Two boys convicted of virtual theft

Leeuwarden district court has found two boys aged 14 and 15 guilty of stealing virtual items from a classmate in a computer game.

The boys were sentenced to community service of 200 and 160 hours for kicking and hitting their victim and threatening him with a knife until he transferred a virtual amulet and mask to them while playing Runescape.

It is the first time someone has been convicted for virtual theft in the Netherlands.

In November 2007, police arrested a person for stealing 4,000 euros-worth of virtual furniture from a room in the Habbo Hotel, an social network site for youngsters. The online credits to buy the furniture were purchased with real money. The suspect was not prosecuted at the time.

Tuesday's conviction is "a good thing", says Corine Prins, professor of law and information science at the University of Tilburg. "Even a child's game can lead to crime." In China in 2005, a man playing Legend of Mir 3 stabbed another to death after he secretly sold a virtual sword they both owned.

The value of virtual goods is difficult to determine, but Prins says the theft is still a crime because something has been taken from the victim.

"In the early nineties it was determined that stealing software was not really theft, because the original remained intact,” she says. “That law has since been changed. And in this case, the owner did not have his original property any more either."