Justicar Karnellia
Ikomari-Onu Enforcement
Caldari State
59
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Posted - 2013.08.14 08:21:00 -
[1] - Quote
Ok a few good points here, but I must add that jurisdictional implications are always difficult to judge. Having said that, and this is only for an example in the UK if you receive a death threat in a telecommunication , be it in a text message, e-mail, phone call, etc. then you can be in a lot of trouble. First of all, if it's offensive and obscene, you can be charged under the public order act, and the telecommunications act has a separate offense for threatening or harassing messages.
What this means, if you are threatened by someone within the same country - then that person can and will get into trouble, regardless of the intent behind the message.
In France for example, you can just lodge a complaint regardless of the origin of the jurisdiction the person resides in - of course they will usually only take action if it's within their jurisdiction. Having said that, for serious cases, they can be served EU wide.
I don't know enough about North American legislation to give an example, but as they are all based on common law, it may resemble the UK side (while other European countries based on civil law will resemble the French ones).
If you feel threatened by another player because he is harassing you via in-game mail, either because it is repetitive (spamming/harassment) or just threatening bodily harm (I will kill you), just report it to the police. What will happen is that law enforcement will engage both Sony Entertainment network and CCP to get copies of the transactions if the complaint is followed through and deemed serious enough. If CCP have no processes in place to deal with this, I guarantee you they will be created within a few days of the first discovery requests (or warrants, subpoenas, etc.) being served.
So use your discretion - if YOU feel threatened genuinely, then make a complaint to law enforcement, and inform CCP of your intentions. If you feel it's just an immature rant, then just discount it.
My opinion is yes, they should have policies and procedures in place for dealing with this, if they don't, they will be put into place regardless of what their opinion is on the matter either - it's a legal issue.
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