Skip to content
Technology & Innovation

Do We Need Virtual Laws?

Tens of millions of people live, work and play in virtual worlds where anything goes. Greg Lastowka thinks we need to police these lawless frontiers.
Sign up for Smart Faster newsletter
The most counterintuitive, surprising, and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday.

Virtual law is interesting because these environments are in one sense fictional, in another very real. People invest real money and time and create real relationships. So, the question is: to what extent should the things that are happening in these environments be treated as if they were happening in physical space or in conventional online forums, email or blogs? We need to give careful consideration to how copyright operates in virtual worlds, where everything is mediated by the software. To a certain degree, copyright law is the umbrella regime for virtual worlds.

Sign up for Smart Faster newsletter
The most counterintuitive, surprising, and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday.

Related

Up Next
Airbus engineer Yelken Octuri has designed a spaceship especially for honeymooners. Once in orbit, the craft releases honeymoon pods with a view of space and big, round bed.