Wednesday, October 22, 2008

First conviction for virtual theft in the Netherlands

In a criminal trial in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, on Tuesday, October 21st, two minors were convicted for stealing virtual goods in the online computergame "RuneScape". They had malteated and threatened another minor and forced him to transfer a virtual amulet and a virtual mask from his game account to theirs.

The judge ruled that virtual goods are indeed goods as mentioned in article 310 of the criminal code of the Netherlands and can therefore indeed be stolen.

We can see this as an acknowledgement of all the work virtual citizens put into the creation of virtual goods and we also know now that Dutch legislation is on our side when someone illegally takes these goods away from us. A step forward!