Miscellaneous

Woman Facing Jail Time After Killing Cyber Husband

Holy Awesome. Who knew this could be a crime? A woman, involved in a game similar to "Second Life" (whatever the hell that is), may go to jail for killing her virtual husband. Yeah. No shit:

A 43-year-old Japanese piano teacher's sudden divorce from her online husband in a virtual game world made her so angry that she logged on and killed his digital persona, police said Thursday.

The woman, who has been 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 City 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.

You know what I'd love to do? Kill Internet trolls, virtually, that is. Could I go to prison for that?

Full post as published by Quiz Law on October 24, 2008 (boomark / email).