The Australian government committed $125.8 million over four years to address cyber-safety issues, as criminals were increasingly taking advantage of anonymity online to target individuals. A serial sex offender was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping, raping, and murdering a teenager he lured using a fake Facebook profile. Governments are proposing more enforcement measures to protect citizens from those misusing virtual worlds and social media.

1. In May 2008 the Australian Government committed 125.8million dollars over four years to a comprehensive cyber-safety plan. Measures like this are increasingly being proposed and enforced as more and more criminals take advantage of new media’s ability to allow individuals to be anyone they want to be.

2. Bill Lichtenstein of Lichtenstein Creative Media, Cambridge, in his office and as an avatar in the Second Life virtual world. In Second Life, people can choose to be their idealised selves.2

3. Recently serial sex offender Peter Chapman was sentenced to life in prison after he admitted to kidnapping, raping and murdering teenager Ashleigh Hall who he ensnared using a fake profile on Facebook .In this picture Ashleigh’s mother, Andrea is comforted by her daughter's grandfather Mike Hall outside Teesside crown court. 3