ABSTRACT
We have a legal system based on physical possession of property. Yet we are in a virtual world with virtual property.1
In their professional practice, engineers universally recognize the need to update technical methods because of advances in scientific knowledge. Today, however, there is a compelling obligation to consider also a new environment for practice - the social, economic, legal, political and ecological ramifications that impose design constraints. Such demands arise because technology exercises such a potent influence on modern human affairs, because every technology generates side effects and imposes risks and because the public expects higher levels of risk management, accountability and legal liability.2
