The U.S. National Security Agency and British counterpart GCHQ have monitored the activities of online gamers, according to documents published Monday that were leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The two agencies gained access to the online Xbox Live console network, the documents suggest, as well as deploying real-life agents into the virtual realms of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft and Linden Labs’ Second Life. Once inside, agents monitored the activity of some gamers as well as recruiting potential informants.
"virtual realms of Blizzard's World of Warcraft and Linden Labs' Second Life"
Err.. Why WoW? I mean, that is just... wtf?
Second Life.. Is a bit.. more unusual, it actually is a "virtual world" not a "game", so its possible for people to set up sims, which are closed locations, which only people in certain groups could get into, and then build just about anything they might want in there, as long as Linden didn't find out that it was something that broke their policies. It is, thus, at least feasible that some people might try to use it for meeting places, or other activities, where are.. not in the best interest in the real world. What that means, in a practical sense, with respect to how you treat the content, is.. interesting. Do you treat it as an open system, where the "agent" just happens to wander in, like a park (since large parts of it are), or do you have to treat each location as private property, requiring search warrants, to get in there? What about the old spy agency thing, of undercover agents? Where does that come it, and how, under the circumstances?
It, imho, makes a certain amount of sense that, in an open world, with no restrictions, beyond the usual real world ones, like not being allowed to have a certain content "period", etc., that Second Life, being so user configurable, "does" end up being like a building owned in a real city, or a city itself, **depending** on how the sim is set up. If open, it should be possible for people to overhear what someone else might be talking about, just as an agent might overhear someone talking at a public restaurant. If its closed.. then I would expect there need to be a search warrant, just like a real residence, and that any methods of surveillance have to be like in the real world as well (with the same, or very similar, rules).
But, again.. how the frack does WoW, where all the content is pre-created, and, at most, a few odd people have an occasional business meeting in it, for kicks, involve that sort of activity? How would that ever work, for that matter? Its not like, if you wanted to spy on a criminal organization, they would hold the meeting in public, in some known location, instead of, say, a house, where only the people "in" a guild would be let in, in the first place. Some NSA guy is supposed to do what, wait outside and see who came in/out of the meeting (instead of just logging on "in" the guild hall)? lol
I just don't get what the hell the point would be, in an actual MMO.
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NSA Snoops Extend Ops to Online Games
Posted by: Peter Suciu December 9, 2013 01:11 PMThe U.S. National Security Agency and British counterpart GCHQ have monitored the activities of online gamers, according to documents published Monday that were leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The two agencies gained access to the online Xbox Live console network, the documents suggest, as well as deploying real-life agents into the virtual realms of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft and Linden Labs’ Second Life. Once inside, agents monitored the activity of some gamers as well as recruiting potential informants.
Err.. Why WoW? I mean, that is just... wtf?
Second Life.. Is a bit.. more unusual, it actually is a "virtual world" not a "game", so its possible for people to set up sims, which are closed locations, which only people in certain groups could get into, and then build just about anything they might want in there, as long as Linden didn't find out that it was something that broke their policies. It is, thus, at least feasible that some people might try to use it for meeting places, or other activities, where are.. not in the best interest in the real world. What that means, in a practical sense, with respect to how you treat the content, is.. interesting. Do you treat it as an open system, where the "agent" just happens to wander in, like a park (since large parts of it are), or do you have to treat each location as private property, requiring search warrants, to get in there? What about the old spy agency thing, of undercover agents? Where does that come it, and how, under the circumstances?
It, imho, makes a certain amount of sense that, in an open world, with no restrictions, beyond the usual real world ones, like not being allowed to have a certain content "period", etc., that Second Life, being so user configurable, "does" end up being like a building owned in a real city, or a city itself, **depending** on how the sim is set up. If open, it should be possible for people to overhear what someone else might be talking about, just as an agent might overhear someone talking at a public restaurant. If its closed.. then I would expect there need to be a search warrant, just like a real residence, and that any methods of surveillance have to be like in the real world as well (with the same, or very similar, rules).
But, again.. how the frack does WoW, where all the content is pre-created, and, at most, a few odd people have an occasional business meeting in it, for kicks, involve that sort of activity? How would that ever work, for that matter? Its not like, if you wanted to spy on a criminal organization, they would hold the meeting in public, in some known location, instead of, say, a house, where only the people "in" a guild would be let in, in the first place. Some NSA guy is supposed to do what, wait outside and see who came in/out of the meeting (instead of just logging on "in" the guild hall)? lol
I just don't get what the hell the point would be, in an actual MMO.