Issues of consent arise as couples marry over Skype

Couples are tying the the knot online — and not just in MMOs like World of Warcraft and Second Life. An increasing number of couples in long distance relationships are getting married through video chat services like Skype and Google+ Hangouts. The practice has typically been used in the United States as a way for members of the military to get married while deployed overseas. Now, video chat services have become a way for many immigrants in the US to court someone from their homeland — and eventually marry them as well. But The New York Times’ report on proxy marriages draws a murky picture: for every happy couple, there are questions of legality and dangers of consent for someone else.