A Colombian court this month hosted its first legal trial in the metaverse, and now hopes to experiment again with virtual reality, authorities told Reuters.<\/p>\n
At the two-hour hearing held by Colombia’s Magdalena Administrative court, participants in a traffic dispute appeared as avatars in a virtual courtroom. Magistrate Maria Quinones Triana’s avatar dressed in black legal robes.<\/p>\n
The country is among the earliest worldwide to test real legal hearings\u00a0in the metaverse, immersive virtual reality to make digital spaces feel more lifelike, often with avatars representing each participant.<\/p>\n
“It felt more real than a video call,” Quiones told Reuters on Friday, describing the metaverse experience as “amazing.” On Zoom, she noted, “Many people turn off their cameras, you have no idea what they’re doing,”<\/p>\n
The case – brought by a regional transport union against the police – will now proceed partly in the metaverse, potentially including the verdict, Quiones said. She did not rule out metaverse hearings elsewhere.<\/p>\n
“This is an academic experiment to show that there it’s possible… but where everyone consents to it, (my court) can continue to do things in the metaverse,” she added.<\/p>\n
While legal trials have increasingly moved to video meetings hosted by Zoom and Google, few have experimented with the metaverse, a space that Meta, Microsoft\u00a0and other tech giants are racing to build.<\/p>\n
Early examples of interviews and meetings in the metaverse have been mocked for often-clunky, cartoonish visualizations.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, Colombia’s court proceedings on Feb 15 – streamed to Youtube – went off without too much of a glitch, bar some dizzying camera movement and some distorted movements.<\/p>\n
Quiones reiterated the constitutional legitimacy of the virtual tribunal, but acknowledged that the experiment had not been popular, citing 70% disapproval among viewers.<\/p>\n
Juan David Gutierrez, a public policy professor at Colombia’s University of Rosario, said use of the metaverse in legal proceedings has a long way to go.<\/p>\n
“You need a hardware to do this that very few people have. And that prompts questions about accessibility to justice and equality,” he told Reuters.<\/p>\n
Quiones agreed that costs and accessibility needed to be discussed. But she advocated for the metaverse in cases of abuse for example, where participants can share a space without having to physically see each other.<\/p>\n
Gutierrez said judges in Colombia were chasing ways to alleviate the country’s overloaded justice system.<\/p>\n
“We create this illusion that technology is going to make things more efficient, but sometimes, it’s the opposite.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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