Anshe Chung -- or Ailin Graef as she is known in real life -- made headlines around the world when she became the first person to make US$1 million from a property portfolio consisting entirely of online land in the popular Second Life 3D world.

During an interview with online news source Cnet that took place inside the virtual world, unknown saboteurs introduced a rain of digital models of human penises. The attack forced her to move to another location and ultimately crashed the server used to host the interview.

Now Chung has turned to the DMCA law in the US to force websites such as YouTube to take down videos of the incident, citing infringement of copyright of her online avatar. She has also demanded that the video not be shown in countries where the DMCA is not valid.

The Sydney Morning Herald ran a story with a screenshot of the attack. Chung's husband emailed the newpaper to demand that it should take down the photograph because the newspaper was hosting an infringing image.

"I have to point out to you that you, most likely by accident, posted an image that contains artwork copyrighted by my wife Ailin Graef and by Anshe Chung Studios, Ltd. and without obtaining our permission to do so," Guntram Graef wrote to Sydney Morning Herald reporter Stephen Hutcheon email.

"The source of the image, a video posted on YouTube, has already been removed. We can not authorize the use of this image and the replication of the artwork and textures of the Anshe Chung avatar in this context."

The legal action has drawn ire from several quarters as it threatens the freedom of the press to report on incidents of public interest.

Jason Schultz of internet rights group EFF said "The analogy I would draw is if there was a car accident in downtown New York, and the driver happened to be wearing an Armani suit, and there was a photographer who took photos and published them. That photographer couldn't be sued by Armani. News is news. And fair use gives news reporters and others the right to report what they see and hear, even if it includes your copyrighted work."