Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Should their be laws in Cyber communities?
In the article "Virtuality and its Discontents", by Sherry Turkle , a lot of good points about the use of virtual, online communities are made. Turkle believes that people are using these virtual communities as a substitute for the loss of community in the real world. She also makes various points about where the line should be drawn between the virtual community and the real world. She brings up points about crimes in cyber communities should they be punished and should their be a set of laws to govern these cyber communities. I think that if so many people are to become so emotionally invested in these communities that they would spend more time their than in the real world, then there should be a set of rules to govern. The example about the individual who began performing sexual acts on other members of the cyber community called MUD is a perfect example. I'm sure that many of these people are trying to escape such things in the real world when they log on under their online identity. I think that these people should be protected from such indecencies just as they would be in the real world. It seems many of these communities already have a political system, Why not laws to go along with this System? What do you guys think? Should their be laws in online communities or would that be going too far?
Comments:
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I'm all for freedom of speech and all that good stuff, but maybe some sort of laws on the internet could be a good thing. There are a lot of predators on it.
I understand your point about cyber laws and there should be a limit, but don't we have those limits already? Thing like blocking a user or reporting them? I know this does little but if something happens in the online world i think its kind of wrong to prosecute people. But i know there are very bad people online who use the online world as a bridge to the real world which is a big problem. The online world is great for many things and i guess people just need to be more careful and smarter. If someone is taking you you in a rude or degrading way, then just block them. Getting rid of someone is much easer online then the real world. Good interesting post.
A good post and two good comments.
Some form of regulation is necessary. The question is whether it should be self-regulation or corporate regulation or state regulation? If a cyber-community is capable of creating its own rules of conduct that would seem to be the best option under normal circumstances. The issue of legislating conduct in cyberspace is a hot topic right now. Check out Lawrence Lessig's writing on the topic
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Some form of regulation is necessary. The question is whether it should be self-regulation or corporate regulation or state regulation? If a cyber-community is capable of creating its own rules of conduct that would seem to be the best option under normal circumstances. The issue of legislating conduct in cyberspace is a hot topic right now. Check out Lawrence Lessig's writing on the topic
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