Virtual Rape

[cheerful_deviant]

Crime or No Crime? Thoughts?

~~~~~~~~~

Virtual Rape Is Traumatic, but Is It a Crime?
05.04.07 | 12:00 AM
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.

Full Story

 

[Dic_Suckin_Lips]

There is not violation of that person IRL.. so I see no crime..

 

[Stella_Omega]

It's an interesting question, isn't it? We had an occurrence here, where one man was accused of- not rape exactly, but abuse- by some of the women. My thought was, how can he abuse anyone virtually? Me, I'd just log off at the very first attempt and put that person on ignore in every mode of communication that we'd used. But that's just me. And there was real, genuine emotional pain.

 

[rgraham666]

As a recent death here showed, a person's virtual presence has a lot of effect on real emotions.

 

[cloudy]

It's an interesting question, isn't it? We had an occurrence here, where one man was accused of- not rape exactly, but abuse- by some of the women. My thought was, how can he abuse anyone virtually? Me, I'd just log off at the very first attempt and put that person on ignore in every mode of communication that we'd used. But that's just me. And there was real, genuine emotional pain.

I agree.

Yes, a virtual presence means there's a real person behind it, but I can't see anyone being charged for a crime in the instance that the story is about. It was virtual, which by default, means it wasn't real. There was no crime committed.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I agree.

Yes, a virtual presence means there's a real person behind it, but I can't see anyone being charged for a crime in the instance that the story is about. It was virtual, which by default, means it wasn't real. There was no crime committed.

It's a virtual crime... You could have an internet trial, with IM'ing prosecutors, etc, and some hacker can create a virtual gaol that limits the Internet presence of the convicted.

Or, you can have a lynching, which is kind of what happened in our case here... The accused man disappeared from the community without defending himself much. The discussion stopped at that point, really.

 

[Nasha]

I do think that the way people treat one another online and in virtual environments matters, but I'm inclined to think "virtual rape" comes closer to sexual harassment than to physical assault.

Sexual harassment is serious, and can be scary and hurtful, emotionally, and can lead to big consequences such as putting the victim's job in jeapordy or affecting the victim's job performance, or driving the victim out of an online community they cherish participating in.

However, I feel that putting "virtual rape" into the same criminal category as physical rape rhetorically diminishes the seriousness of the latter.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I do think that the way people treat one another online and in virtual environments matters, but I'm inclined to think "virtual rape" comes closer to sexual harassment than to physical assault.

Sexual harassment is serious, and can be scary and hurtful, emotionally, and can lead to big consequences such as putting the victim's job in jeapordy or affecting the victim's job performance, or driving the victim out of an online community they cherish participating in.

However, I feel that putting "virtual rape" into the same criminal category as physical rape rhetorically diminishes the seriousness of the latter.

nah, nobody did, nobody does.


I'm wondering, in what environment did this v-rape take place? Sims? There are a cople other avatar-based domains around, right? You could hack up a program that would take over someone else's av- people really do invest themselves into them-- and it could get ugly and graphic.

 

[Nasha]

I'm wondering, in what environment did this v-rape take place? Sims? There are a cople other avatar-based domains around, right? You could hack up a program that would take over someone else's av- people really do invest themselves into them-- and it could get ugly and graphic.

There's a wikipedia page discussing an article I read a long time ago. Here's wikipedia's synopsis:

"A Rape in Cyberspace" describes a "cyberrape" in a multi-player computer game or MUD called LambdaMOO; the repercussions of this act on the virtual community and subsequent changes to the design of the MUD program.

LambdaMOO, which is a still-extant virtual community with features comparable to a text-only implementation of a MMORPG such as Second Life, allows users to interact using avatars. The avatars are user-programmable and may interact automatically with each other and with objects and locations in the community.

The "cyberrape" itself was performed by an avatar with the username of Mr. Bungle. This user behind this avatar ran a "voodoo doll" subprogram that allowed him to make actions that were falsely attributed to other characters in the virtual community. These actions, which included describing sexual acts that characters performed on each other, went far beyond the community norms to that point and continued for several hours. They were interpreted as sexual violation of the characters who were made to act sexually, and incited outrage among the LambdaMOO users, raising questions about the boundaries between real-life and virtual reality, and how LambdaMOO should be governed.

After Mr. Bungle's "offense", several users posted on the in-MOO mailing list, *social-issues, about the emotional trauma caused by his actions. One user whose character was a victim, called his voodoo doll activities "a breach of civility" while, in real life, "post-traumatic tears were streaming down her face". However, despite the passionate emotions including anger voiced by many users on LambdaMOO, none were willing to punish the user behind Mr. Bungle through real-life means.

Three days after the event the users of LambdaMOO arranged an online meeting, which Dibbell attended under his screenname (Dr. Bombay), to discuss what should be done about Mr. Bungle. The meeting lasted approximately two hours and forty-five minutes, but no conclusive decisions were made. After attending the meeting, one of the master-programmers of LambdaMOO (with screenname TomTraceback), decided on his own to terminate the Mr. Bungle user's account. Additionally, upon his return from his business trip, LambdaMOO's main creator, Pavel Curtis (screenname Archwizard Haakon), set up a system of petitions and ballots where anyone could put to popular vote anything requiring master-programmer (known as "wizardly") powers for its implementation. Through this system, LambdaMOO users put into place a @boot command, which temporarily disconnects disruptive guest users from the server, as well as a number of other new features.

 

[Stella_Omega]

There's a wikipedia page discussing an article I read a long time ago. Here's wikipedia's synopsis:

"A Rape in Cyberspace" describes a "cyberrape" in a multi-player computer game or MUD called LambdaMOO; the repercussions of this act on the virtual community and subsequent changes to the design of the MUD program.

LambdaMOO, which is a still-extant virtual community with features comparable to a text-only implementation of a MMORPG such as Second Life, allows users to interact using avatars. The avatars are user-programmable and may interact automatically with each other and with objects and locations in the community.

The "cyberrape" itself was performed by an avatar with the username of Mr. Bungle. This user behind this avatar ran a "voodoo doll" subprogram that allowed him to make actions that were falsely attributed to other characters in the virtual community. These actions, which included describing sexual acts that characters performed on each other, went far beyond the community norms to that point and continued for several hours. They were interpreted as sexual violation of the characters who were made to act sexually, and incited outrage among the LambdaMOO users, raising questions about the boundaries between real-life and virtual reality, and how LambdaMOO should be governed.

After Mr. Bungle's "offense", several users posted on the in-MOO mailing list, *social-issues, about the emotional trauma caused by his actions. One user whose character was a victim, called his voodoo doll activities "a breach of civility" while, in real life, "post-traumatic tears were streaming down her face". However, despite the passionate emotions including anger voiced by many users on LambdaMOO, none were willing to punish the user behind Mr. Bungle through real-life means.

Three days after the event the users of LambdaMOO arranged an online meeting, which Dibbell attended under his screenname (Dr. Bombay), to discuss what should be done about Mr. Bungle. The meeting lasted approximately two hours and forty-five minutes, but no conclusive decisions were made. After attending the meeting, one of the master-programmers of LambdaMOO (with screenname TomTraceback), decided on his own to terminate the Mr. Bungle user's account. Additionally, upon his return from his business trip, LambdaMOO's main creator, Pavel Curtis (screenname Archwizard Haakon), set up a system of petitions and ballots where anyone could put to popular vote anything requiring master-programmer (known as "wizardly") powers for its implementation. Through this system, LambdaMOO users put into place a @boot command, which temporarily disconnects disruptive guest users from the server, as well as a number of other new features.

Exactly! a cyber crime with cyber consequences.

Wouldn't you say that we get cyber-flashers, so to speak, here once in a while? In this forum, we tend to point and laugh.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Dr. Dibbel's account of the incident is very worth reading.

 

[rgraham666]

Dr. Dibbel's account of the incident is very worth reading.

That was a very interesting article, Stella.

I really liked his insight that words and actions are the same thing in cyberspace and thus subject to the same ethics. We have, as he noted, tended to separate these things in real life. Which may not have been wise of us.

 

[Liar]

Exactly! a cyber crime with cyber consequences.

Wouldn't you say that we get cyber-flashers, so to speak, here once in a while? In this forum, we tend to point and laugh.

I tend to point and laugh at flashers in real life too.

Others react differently. Of course peple can get hurt by things that happen via the Internet meduim. Just because the person on the other and can't get to you physically, it doesn't mean he can't get to you.

There is a debate here about "cyber bullying" in which bullying shoolkids spam their victims mail, phones, IM-chats and web spots like MySpace pages and blogs, with threats and verbal abuse. Personally, I don't see why it has to be labelled ot treated differently. It's harassment. By phone, by mail, by notes passed in class, by schoolyard whispers, by blog or by YouTube clips. It's still the same thing.

It was virtual, which by default, means it wasn't real. There was no crime committed.

In this case, it was sexual harassment. No more, no less. And should legally be treated as that.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I tend to point and laugh at flashers in real life too.

Others react differently. Of course peple can get hurt by things that happen via the Internet meduim. Just because the person on the other and can't get to you physically, it doesn't mean he can't get to you.

There is a debate here about "cyber bullying" in which bullying shoolkids spam their victims mail, phones, IM-chats and web spots like MySpace pages and blogs, with threats and verbal abuse. Personally, I don't see why it has to be labelled ot treated differently. It's harassment. By phone, by mail, by notes passed in class, by schoolyard whispers, by blog or by YouTube clips. It's still the same thing.

And in this case, it's sexual harassment. No more, no less. And should legally be treated as that.

There's the rub- by which legal system?

Me, I do not want any government to have any authority over the Web. I'd rather-- speaking for myself -- and having been involved in a couple of nasty situations online in my past-- I would rather have anarchy and deal with it. For one thing, I'm far more resilient and resourceful in my virtual incarnation, and that is a result of the environment "Stella Omega" has "been raised" in. Nothing can actually kill me in webspace, and therefore I can grow stronger...

(edited to add) This only refers to my internet presence. If i were attacked in my real life via the web- that's a real assault, and in that case the internet is treated as a medium by which an attack was perpetrated- in the same way that stalkers can be convicted of using telephones or the mail to carry out their agenda.

Two very different sets of parameters, you see?

 

[Liar]

There's the rub- by which legal system?

Me, I do not want any government to have any authority over the Web. I'd rather-- speaking for myself -- and having been involved in a couple of nasty situations online in my past-- I would rather have anarchy and deal with it. For one thing, I'm far more resilient and resourceful in my virtual incarnation, and that is a result of the environment "Stella Omega" has "been raised" in. Nothing can actually kill me in webspace, and therefore I can grow stronger...

So if I commit a crime using the Internet, that's perfectly fine?

There's nothing magic about "the web" that sets it aside from everything else. It's not a realm of it's own. It's a technology and a media. So is the telephone. Or the editorial in your daily newspaper. If some lowlife creep called you on the phone repeatedly with sick suggestions and snarled profanities, would that be ok? You know, it's not real, it's just on the phone. It won't kill you.

To answer your question: by the same legal system as for everything else.

Edied to add: I didn't see your "edited to add" when I replied. Not sure where you're going with that though. You are not you on the web? Your entire online presence is a role-play? Right here, on this porn site, I have a certain amount of anonymity between my identity and my online persona, merely because I have chosen not to tell you my name in this public place. But certainly not everywhere.

 

[Stella_Omega]

My online presence is an aspect of my real life person, for sure. But "Stella Omega" is not the name on my paycheck, or my lease, or my car registration...

If I were to be raped in real life, I'd be shivering in ER and in tears and trying to decide if I have the courage to talk to the cops. (I think so) If I am attacked as Stella, I have some more immediate and hand-to-hand methods of defense- as paradoxical as that seems!

We are talking abou two different "internets" here- one is the WEb of virtual reality, in which I know Liar as an extraordinarily rational squirrel, and you know Stella as an obnoxiously aggressive butch dyke. That's who I am, that's my identity. That identity only exists in the electronic realm. That would be the person who would be attacked, if such a thing happened to me, and my real self would react and translate those reactions into Stella's...

But there is another use for the internet, of course, and that's as a means of real-life communication. And, yes, there are crimes committed using the internet as a tool- but the actual crime effects real life, in the sense of a real loss of one sort or another.

 

[Recidiva]

It's identity theft, really. If they've taken the will of the character.

Otherwise, you don't have to be there for it. Shut off the window, walk away, whatever. Identifying completely with your avatar is an emotional investment. Don't invest unwisely.

 

[Recidiva]

Side note and separate experience, my husband had his WoW account keylogged and stripped of all items and gold.

Close partners who have traded information on their accounts may find that the boyfriend that they just broek up with has deleted all their characters in revenge.

The difference between real life and online life is that online is clearly a game. Whatever you "lose" if you can talk the system administrators into restoring it and prove your innocence, you can get it back.

Not a possibility in real life if there's loss. Not even from the courts. There's no "good as new." There's no "restore to an earlier game." There's no appeal.

 

[Decayed Angel]

Reminds me of a story line...

One of my many unbelievable stories had just such a result, a virtual rape:
A Rape in the Belfry. Just goes to show that even the most far fetched stuff we write here just might really happen.

 

[Stella_Omega]

It's identity theft, really. If they've taken the will of the character.

Otherwise, you don't have to be there for it. Shut off the window, walk away, whatever. Identifying completely with your avatar is an emotional investment. Don't invest unwisely.

I've invested in you

 

[Recidiva]

I've invested in you

I'd be happy to maximize your portfolio.

 

[poppy1963]

I had a very unnerving experience here and while I know it was no crime, it certainly had a frightful impact on me.

I was new to a nice intertaining ongoing thread of people getting to "know" them some and visiting often. One day a new "young woman" showed up as part of a "swinging couple" and was extremely seductive pretty much inviting a "gang bang" of sorts. The "men" in the thread at that time (there were 3 and one I thought/think very highly of) became like different people and took her up on this consensual multiple thing. I commented that I was gonna leave as it's not my kinda thing.

What made it unnerving was the young woman then began to present as being kinda "forced" into this by people in her physical environment and she kept saying: "Please don't leave me, Poppy! Please don't leave me! Stay with me...please don't leave me!" It was very dismaying and I wasn't sure what the heck was going on. Was she in some way being forced to do this in her real life environment? Or was it just a role play? Watching these men begin this cyber gangbang was very disturbing....really very disturbing. I left the thread and didn't go back for a while but watched. Nothing like that has ever happened again.

The young woman is still here, has gone through some reported changes in her real life that seemed better but now seems to be getting back to what used to be with her old partner/husband.

Anyway...it was the violence and the disregard all had for one who MAY have been being truly victimized in some way to behave in such a way.

Thoughts on this? Comments? Like I said...I know it was not a CRIME online but it had a very powerful effect on me at the time. I really like the thread-starter and he has been great fun in lots of ways and one who seems genuinely to reach out to others in lots of helpful ways. Just weird...I still think about it sometimes...and shudder.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I'd be happy to maximize your portfolio.

I'll deliver it into your capable... and soft, and strong... hands.

 

[Recidiva]

I'll deliver it into your capable... and soft, and strong... hands.

I love the horns!

 

[Stella_Omega]

I love the horns!

I started singing while i was making the av;
"I'm a little lamb that's lost in the wood
I know I could
Always be good
To one who'd watch over me...

Spring and Romance, eh?