A rape in cyberspace can occur any time, any place. This means that any time we log into a chatroom or open our Email accounts, we run the risk of some kind of violation. This risk is very similar to walking alone in a dark alley through the rough side of town. Yet, what makes a rape in cyberspace different from a physical assault? The cyber rape violates the freedom and comfort that constitutes the unique nature of the Internet. The victim is not physically damaged, yet, from the point of the attack, he/she may feel inhibited about using the Internet with ease and freedom.

Have you ever considered that, if you join a chatroom, you might run the risk of some perverted encounter or violation? I think the bigger issue revolves around censorship of Internet users. The Internet is the first completely censor free system, wherein communications can exist without any restraint. Users of the Internet can shed their human forms and become whatever they please through digital codes and snippets of writing. The existence of such freedom makes the Internet a dangerous place, for certain people will take advantage of their freedom and practice ill will toward other online inhabitants.

The article, "A Rape in Cyberspace," deals directly with this issue. Julian Dibbell recounts an actual rape at Lambdamoo, a well known MOO where a virtual identity violated various objects with obscenities. This act initiated a new debate over the concerns and virtual acts of the members of Lambdamoo. The result of the debate was a rethinking of the founding principles and concepts of government and society, of civil and criminal laws.

Dibbell suggests that the Internet can be a kind of "Alice in Wonderland" fairytale, due to the infinite freedom and possibilities that it offers the public. Dibbell asserts, "In on-line spaces of this world societies are more decent and free than those mapped onto dirt and concrete and capital" (455). Despite all these infinite possibilities, crime on the net has the potential to come to a point where people must take defensive measures.

At Lambdamoo, censorship exists in forms that appear not to hinder the free workings of the game. One can put a block on other players to censor their conversations. Still, other players have access to the disturbing conversation, even if the victim is using the block. There is also a form of higher player, or wizard, who can issue a writ to detain the character that is perpetrating cyber violence upon other players. The way around this censorship is merely to enter again under a new identity. The rules of the game are not always fair, and sometimes the play gets pretty ugly.

I believe that we all know the risks of the net, just as we know the risks of driving a car or walking alone at night. If we are going to play in the kitchen, we had better be able to take the heat. The Internet should not be considered a "garden of Eden." Should we obey the idea that once we have tasted the forbidden fruit, we must leave the garden forever, never to return. If we allow the Internet to become a place where censorship dominates the society, we will destroy the essence of the netıs freedom.

Dibbell, Julian,  "A Rape in Cyberspace."  CyberReader.  2nd ed.  Ed. Victor J. Vitanza.  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon,  1999.  454-472.