Identity, Crimes, and Law Enforcement in the Metaverse
Hua Xuan Qin, Yuyang Wang, Pan Hui
TL;DR
Identity, Crimes, and Law Enforcement in the Metaverse argues for an international legal framework to govern identity, crime, and policing in interconnected virtual worlds. It distinguishes human-controlled avatars and AI avatars, explores how citizenship and governance could operate in modular, DAO-based systems, and discusses the legitimacy of criminalizing virtual acts. The paper categorizes metaverse crimes into cybercrimes and fantasy crimes, and analyzes enforcement, liability, and forensics in a cross-border context. It highlights the practical significance of interoperable standards, digital forensics, and regulatory consensus to enable a safe, democratic metaverse economy.
Abstract
With the boom in metaverse-related projects in major areas of the public's life, the safety of users becomes a pressing concern. We believe that an international legal framework should be established to promote collaboration among nations, facilitate crime investigation, and support democratic governance. In this paper, we discuss the legal concerns of identity, crimes that could occur based on incidents in existing virtual worlds, and challenges to unified law enforcement in the metaverse.