메타버스 내 청소년 아바타 성착취 처벌 관련 쟁점

Abstract

The tendency of Korean youth to overreliance on smartphones is getting serious day by day. Paradoxically, it can be said that this is a very clear indicator that the amount of time young people are active in the metaverse is increasing. In particular, as children''s dependence on smartphones is increasing every year, metaverse life will be regarded as a very everyday culture for the youth generation. The fact that 70% of users of virtual worlds such as Zepeto and Roblox are teenagers shows that Metaverse is already positioned as a very important living space for them. Therefore, it is very urgent to take countermeasures against a series of acts of sexual exploitation against youth that are taking place in the metaverse. Here, the direction is presented. First, it is necessary to decide whether the metaverse is defined as a game or as a social networking service. Second, it should be considered that the biggest attribute of the metaverse is that there is no limit to simultaneous participation. Third, it is not desirable that all avatar owners of the youth image in the virtual world be considered under the age of 19, the subject of protection under the Youth Sexuality Protection Act. Also, it is not desirable to prepare countermeasures on the assumption that all avatars of youth images or players of avatars who sexual harassment characters are adults. Fourth, there is a need for social consensus on the limits of personal information protection for users of Metaverse. Fifth, it is necessary to discuss to what extent users'' freedom of expression(including sexual behavior) and privacy will be protected by reflecting the metaverse''s borderless and identity(avatar, character) attributes.