in-game disputes.
Last modified on 22 November 2008
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