Questions About Accountability and Illegality of Virtual Rape Melissa Mary Fenech Sander Iowa State University
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Digital Repository @ Iowa State University Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2009 Questions about accountability and illegality of virtual rape Melissa Mary Fenech Sander Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Sander, Melissa Mary Fenech, "Questions about accountability and illegality of virtual rape" (2009). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 11046. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/11046 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Questions about accountability and illegality of virtual rape by Melissa Mary Fenech Sander A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Major: Journalism and Mass Communication Program of Study Committee: Jeffrey L. Blevins, Major Professor Nikki Bado-Fralick Michael Bugeja Chad Harms Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2009 Copyright © Melissa Mary Fenech Sander, 2009. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... V ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ VI CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................... 10 Cyberspace and Virtual Communities .................................................................... 10 Multiple Realities .................................................................................................... 12 Communication and Technology Theory ............................................................... 14 Perspectives of Virtual Environments .................................................................... 17 Accountability ......................................................................................................... 18 Lineation of Online Harassment ............................................................................. 19 Flaming ............................................................................................................... 19 Griefing ............................................................................................................... 20 Cyberostracism ................................................................................................... 21 Cyberbullying ..................................................................................................... 21 Cyberstalking ...................................................................................................... 22 Sexual Harassment .............................................................................................. 23 Sexual Assault ................................................................................................. 23 What’s, Why’s, How’s and Who’s of Virtual Rape ............................................... 24 What It Is............................................................................................................. 24 Why It Happens .................................................................................................. 26 How It Occurs and Who the Victims Are ........................................................... 27 Cyberstalking .................................................................................................. 29 Sexual Harassment .......................................................................................... 32 Rape vs. Virtual Rape ............................................................................................. 35 Cases of Virtual Rape ............................................................................................. 36 The “Bungle Affair” ........................................................................................... 37 Jake Baker ........................................................................................................... 39 Brussels Investigation Into Second Life ............................................................. 39 Virtual Rape, Cyber Violence, and the Law ........................................................... 40 CHAPTER 3: METHODS AND PROCEDURES .................................................... 42 Legal Research and Analysis .................................................................................. 42 Second Life Terms Evaluation of Self-Regulation ................................................. 44 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS ........................................................................................ 46 Second Life Terms of Service Review ................................................................... 46 Terms of Service ................................................................................................. 46 iii Section 1: The Services and Content of Second Life ..................................... 47 Section 2: Account Registrations and Requirements ...................................... 48 Section 4: Conduct by Users of Second Life .................................................. 49 Section 5: Releases, Disclaimers of Warranty, Limitation of Liability, and Indemnification ............................................................................................... 50 Community Standards ......................................................................................... 51 Second Life Tools for Reporting ........................................................................ 52 Virtual Rape and the First Amendment .................................................................. 55 An Argument of Free Speech ............................................................................. 55 An Argument of Illegality ................................................................................... 57 Regulation of Virtual Rape ..................................................................................... 59 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ................................................................................... 64 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 73 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................. 82 APPENDIX B ............................................................................................................. 87 APPENDIX C ............................................................................................................. 90 APPENDIX D ............................................................................................................. 92 APPENDIX E ............................................................................................................. 95 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1 .................................................................................................................................... 35 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people dedicated their time, expertise, guidance, enthusiasm, ideas and support to make the completion of this thesis possible. I would like to take this opportunity to first thank my thesis committee: Dr. Jeff Blevins, my major professor and advisor, for your unending patience and guidance. Without your continued support, ideas, expertise, and conversation I would have been lost; Dr. Nicki Bado-Fralick for your amazing point of view and hard-hitting questions that made this thesis more concrete; Dr. Chad Harms for your enthusiasm, ideas, and guidance; Dr. Michael Bugeja for your passion, support, and defense day arguments. I would also like to send a warm thank you to Kim Curell, who, without a doubt, is the heart of Greenlee. Without your superior knowledge of the paperwork, the thesis process, and friendly conversations, I probably would have pulled my hair out. I would also like to thank my family and friends for their love, enthusiastic support, and encouragement, even if a little overbearing at times: My parents for their support in completing my Master of Science; My little brother for his arguments; My big brother for his insightful questions and good-natured opposition; My fellow Greenlee grad students for their intuitive conversations on topic and off. Most of all, I would like to thank my husband for his unending love, support, encouragement, discussion, and proofreading. Without your daily encouragement and dedication to my success, I would have never finished. “Dedication is not what others expect of you, it is what you can give to others.” -Unknown vi ABSTRACT Virtual rape is not a new phenomenon in virtual communities, as Julian Dibbell’s 1993 article pointed out, but it is beginning to gain attention in some scholarly circles. Of the articles specifically covering virtual rape, most focus on whether