Virtually Murder

[Tuberski]

Online divorcee jailed after killing virtual hubby

By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press

TOKYO: A 43-year-old Japanese woman whose sudden divorce in a virtual game world made her so angry that she killed her online husband's digital persona has been arrested on suspicion of hacking, police said Thursday.

The woman, who is jailed on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data, used his identification and password to log onto popular interactive game "Maple Story" to carry out the virtual murder in mid-May, a police official in northern Sapporo said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

"I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry," the official quoted her as telling investigators and admitting the allegations.

The woman had not plotted any revenge in the real world, the official said.

She has not yet been formally charged, but if convicted could face a prison term of up to five years or a fine up to $5,000.

Players in "Maple Story" raise and manipulate digital images called "avatars" that represent themselves, while engaging in relationships, social activities and fighting against monsters and other obstacles.

The woman used login information she got from the 33-year-old office worker when their characters were happily married, and killed the character. The man complained to police when he discovered that his beloved online avatar was dead.

Dear God.

AHH!

[Sprayber]

Is it possible that she may get more time than someone who has actually killed a real person?

[Tiamat]

We were just talking about this very same thing in our office yesterday. Gabby finds all these types of things on the internet. She found one yesterday where a guy was arrested in Delaware for robbing a bank in a virtual computer game.

SERIOUSLY!!!!!

[Alinestra Covelia]

Well here the Japanese woman is suspected of hacking somebody else's computer, so that's what she's being charged with - not the fact that she "murdered" a guy online.

If people could get charged for virtual murder, then pretty much every single FPS would be unplayable.

And if people could get charged with drug use and taking little pills in a virtual environment, then Pac-Man would be out of luck.

[MarkG]

damn, i just wanted to post about this...

[Asher]

Originally posted by Tiamat
We were just talking about this very same thing in our office yesterday. Gabby finds all these types of things on the internet. She found one yesterday where a guy was arrested in Delaware for robbing a bank in a virtual computer game.

SERIOUSLY!!!!!

You work with Eva Longoria?

[Alinestra Covelia]

I'm convinced that Eva Longoria's younger sister is my dentist. She has the same face and hair, but she's in her mid-twenties and she wears a medical coat most times.

But she hurts like hell when she scrapes my teeth though.

>_<

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia
Well here the Japanese woman is suspected of hacking somebody else's computer, so that's what she's being charged with - not the fact that she "murdered" a guy online.

If people could get charged for virtual murder, then pretty much every single FPS would be unplayable.

And if people could get charged with drug use and taking little pills in a virtual environment, then Pac-Man would be out of luck.

Thief

[Alinestra Covelia]

Yes! Thief would be unplayable! Tragedy!

Also games like No More Heroes, where you kill people with a lightsab-- um, beam sword.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Tiamat
We were just talking about this very same thing in our office yesterday. Gabby finds all these types of things on the internet. She found one yesterday where a guy was arrested in Delaware for robbing a bank in a virtual computer game.

SERIOUSLY!!!!!

Do you know if it was Second Life? The money there can be exchanged for U.S. dollars, so I can understand how stealing virtually money might be constructed as real-world theft.

[Blaupanzer]

She didn't kill his character, she erased it! So very uncool. However, if the system hosting "Maple Story" makes backups, and the gentleman's character can be restored, is there still a crime? She still hacked the system, but did no real damage in that case.

This issue is raised in the book: Altered Carbon about humans with stored backups. If a man can be rebooted, was he really murdered? All he lost were the hours since the last backup.

Separate thought: How is 5 years compararable to $5,000 dollars? The report at top says the punishment is a prison term of up to 5 years OR $5,000. Seems those are pretty disparate choices for the judge.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Blaupanzer
Separate thought: How is 5 years compararable to $5,000 dollars? The report at top says the punishment is a prison term of up to 5 years OR $5,000. Seems those are pretty disparate choices for the judge.

It's a way of keeping those pesky poor people in jail.

[Supr49er]

Originally posted by Tiamat
We were just talking about this very same thing in our office yesterday. Gabby finds all these types of things on the internet. She found one yesterday where a guy was arrested in Delaware for robbing a bank in a virtual computer game.

SERIOUSLY!!!!!

Do you have a link?

[Alinestra Covelia]

Originally posted by Blaupanzer
Separate thought: How is 5 years compararable to $5,000 dollars? The report at top says the punishment is a prison term of up to 5 years OR $5,000. Seems those are pretty disparate choices for the judge.

I did some research for the United States Sentencing Guidelines (which are actually adopted as sentencing laws for most federal courts and which have a fair bit of influence for a lot of state courts).

The whole "$1,000 = 1 year in jail" conversion seems to be pretty universal.

[Solomwi]

Originally posted by Blaupanzer
She didn't kill his character, she erased it! So very uncool. However, if the system hosting "Maple Story" makes backups, and the gentleman's character can be restored, is there still a crime? She still hacked the system, but did no real damage in that case.

This issue is raised in the book: Altered Carbon about humans with stored backups. If a man can be rebooted, was he really murdered? All he lost were the hours since the last backup.

Speaking very generally here (and from an American legal perspective), yes, there is still a crime. Unlike, say, tort law, criminal law is more concerned with potentiale damage to society than actual damage to the victim, which is one reason society, rather than the victim, bears the costs of prosecuting the criminal defendant. Assuming she meets the elements for both of the listed crimes, permanent damage to the victim is beside the point (for purposes of your question). We want to deter others from similar acts, which may cause actual, permanent damage, so we allow criminal prosecution of her act.

To pile on, the absence of damage, assuming a backup system, is not attributable to her at all. She intended to cause actual damage, and took steps to that end. The marriage of bad intent and overt act is the core of criminal law (e.g., you can intend to kill someone, but never act on that intent, or commit an act that leads to someone's death, without intent to kill, and be innocent of murder, but once you combine the act with the intent, it's murder). That it was, in fact, impossible for her to cause that damage does nothing to change the fact that she took steps to carry out a criminal intent.