Something to Think About

I'm currently reading the "Otherland" series by Tad Williams. It is a quadrilogy set slightly into the future and the world in which they live is no unlike our own. Much of the world is now modernized and urbanized and internet has become a second world. And of course just like the real world the virtual reality of the net is a society based on ability, likes and dislikes and of course wealth. The quality of your equipment limits the experiences you can have on the net and there is an "Inner City" where the very wealthy have their own secluded part of the net.
What's extremely interesting is the amount of business done on the net in these books. Most things are purchased online and an incredible amount of free time as well. Just as I might come home from work to play Xbox for an hour or surf the net, this society actually 'plugs' into the net and they are able to manipulate their bodies to create and destroy, play and to shop.
Online indiscretions are punished in the real world very severly. Identity thefts, vandalism, business disruption,  and theft are all crimes that happens every day in the society. Net priviledges of the individual or individuals are tracker and removed and often these people serve actual jail time under UN-sanctioned laws for net use.
There are consequences in our society for the same things but they really have only emerged since the internet became popular in the 1990's. It's pretty rare that someone faces serious jail time for something they do on the internet today. A few weeks back I read an online article about a man who I believe lived in Iran, he was on Facebook and decided that he was going to create a page for "God." He added many friends and started promoting things like unprotected and unmarried sex and the smoking of marrijuana. Authorities tracked down this individual and he is now in prison what will likely be the rest of his life.
The online article had a statement from this young man's mothe rand she said that she hopes he stays in jail his entire life for she fears if he gets out he will be brutally killed.
This is probably a more extreme case than we can expect to see in the West but my point is that the internet is becoming a much for serious place. I wonder if it will ever reach the level of Otherland in my lifetime. I'm not going to be the one to say that it won't, especially with how incredibly much it has changed in my short lifetime.