현대적 재화와 그 형법적 수용가능성 연구

Typically, virtual goods, also known as virtual property, mean non-physical objects, such as certain visual information, online game items and equipment, virtual currency that are exchangeable and of any value in cyberspace. Then, if someone commits fraud, robbery, or theft on virtual goods in cyberspace, could this be considered "property crime" in criminal law, like real-world robbery or theft?Traditional viewpoints and court opinions does not acknowledge virtual goods as "property" we see in criminal law, since they lack physical manageability and exclusive transferability. However, with recent developments in internet gaming culture, they are forming new "virtual economy", best described as free trade market of virtual goods. Therefore it becomes necessary to acknowledge the importance of those virtual goods, set a strict standard in virtual trade, and ultimately prevent illegal virtual goods transfers and various cybercrimes by declaring virtual goods as legally transferable "property". It should be noted that it is already a crime(unauthorized access) to illegally obtain account information of others and access online game servers without proper access privilege. However this could be insufficient; now is the high time to thorough review the meaning of "property" in criminal law so crimes on virtual goods could be punishable for theft, robbery, swindle, or fencing.