Risk assessment issues in relation to VW's.

This is an excerpt from an email chain I received a few days ago and thought this would be a great topic to include on this site....

Our risk manager attended a risk management and insurance conference in September. One of the presentations focused on key risks and liability concerns about the use of Second Life:

• Securing the virtual campus:
  
  • Cyberbullying and cyber-rape can cause victims real emotional distress and trauma.
  
  
• Tort liability....
  
  • What if the real-world person behind the aggrieved avatar suffers actual physical or emotional harm from witnessing the attach?
  
  
• Off-campus Problems/Policy Issues.
  
  • If your institution teaches a course on 2nd Life and "forces" students into the virtual world, where does your chain of responsibility end? ...
  
  

My response to the email...

"... we have not treated the virtual environment with any less attention than we would our physical campus. If anything, we have alleviated the division between virtual and real world when it comes to emotional health responsibility on behalf of the college in relation to our students or personnel. I guess I am looking at it being our responsibility as a college to offer support services addressing the needs of our students no matter the delivery platform. Once again, I may be naive to the legality of the world we live in, but I still fail to see how the delivery method makes us any more or less responsible than we are as an organization as a whole. In other words, all of the listed concerns are valid no matter the environment and should be addressed as a college and not as a delivery medium. And yes, we do address these issues through our student handbooks and college operating standards/procedures. The same code of conduct prevails no matter the delivery mechanism.

I do find it particularly interesting that the insurance and legal entities have begun to address possible opportunities in relation to virtual worlds. Really says a lot as to the solidification of these environments. I am wondering if these are the same conversations that arose when the internet became an essential mechanism of delivery for online learning..."

So what is your idea on this? Anyone know of other organizations traversing similar terrains?