Protecting Children in Virtual Worlds Without Undermining Their Economic, Educational and Social Benefits
39 Pages
Posted: 15 Oct 2009
Last revised: 26 Mar 2010
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Cornell University - Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management
Date Written: October 13, 2009
Abstract
Advances in virtual world technology pose risks for the safety and welfare of children. Those advances also alter the interpretations of key terms in applicable laws. For example, in the Miller test for obscenity, virtual worlds constitute places, rather than "works," and may even constitute local communities from which standards are drawn. Additionally, technological advances promise to make virtual worlds places of such significant social benefit that regulators must take care to protect them, even as they protect children who engage with them.
Keywords: virtual worlds, obscenity, free speech, privacy, child welfare, serious games
JEL Classification: K1, K2, K3, K4
Suggested Citation:
Suggested Citation
Duranske, Benjamin and Bloomfield, Robert J., Protecting Children in Virtual Worlds Without Undermining Their Economic, Educational and Social Benefits (October 13, 2009). Washington and Lee Law Review, Vol. 66, 2009; Johnson School Research Paper Series No. 05-2010. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1488165 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1488165
