this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2024
166 points (80.7% liked)

News

23310 readers
3536 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Police are investigating a virtual sexual assault of a girl's avatar, the chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners has said.

Donna Jones said she had learned that a complaint was made in 2023, triggering a police inquiry.

The virtual incident did not result in physical harm but caused "psychological trauma", the Daily Mail has reported a source as saying. Police chiefs have called on platforms to do more to protect their users.

The impact of the attack on the girl's avatar was said to be heightened because of the immersive nature of the VR experience.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I don't know what platform they were using. And maybe in a VR setting, and with multiple characters, it's a little difficult to find out who the perpetrators are.

When I play an online FPS game for example, I don't always see our notice the names of the players I interact with.

And that's beside the point anyway. That girl has the right to feel safe even in a VR setting where the aim of the platform is to simply interact with others as you would in real life. I don't know why nobody here understands this.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I don't think people have the right to 'feel safe' around every single person they interact with on the internet. If she doesn't like how those people behave, she's free to leave and interact with others.

At some point, we have to take responsibility for our own actions and the people we choose to associate with.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Oh really?

So she gets harassed online and she's the one that has to leave? She's the one that has to sacrifice her enjoyment of the game due to other people's bad behaviour?

That seems fair to you?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

She can still enjoy the game. Nobody is forcing her to interact with those people.

Even if the game was built around enabling them, then she could always go play a different game or just about anything else. Nobody is forcing her to play a game that makes her feel uncomfortable.

The same goes for, say, going to forums where people say things you don't like. You have the power to leave. Taxpayer resources shouldn't be wasted in making sure every single microcosm on the internet makes everyone 'feel safe.'

I don't understand why this is such a difficult concept for you.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Because that concept that YOU are defining here enables the aggressors and, in this case, perpetuates rape culture.

If I were to be harassed, sexually or otherwise, in a forum like this one right here, the mods would ban the harasser. It's their duty to allow the users to be in a safe, respectful and civil environment.

And if I were to be harassed continually on any Lemmy instance, there are cyber bullying laws in most countries to address this and you can be sure the police would be involved. Online harassment is a real world issue with real world consequences.

Edit: And no, she can't enjoy the game anymore knowing that this shit happened to her and can happen again and again. It completely ruined the experience for her.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

the mods would ban the harasser.

Yeah, that's how the forum's mods decide to run their instance.

If you don't like their rules, you can go somewhere else. No need to get law enforcement involved or waste taxpayer money on lawsuits.

Go over to 4chan and your experience will likely be very different. Nobody is forcing you to go there, though. Taxpayer resources shouldn't be wasted on making every microcosm on the internet 'feel safe' for everyone else.