Abstract
This paper explores the application of human rights in (persistent) virtual world environments. The paper begins with describing a number of elements that most virtual environments share and that are relevant for the application of human rights in such a setting; and by describing in a general nature the application of human rights between private individuals. The paper then continues by discussing the application in virtual environments of two universally recognized human rights, namely freedom of expression, and freedom from discrimination. As these specific rights are discussed, a number of more general conclusions on the application of human rights in virtual environments are drawn. The first general conclusion being that, because virtual worlds are private environments, participants are subject to private ordering. The second general conclusion being that participants and non-participants alike have to accept at times that in-world expressions are to an extent private speech. The third general conclusion is that, where participants represent themselves in-world, other participants cannot assume that such in-world representation share the characteristics of the human player; and that where virtual environments contain game elements, participants and non-participants alike should not take everything that happens in the virtual environment at face value or literally, which does however not amount to having to accept a higher level of infringement on their rights for things that happen in such an environment.
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© 2010 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering
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Oosterbaan, O. (2010). Human Rights and Private Ordering in Virtual Worlds. In: Lehmann-Grube, F., Sablatnig, J. (eds) Facets of Virtual Environments. FaVE 2009. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 33. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11743-5_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11743-5_14
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-11742-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-11743-5
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