Dude Stole Mah Virtual Furniture

News flashed today about the arrest of a Dutch teen accused of stealing virtual property in Habbo Hotel, a combination chat room / online game. Habbo Hotel might be considered a virtual world, but its graphics are not as sophisticated as three-dimensional sites that traditionally garner the moniker.

Lest we think the teen stole the property with his avatar, a more mundane police report indicates the 15 year old hacked into accounts belonging to others, and illicitly transferred some 4,000 euros worth of virtual property. (Players buy Habbo Credits, which can then be used to purchase in-game items.)

Habbo Hotel is a European phenomenon, owned by Internet company Sulake based in Finland. According to the Reuters report, Sulake claims 80 million users in 31 countries.

The benefit of this story is to get folks wrapping their minds around the concept of stealing virtual property. That is stuff belonging to others that does not exist in the real world. Yet, Dutch prosecutors apparently will argue these ephemeral items were worth real money, and hence were capable of being stolen. Criminal actions in virtual worlds will have real world implications.

References
Thomasson, E. (2007, November 14). Dutch police arrest teenage online furniture thief. Reuters. [Online.] Retrieved November 14, 2007 from http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071114/od_uk_nm/
oukoe_uk_dutch_online_theft

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Other Links to this Post

1. My Personal Blog » Dude Stole Mah Virtual Furniture — November 15, 2007 @ 12:49 am

2. hgdomain » Blog Archive » Dude Stole Mah Virtual Furniture — November 15, 2007 @ 1:40 am

3. tek38 » Blog Archiv » Dude Stole Mah Virtual Furniture — November 15, 2007 @ 10:06 am

4.   Dude Stole Mah Virtual Furniture by filecity — November 21, 2007 @ 4:48 am

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