Crime in Second Life -final research paper-

Abstract

The topic of this paper is a involving virtual problem in Second Life. It argues that Second Life should solve crimes including finances, human rights, and violence. It insists on three solutions and the first is that police and cyber experts need to work together. Second is that society should make appropriate laws for online criminals. Last is that Second Life need to prevent people who use fake information from entering the virtual world.

Have you ever played an online game? Have you even thought that the virtual world was connected with the real world? Second Life is a virtual world and people can be any other person. However it is an online game, and avatars face cyber crime involving finances (Simon, 2008), human rights (Fell, 2007), and violence (Gourlay and Taher, 2007). Some people use fake information; therefore, it makes it a more difficult situation to find out the criminals and it makes the number of criminals and victims increase. We will be able to overcome these problems if police and cyber-experts work together to chase cyber-criminals, society makes rules which allow criminals to receive punishment as they would for real crime, and Second Life make every avatar write down real information.

Second Life is one of the biggest online games, which Linden Lab offered to the public in 2003, and people need to sign up with their name, sex, birth date, and E-mail address before joining Second Life. There are 9.1 million residences in Second Life (Ho, 2007). People can go anywhere they want and make friends and even have a boyfriend or girlfriend. They can learn a foreign language through Second Life, because there are many avatars that are from many counties and speak many kinds of languages. They also can buy and sell goods and do their business, and the money in Second Life can be changed to real money. Therefore, some companies, such as Sony, BMW, and Reebok are interested in the virtual world, so they buy land and made buildings there (Gourlay and Taher, 2007). However, some avatars rape other avatar who pretend to be children and the others break the buildings. Second Life has some problems because there is not enough security and solutions.

First, it is an effective way for police and cyber experts to cooperate. DeBrota, a federal prosecutor in Indiana, insisted that cooperation between cyber experts and police may lead more serious crime (Bergstein, 2007). Crime is getting complicated and criminals are getting smart. One study showed “32% of teenagers who use the Internet have experienced some form of ‘cyber-bullying’”(Devereux, n.d., para. 5). Teenager’s bullying is one of the biggest problems in the real world, so police should regard online bullying as also current big problem. Police cannot ignore the truth anymore. If police are not familiar with computers, they cannot know how cyber criminals work. Actually, avatars who had money stolen or who were hurt by sexual violence want police to help, but they tend to not get enough relief. Police must be superior in computer knowledge to criminal; otherwise, the amount of crime will not decrease. Police need technological skills to solve crimes on the Internet, and should patrol in the virtual world.

Second, it is very important to establish rules for cyber criminals. There happens many kinds of matters in Second Life, but currently avatars don’t have enough property rights in the US. Second Life gives avatars the opportunity to earn real money. According to an article, “the best known virtual world property tycoon is Anshe Chung from Second Life who was hailed as the first millionaire of virtual world earlier this year” (Irvine, n.d). She set up a business in Second Life from her pocket money and her business was very much success. The bill in the currency of Second Life is not real money like the dollar and the euro, but avatars can change money for the virtual world to real money on the Linden Lab home page or in market sites. People call money in Second Life L$, and the value of it is that 1US$ is usually equal to 270L$. This means that property in Second Life should be protected by rules. If an avatar has his property stolen by other avatars, the robber should have a sentence equal to that for a real matter, because money in Second Life has value. Some people transfer money to other countries to do violent attack. Money in Second Life can go through the border; therefore, society needs to set up rules. Society should consider the property right in the virtual world and make laws to protect people who earn money there. Also, it needs to give pressure to cyber-criminals so that they try not to commit a crime.

Last, Second Life should force every avatar to write clearly their information, which is the most important way to decrease the incidents. Some victims in Second Life have no choice but to cry and give up. One of the reasons that people and police cannot solve the matter is that some avatars don’t inform anyone of their real name, or address (Bergstein, 2007). Avatars can use false name, opposite sex, and older or younger age than their real age in Second Life, but society should think about measures that prevent vicious avatars from entering there. Unclear rules may make the number of vicious avatars increase. To decrease the number of these avatars, some countries work against cyber crime. For example, in South Korea, people who want to put comment on a blog or play an online game have to use a National ID number (Devereux, n.d). If people don’t have to show their real information, it may lead people to commit cyber crime because the anonymity sometimes robs the sense of humanity and releases them from social morals. That’s why the number of crimes involving having sex with virtual children, killing people, and attacking buildings increases. Therefore, Second Life shouldn’t allow avatars who try to use untrue information.

Some people express the fact that Second Life is a good place where everyone can join and contact others all over the world. And we can be the opposite sex, or pretend to be older or younger than our real age. However, it is true it is not always a safe place because there are cyber bullying and cyber harassment in the virtual world. Not every avatar wants to get money, and most of the avatars just want to enjoy the dreamful world and personality that is different from their real one. If someone is a victim of sexual activity in Second Life, the person will be hurt very much and decide to quit the online game, even if the avatar is not an actual object. And if someone has his or her money stolen in Second Life, it means that he or she lost real money. It is obvious that it hard to monitor cyberspace all the time because there are a lot of people and Cyberspace is getting difficult to handle well. However, someone should do this for people who wish for a safe online site, because Second Life is a world for everyone. I think everyone may enjoy the world, but we need some effective rules and protection methods.

In conclusion, Second Life will be a safe and enjoyable world if police have enough guidelines to arrest cyber-criminals, society gives them punishment that is more similar to or the same as in the real world, and every avatar informs of their right information. Second Life gives people many opportunities to meet new friends, go on a trip, even if it is a foreign country, and start a business. It is an online game, but there are real values and there exist children, adults, rich, poor, and criminals. People should overcome bad avatars and crimes. If we can do this, the participation will increase and people all over the world will feel close through the Internet.

Reference

Bergstein, B. (2007, November 3). Cops Learning How to Extend Beats Online. Business News, Associated Press Online. Retrieved April 8, 2008, from Lexis Nexis Database.

CNN.com. (n.d.) CNN Enters The Virtual World of Second Life. Retrieved April 16, 2008, from http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/12/second.life.irpt/index.html?iref=newssearch.

Devereux, C. (n.d.) Anarchy on-line. CNN.com. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/08/23/virtual.bullying/index.html?iref=newssearch.

Fell, N. (2007, May 11). Crime in the Virtual World. ABC Transcripts (Australia). Retrieved April 7, 2008, from Lexis Nexis Database.

Gourlay, C., and Taher, A. (2007 August, 5). Virtual Jihad Hits Second Life Website. Sunday Times (London). Retrieved April 7, 2008, from Lexis Nexis Database.

Ho, A. (2007, August 30). If You Rob Me, Should I not Have Recourse? The Straits Times (Singapore). Retrieved April 7, 2008, from Lexis Nexis Database.

Irvine, D. (n.d.) Virtual World, Real Money. CNN.com. Retrieved April 16, 2008 from http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/03/12/fs.virtualmoney/index.html?iref=newssearch.

Newswire. (2007, July 17). Virtual Worlds, Real Cheaters. Techweb. Retrieved March 31, 2008, from Lexis Nexis datebase.

Simon, S. (2008, February 9). ‘Second Life’ Players Face Real Financial Losses, Interview with National Public Radio (NPR). Weekend Edition. Retrieved March 20, 2008, from Lexis Nexis database.