Virtual Sex

The fashionable web site for many young people in Europe is called Second Life. It is an online virtual world in which you can live a virtual life and indulge all your fantasies. You can buy and sell properties and become whatever you secretly desire from life.

Not surprisingly virtual pornography places a part in the secret life of many of the citizens in this make-believe world. But now there is a new development with a number of second lifers becoming involved in the buying and selling of child pornography. Anonymous citizens have been selling images of child sex and paying for virtual sex with others players who had child-like avatars.

Some argue that since a real child is not involved no harm has been done. But this is not true. Child pornographic images whether real or simulated represent an abuse against all children and serve to confirm child abusers that their actions are acceptable.

The majority of Second Life users in Europe are in Germany and fortunately the German government now has a law which makes virtual child pornography a crime punishable by a prison sentence of up to five years. Police in that country are now actively seeking those who are trading child pornography in the virtual world. Promoters of Second Life are assisting them in their search.

The speed of change in the IT world means a constant revision of national laws to deal with such issues as virtual reality. Laws in the virtual world must continue to reflect the values and standards of the real world.