I recently read a Washington Post article, "Virtual Worlds Get Real About Punishment," in which Kim Hart reported that virtual worlds are now establishing self policing systems.  These "self policing" systems allow users to bring other users who misbehave to trial, complete with indictments, court cases and punishments. These virtual worlds have started to use legal codes and justice systems to police their members' behavior!

This is a very interesting development in the online world -- virtual communities setting and enforcing their own laws!  Just as my colleague Stephen Balkam from FOSI said in the article, I too applaud efforts to reduce abusive behavior in virtual worlds.  Now not only are our kids getting into trouble in virtual worlds, but they are also punishing each other in these virtual worlds.  It should be a red flag to parents: they need to be fully aware of what is going on online. As the online world evolves, parents need to keep up with what is happening in order to supervise their kids' online experiences.