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The International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol, is working on how to police the metaverse, a digital world that is projected as an alternative to the real world. Interpol secretary general Jurgen Stock believes the organization must be ready for this task in order to not be left behind by the metaverse and its related technology.
Police organizations are facing difficulties when adopting certain policies to enforce the law in the metaverse. However, Jurgen Stock, the secretary general of the International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol, believes the organization must be prepared to act on crimes that are happening in the digital world.
The organization is currently preparing to bring its action to metaverse platforms, which are already being used by some groups to commit crimes. In an interview with the BBC, Stock stated:
Criminals are sophisticated and professional in very quickly adapting to any new technological tool that is available to commit crime. We need to sufficiently respond to that. Sometimes lawmakers, police, and our societies are running a little bit behind.
Among these crimes currently happening in the metaverse there are verbal harassment, assaults, and others including ransomware, counterfeiting, money laundering, and financial fraud. However, some of these are still in legal gray areas.
One of the biggest problems that the organization is facing right now is determining whether an action constitutes a crime or not on the metaverse, according to Dr. Madan Oberoi, Interpol’s executive director of technology and innovation. Recognizing that there are still difficulties in this regard, he stated:
If you look at the definitions of these crimes in physical space, and you try to apply it in the metaverse, there is a difficulty. We don’t know whether we can call them a crime or not, but those threats are definitely there, so those issues are yet to be resolved.
For Oberoi, one thing is certain: to police the metaverse, Interpol needs to have contact and be present on metaverse platforms. This is why the organization already has its own place in the metaverse, which was inaugurated during its 90th General Assembly in New Delhi in October.
Interpol’s metaverse platform also serves another objective, giving it the ability to offer courses online to members of the force in other countries, and allowing them to directly practice the acquired abilities in the metaverse.
