24 Pages Posted: 6 Oct 2010 Last revised: 11 Mar 2014

Date Written: October 5, 2010

Abstract

Privacy laws can protect virtual worlds and their users where property law cannot. Yet, legal scholars tend to ignore this power in favor of extending the virtual world metaphor in an effort to see the common law of property cover virtual worlds. This article explores how harms against the citizens of virtual worlds are harms against the victim’s mental state rather than his wallet. A review of the types of privacy law applicable to virtual worlds is provided, and those laws are applied to common virtual world scenarios resulting in harm. Finally, privacy law is offered as the most viable and logical approach to dealing with virtual world harms because of its ability to address mental harms without the need for a property loss.