According to Interpol’s secretary general, Jurgen Stock, the organization is investigating how to investigate crimes in the metaverse. Therefore, we could learn how law enforcement can manage the virtual world in this metaverse news.
The concept of the metaverse proposes that in the future, 3D avatars would serve as people’s representations in their online lives. Although it has been discussed extensively, this proposal has not yet materialized.
The virtual reality (VR) area that Interpol has created allows for training and virtual meetings.
According to Mr. Stock, it’s critical that the agency adapt to the times. He says criminals are intelligent and skilled enough to pick up any new technology and utilize it to their advantage.
“We need to sufficiently respond to that. Sometimes lawmakers, police, and our societies are running a little bit behind. We have seen if we are doing it too late, it already impacts trust in the tools we are using, and therefore the metaverse. In similar platforms that already exist, criminals are using it.”
Police officers can see what the metaverse might be like in this environment, which can only be accessed through secure servers, giving them an idea of what crimes might occur and how they might be stopped.
What is a crime in the metaverse?
It is challenging to characterize a metaverse crime, according to Dr. Madan Oberoi, executive head of technology and innovation at Interpol.
There are some crimes that, in his opinion, aren’t necessarily crimes anymore.”For example, there have been reported cases of sexual harassment. If you look at the definitions of these crimes in physical space, and you try to apply it in the metaverse, there is a difficulty. We don’t know whether we can call them a crime or not, but those threats are definitely there, so those issues are yet to be resolved.”
He claimed that one of Interpol’s main challenges was spreading awareness of these issues.
“My typically used example is that if you have to save a drowning person, you need to know swimming,” he said.
“Similarly, if law enforcement is interested to help people who have been hurt in the metaverse, they need to know about the metaverse. And that is one of our objectives – to make sure law enforcement personnel start using the metaverse and they become aware. In that sense, it is very important.”
Regulating and investigating things in the metaverse
The co-founder and leader of the metaverse research group Kabuni, Nina Jane Patel, had the following to say about regulation: “That which is illegal and harmful in the physical world should be illegal in the virtual synthetic world as well.”
“In this realm of convergence, we will be in a very difficult position if we can treat each other in a certain way in the virtual world, but not in the physical world. And we’ll be causing a lot of disconnection and miscommunication between what’s acceptable human behaviour in our digital world and our physical world.”
And Mr. Stock added that Interpol will be important in examining potential metaverse crimes in the future.
“With a click of a mouse, evidence is on another continent,” he said. “Cyber-crime is international by nature.
“This is why Interpol is so important, because only national cyber-crime does not exist – almost all of the cases have an international dimension.
“That makes the role of Interpol, almost 100 years after its creation, so critical in today’s world, because no country can fight these types of crime in isolation.
“That is what Interpol is about with 195 member countries, they all are needed to tackle that type of crime.”
Content Source: bbc.com
Cover Image Source: interpol.int
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