ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that virtual property can constitute property for the purposes of bringing it within the protection of property offences. It shows how it is a form of property that has real value. Treating virtual property as property in penal law does not go against the principle of legality, because some wrongs will be better labelled property crimes rather than computer network crimes, because the weight of the wrong will be the dishonest acquisition of the property, not the computer and network means used to acquire that property. The chapter also argues that virtual property can be the object of property crime and that theft is a more apt offence to apply when the core harm is the loss of property rather than the altering of computer data. As for virtual property, the present mainstream viewpoint in Chinese academic circles is that virtual property refers to property whose property value exists in cyberspace in the form of electromagnetic data.
