TOKYO, Japan (AP) — A 43-year-old Japanese woman whose sudden divorce in a virtual game world made her so angry that she killed her online husband’s digital persona has been arrested on suspicion of hacking, police said Thursday.
The woman, who is jailed on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data, used his identification and password to log onto popular interactive game “Maple Story” to carry out the virtual murder in mid-May, a police official in northern Sapporo said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.
“I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry,” the official quoted her as telling investigators and admitting the allegations.
The woman had not plotted any revenge in the real world, the official said.
She has not yet been formally charged, but if convicted could face a prison term of up to five years or a fine up to $5,000. […]
The woman used login information she got from the 33-year-old office worker when their characters were happily married, and killed the character. The man complained to police when he discovered that his beloved online avatar was dead.
Bold emphasis is mine. Can somebody tell me what crime this woman actually committed? She “hacked” this guy’s account because he shared his login with her. Duh, if you share your password with other people there might be data loss. Another question, why does this man flippantly give away his password but calls the cops when this non-crime happened. I thought most online services wrote it into the TOS that users were required to keep their logins secure. His avatar is obviously not irreplaceable, if he spent any real money to outfit his character then whatever. Sue her in civil court!
The other aspect is the moral degradation present in this situation. My virtual character “marries” your virtual character. Human relationships including marriage, gender, social experimentation, personal identity, and personal consequences become unglued from reality. If Obamessiah wins the presidency in November that will be the world we’re going to be living in. Capital “L” Liberals believe there are no absolutes, no right or wrong, no consequences.