The Justice System in the Metaverse
Court Clerk: The models don’t lie. We record petabytes of data from the moment you step foot in the Metaverse. Your avatar is you.
Court Clerk: You’ve been found guilty.
Defendant: I just got here.
Court Clerk: We run a full AI administered-docket for Metaverse crimes here in this jurisdiction. It only takes a few seconds to determine guilt and innocence. You can access all of the rulings, transcripts, and evidence images for your case on the Blockchain using the private key information stored on this USB thumb drive. I’m sorry, sir.
Defendant: How? I still want my day in court.
Court Clerk: You had your day in court. Like I said, it only took us a few seconds to determine the outcome. We collected the digital evidence footprint from your entire existence in the Metaverse where the crime occurred. We ran statistically significant simulations of the prosecutor and defense team arguments, forensic artifact correlations, expert witness interpretation, and the judge’s rulings based on the fact pattern.
Defendant: That’s not right! My avatar did it’s own thing while I was asleep. I had no control over it at the time.
Court Clerk: According to recent legislation and changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, we can use AI to manage the massive backlog of Metaverse cases in our queue. These crimes are available for us to replay in full digital fidelity. We know what you (or your avatar) did. There’s really no distinction. Your avatar is based off you — it’s modeled off you, and you signed the terms of agreement. It doesn’t matter that your avatar was in auto-pilot mode.
Defendant: I didn’t give it the agency to do something like that…I never would’ve done something so terrible.
The Defendant begins to sob.
Court Clerk: The models don’t lie. We record petabytes of data from the moment you step foot in the Metaverse. Your avatar is you.
Court Clerk: Also, the performance of judges and attorneys and expert witnesses assigned to your case have been modeled off decades of testimony and decision-making based on specific artifact markers in the digital evidence. Hundreds of simulations are run at once and we can say with 99.9988% confidence that you are guilty. Each permutation led to the same conclusion: you are GUILTY.
Court Clerk: We have also simulated your sentencing, and you’re going to spend the next seven years in prison. Again, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do.
Court Clerk: You will have access to study your case carefully using that USB thumb drive, but you won’t have access to anything else on the internet. Any other access to the Web3 universe, whether conducted alone via unauthorized access or with the aid of an outside party could lead to life in prison. Conduct yourself accordingly.
Court Clerk: Your existence in the Metaverse has been indefinitely archived and can only be reinstated at your request upon your release. Do you have any questions?
The Defendant stares despondently past the robotic court clerk, imagines the cold stone walls of his new physical existence, and is gutted by his lack of access to the life he once knew as a Web3 trillionaire. It all came crashing down as quickly as it manifested.
Court Clerk: NEXT!
Jerry Bui is Managing Director of Digital Forensics within FTI Consulting’s Technology segment focused on forensic technology and risk & compliance issues (all opinions his own). Jerry is a Certified Fraud Examiner and has over 20 years of experience in digital forensics, ediscovery, automated risk assessments, dashboard compliance monitoring, and investigative analytics. Jerry’s team provides evidence acquisition, expert witness, and strategic consulting services to law firms and corporations. Connect with Jerry on LinkedIn, Twitter and TikTok.
The Digital Forensics Future (DFF) podcast is also available on the platforms below.
