“The ultimate promise of technology is to make us master of a world that we command by the push of a button.”
As technology continues to develop at an exponential rate, eventually it will give humans the power to “eras[e] the boundary between the virtual world and the real-world.” Traditionally, there are two types of virtual reality. First, there is the virtual reality desktop version that presents three-dimensional images on a high-resolution computer screen. Second, there is immersion virtual reality—the more common and rapidly expanding form of virtual reality. This article focuses specifically on the immersive form of virtual reality due to the effects it has on users.
These immersive virtual environments raise an infinite number of legal concerns. Some of the more specific concerns within the criminal realm include: (1) whether the government can apply criminal laws in the virtual world; (2) how harm should be quantified in a virtual world; and (3) the procedural challenges of applying laws to virtual environments. This article focuses on these concerns and others in relation to protecting children from sexual exploitation by adult perpetrators in the ever-expanding immersive virtual realities.
Part II gives an overview of virtual realities and how immersive virtual reality users are affected by the technology. Part III explores current Minnesota criminal statutes that have the potential to apply in immersive virtual realities and discusses the various shortcomings of applying the existing statutes to a virtual world. Part IV considers First Amendment rights, specifically examining how freedom of speech may act as a barrier to protecting children in immersive virtual realities. Part V discusses practical and procedural challenges to applying criminal statutes in an immersive virtual world. Lastly, Part VI proposes a criminal statute for the Minnesota Legislature to apply to adults who sexually perpetrate against children in an immersive virtual reality.