The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Jack Brumby
A Colombian administrative court journeyed to the digital frontier for a Feb. 15 hearing, operating the roughly two-hour session in the virtual reality metaverse.
The session, held by the Magdalena Administrative Court, was the first Colombian legal proceeding conducted in the metaverse. The hearing used Horizon Workrooms, which is owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, according to Decrypt, a blockchain-focused media platform.
The hearing in question dealt with litigation between a transportation union and the Colombian national police.
The participants all showed up as virtual avatars, including Judge Maria Quinones Triana, whose character was wearing black magisterial robes.
Judge Quinones described the experience as “amazing.”
“It felt more real than a video call,” Judge Quinones told Reuters Friday, noting that on platforms like Zoom, “many people turn off their cameras, you have no idea what they’re doing.”
The decision to hold the hearing in the metaverse was an experiment, to see if the technology could be viable in future cases.
The viewers of the livestream were not as enthusiastic as officials, with around 70% expressing disapproval of the technology, Judge Quinones told Reuters.
“I feel it takes away from the seriousness,” one viewer commented in the chat on the stream, according to Decrypt.
Use of the metaverse also raises concerns about cost and accessibility for all citizens, with some seeing the experiment as a boondoggle chased by an overloaded Colombian justice system.
“We create this illusion that technology is going to make things more efficient, but sometimes, it’s the opposite,” Juan Gutierrez, a public policy professor at the nation’s University of Rosario, told Reuters.
