On the legal response to the consequences of personal behavior in virtual space
Authors: Stepanov O. A. , Stepanov M. M. 
Published: March 2024

The article deals with a new phenomenon for the legal science the legal response to the consequences of human behavior in the virtual space.

The subject of the research is the relations arising in the process of such response.

The aim of the study is to analyze the legal response to the consequences of personal behavior in virtual space, including in the Russian Federation.

The methodological basis of the study are logical and systematic methods of scientific knowledge, as well as methods of analysis and synthesis of legal phenomena

Foreign and domestic experience of legal response to the consequences of human behavior in virtual space is studied.

The peculiarities of legal response from the point of view of consequences for the person for malicious actions in virtual space, connected with leaving a digital footprint, are analyzed. Particular attention is paid to such characteristic of virtual space as the possibility of using its properties to implement the interest of the user, as well as consideration of virtual space through the prism of legal construction and digital sovereignty. It is stated that the legal construction, characterizing the essence of legal response to the consequences of behavior of an individual in the virtual space, should have the following meaning – "if there are harmful actions associated with the use of virtual space, it is necessary to provide a form of legal response, neutralizing such actions, otherwise the network functioning and use of electronic information resources will be accompanied by socially dangerous manifestations". At the same time the legal response to the relevant relations is considered through the prism of law enforcement results – conclusions are made about the peculiarities of such a response. Attention is focused on the peculiarities of legal response to the consequences of actions of an individual in virtual space in Russia and in China. It is noted that at the national level there is currently no universal model of legal response mechanism to the consequences of a person's actions in virtual space. It is concluded that this problem has a multidimensional nature, which is largely determined by the level of legal awareness of network users. Particular attention is paid to the need to use the potential of techniques and methods of special legal, social and psychological mechanism of law, which are considered to be an important factor in the development of law enforcement practice. The research shows that unlawful behavior in the virtual environment is closely related to various types of deviant behavior related to the use of Internet, which from the category of violating non-legal social norms (primarily, morality and ethics) turns into unlawful behavior, as it violates the requirements of law. Attention is drawn to the fact that at the national level there is currently no universal model of legal response to the consequences of human behavior in virtual space – each state goes its own way, the legal impact is often exposed to those relations which are recognized as the most important and relevant at the moment. Such a response, as a rule, is situational, often pursuing several goals (political, economic, ideological). Further study of the problem involves the need to develop a system of theoretical ideas about the forms of legal responsibility for the negative consequences of behavior in such a space.