Research On The Crime Of Stealing Virtual Property

The production and development of virtual property can not go without the Internet.Virtual property refers to the virtual goods that exists in the network space,has certain reality and value,and can be occupied,used,controlled and disposed by network service providers and network users.Actually,Virtual property is made up of a series of electromagnetic data.The extension of virtual property not only includes the equipment,currency,roles,accounts of online games,but also includes other software accounts,points,levels,electronic currency and so on.As virtual property has certain economic value and it can be transferred and traded in the real market,so it gradually becomes the target and object of criminals.There are many crimes against virtual property,especially in the case of stealing virtual property.However,China's criminal law does not clearly define the legal status of virtual property.What is the legal status of virtual property,whether it should be protected by criminal law,and how to investigate criminal responsibility have been controversial in academic and practical circles.The first part discusses the concept of virtual property and researches the legal nature of virtual property.According to the necessary composition characteristic of property,virtual property should be protected by the criminal law.The second part analyzes the nature of the theft of virtual property cases.Since virtual property is the crime object of larceny,thecrime of stealing virtual property should be punished according to larceny.However,virtual property is electromagnetic data composed of a set of 0and 1 binary code at the same time,it is the crime object of crime of illegally obtaining computer information system data.Therefore,the actor who uses the computer technology,hacks into the computer system,steals virtual property,violates the provisions on the larceny and crime of illegally obtaining computer information system data.We should choose a felony punishment to identify.Of course,since the our laws do not make any provision for virtual property,there are still many problems in judicial practice that need to be further studied.The third part studies the identification of the amount of crime,the identification of an attempted or completed crime,the collection and examination of the electronic evidence in practice.The amount of crimes committed in the theft of virtual property should be determined according to different types of virtual property.The identification of completed or attempted to steal virtual property cases can refer to the standard of burglary.If the network user discovers and freezes the account in time and the virtual property has not escaped from the control of the victim's account,the act is attempted.Electronic evidence is the key evidence for the fact of such cases,therefore,judicial staffs must strengthen the ability to collect,preserve and review electronic evidence.So they can review the probative force of electronic evidence from three aspects: objectivity,relevance and legality.Finally,by analyzing the deficiencies in the legislation and judicial of the protection of virtual property in our country,some suggestions and countermeasures are put forward.We can make corresponding criminal law amendments and judicial interpretations to provide legal basis for judicial work.Organs of the public security,the procuracy and the court shall perform their functions and powers according to law,carry out their responsibilities and cooperate closely,and do well in the judicial work of such cases.Government agencies should increase their supervision over the internet environment scientifically and properly.In addition,Citizen ' s awareness of protecting virtual property should be strengthened through legal publicity.