CIA hunting terrorists in World of Warcraft

[CptStern]

no really ..

US gov't hunting extremists in WOW
A new data-mining report from the US Director of National Intelligence has revealed that top spies are developing software that they hope will detect violent extremists in online worlds, as reported by Wired.

Mysteriously titled The Reynard Project, the software will study the way gamers behave online, and for the second stage will "automatically detect suspicious behaviour and actions in the virtual world." So, it hopes to discover what "normal" massively multiplayer online gaming behaviour is like, and set off alarm bells if people are deviating. The ultimate aim is to catch all those violent extremists who have been using their time to infiltrate World of Warcraft.

The report has been approved by Congress, and if it "shows early promise," it may become a full project.

they'll find plenty of extremists in WoW but not of the bomb making variety ..just those permenantly hooked to the crack like experience that is WoW. But seriously trolling WoW for "suspicious behaviour"? what the hell constitutes suspicious behaviour? better watch what you say americans it may get you investigated

 

[Deleted member 56031]

 

[VictimOfScience]

Hahahah! That is priceless. Man, were those guys in suits in the dark corners of the arcades I used to hang out in during the late 80s really G-Men??? WTF?? And Congress thought this was a good idea??? They probably have their own guilds. I guess hunting terrorists in Counter-Strike makes less sense???

Seriously though, the levels of comedy that something like this can generate are nigh limitless!! Nice find Stern! :cheers:

 

[Tyguy]

to think we could be using that money to help balance the budget...what a waste of time, energy, and resources

 

[Raziaar]

This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard all year long.

We better watch out Stern... when we play Conan, we'll be approached and apprehended as violent extremists for our parts in violent decapitations and dismembering.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

to think we could be using that money to help balance the budget...what a waste of time, energy, and resources

This

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[Cpt Tenacious]

Dang, there goes my cyber prostitution ring.

 

[CptStern]

This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard all year long.

We better watch out Stern... when we play Conan, we'll be approached and apprehended as violent extremists for our parts in violent decapitations and dismembering.

they'll be carrying black rectangles to cover our exposed nipples

 

[Nemesis6]

Dang, there goes my cyber prostitution ring.

...strangely consisting of only dwarf players.

 

[CptStern]

Hahahah! That is priceless. Man, were those guys in suits in the dark corners of the arcades I used to hang out in during the late 80s really G-Men??? WTF?? And Congress thought this was a good idea??? They probably have their own guilds. I guess hunting terrorists in Counter-Strike makes less sense???

Seriously though, the levels of comedy that something like this can generate are nigh limitless!! Nice find Stern! :cheers:

ya but the federales will stand out like a 35 year old narc pretending to be a student at a high school

"Hi I'm DeathNinjaEnforcer[Clan-fbi]"

 

[VictimOfScience]

we'll be approached and apprehended as violent extremists for our parts in violent decapitations and dismembering.

From what I understand, this will be considered normal behavior in that game world. The agents will be looking for abnormal behavior, like returning lost puppies to their sad little owners, singing campfires songs, or acting homosexual in any way (they really hate that).

The cleverer WoW vets should do their damndest to get the word of this out to the most evil of their brethren and start a new war on the government in cyberspace. Of course, they will most likely be prosecuted for their part in such virtual violence. Ugh...as much as I hate to say it, Fergie was right: B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

 

[Cpt Tenacious]

If the CIA is watching WoW does that mean that there finaly going to crack down on naked dancing gnomes and call it child porn?

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

Roflmao. The CIA have nothing better to do obviously.

 

[Pesmerga]

What is abnormal behavior in WoW?

Gold mining? Botting?

Raiding Darnassus?

 

[CptStern]

or acting homosexual in any way (they really hate that).

ya with all the barechested overly muscled sweaty men in loincloths running around homosexuals wouldnt dare show their faces for fear of being beaten up/sodomised

Conan: the man's man game ..Conan Age of Menz, when men were really menz <nudge nudge wink wink)

The cleverer WoW vets should do their damndest to get the word of this out to the most evil of their brethren and start a new war on the government in cyberspace. Of course, they will most likely be prosecuted for their part in such virtual violence. Ugh...as much as I hate to say it, Fergie was right: B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

"the Rebels for the New War on the Government in Cyberspace have declared a cease fire on account of the release of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, hostilities are set to resume during the lull time between the next expansion pack"



activist 1: "this is why nothing is ever accomplished on the internet"
activist 2: "are you camping this site cuz I'm in the middle of grinding here"

 

[Eejit]

What an excellent use of resources.

 

[Andrew LB]

I'm quite sure there was a particular incident that's part of an ongoing investigation that caused this. It's already proven that terrorists have a fondness of flight simulators, various web forums, and other forms of electronic/internet communication. Terrorists are going to be looking for new ways to communicate since many of the ways they used in the past are being increasingly monitored.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

How much is American tax payers paying for national defense again?

What self-respecting terrorist plays WoW?!

 

[CptStern]

the ones trained to corrupt teenage minds into joining their cause


beware, your guildmate may actually be a sleeper alqaeda recruit waiting to KILL YOU AND EVERYONE YOU HOLD DEAR!!!

 

[Sulkdodds]

I don't understand.

 

[CyberPitz]

I don't understand.

If you'd stop spinning, maybe you would!

 

[mchammer75040]

Well atleast someone is trying to stop all the nonsense griefing going on in MMORPGs these days, you people need to quit bitching.

 

[Jintor]

I agree with Kyon. What the ****, government.

 

[Andrew LB]

the ones trained to corrupt teenage minds into joining their cause


beware, your guildmate may actually be a sleeper alqaeda recruit waiting to KILL YOU AND EVERYONE YOU HOLD DEAR!!!

The CIA had good for doing this. Plain and simple. You can joke all you want, but that's a fact.

 

[Jintor]

Yes. It has been conclusively scientifically proven that many terrorists play WoW.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

The CIA had good for doing this. Plain and simple. You can joke all you want, but that's a fact.

No. No it isn't.

 

[Pesmerga]

No they didn't. Seriously, how many American deaths are caused by terrorist attacks? Now how many die because of murder, childhood diseases, vehicular accidents, and warfare?

I bet there's more deaths caused by wild animal attacks per year than terrorist attacks. The whole sensation of going through someone's sandwich to find one rogue morsel is just ridiculous. We ought to be funding space exploration, new energy plans, etc- things that help civilization rather than further jettison humanity into a new age of religiously based warfare.

 

[JFry]

this is just an excuse for them to play wow.

 

[Andrew LB]

No. No it isn't.

Just because the CIA isn't blowing it's cover by explaining to you the goals of a top secret program doesn't mean they lack due cause for the programs existence.

Using a video games online communication (regardless of what game it is) is a great way to talk to your terrorist buddies if you actually think about it.
It's far more secure and hard to monitor than any conventional mode of communication.

No they didn't. Seriously, how many American deaths are caused by terrorist attacks? Now how many die because of murder, childhood diseases, vehicular accidents, and warfare?

Well in 2001 there was this terrorist attack see.... It happened in New York City... and 3000 or so Americans were killed. In addition, two of the most important buildings to our nations economy were also destroyed. Oh yeah... and I forgot to mention that the same terrorist organization has made multiple attempts at even greater attacks on the United States...

Oh... but by your reasoning, we should just let terrorist attacks happen and focus all of our nations resources on a policy of Isolationism (because they wont attack if we don't bug them right?) and focus solely on murder, disease, car accidents, and war (crimes?)?

...the last time our nation went with the Isolationist direction, Adolf Hitler killed 6,000,000 jews, 3,000,000 ethnic minorities, and caused WW2 which resulted in 50,000,000 or so deaths.

Great idea, genius.


... just wait till they get a nuclear weapon. It's not a matter of 'if', but 'when'.

 

[_Z_Ryuken]

a policy of Isolationism

When you said this I stopped taking you seriously.

Your opinion is worthless.

 

[Pesmerga]

Just because the CIA isn't blowing it's cover by explaining to you the goals of a top secret program doesn't mean they lack due cause for the programs existence.

Using a video games online communication (regardless of what game it is) is a great way to talk to your terrorist buddies if you actually think about it.
It's far more secure and hard to monitor than any conventional mode of communication.

No it's not. Chat is probably logged and stored. Ctrl + F -> terrorist keywords -> account traced to IP / ISP. Also, account IPs are automatically stored upon creation. If they started springing up in Iran, Saudi Arabia, or anywhere else in the mideast, they could just as easily be red flagged.

Domestic terrorism would be harder to trace; but why not just use AIM or something. It's just as practical and you don't have to worry about the realm being down for maintenance.

Well in 2001 there was this terrorist attack see.... It happened in New York City... and 3000 or so Americans were killed. In addition, two of the most important buildings to our nations economy were also destroyed. Oh yeah... and I forgot to mention that the same terrorist organization has made multiple attempts at even greater attacks on the United States...

Oh... but by your reasoning, we should just let terrorist attacks happen and focus all of our nations resources on a policy of Isolationism (because they wont attack if we don't bug them right?) and focus solely on murder, disease, car accidents, and war (crimes?)?

...the last time our nation went with the Isolationist direction, Adolf Hitler killed 6,000,000 jews, 3,000,000 ethnic minorities, and caused WW2 which resulted in 50,000,000 or so deaths.

Great idea, genius.


... just wait till they get a nuclear weapon. It's not a matter of 'if', but 'when'.

Who said anything about ignoring the problem? You're blind if you can't see that the US Government is simply becoming more corrupt as part of a natural process of all nations. Tracking player's in an online video game to search for terrorism? That's stupid. And absurd. It's not "Oh nose, my rights/privacy!" it's "Wow, you're ****ing stupid, US Government."

And by the way, you're blaming America for the death of 72 million people? I think it was Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin who were the major catalysts for that. Might have to check wikipedia to verify that, though.

Please read the rest of my post instead of sticking half of it out of context, thinking no one else will notice.

Also, nuclear weapons aren't the weapons of mass destruction. AK-47s are. Warlords in Africa are. Fighting for oil is. Nuclear weapons are bargaining chips; no one wants to use them but public populations don't know that. They cause fear, not death. I'd put a lot of money down on the fact that no nation will use a WMD in the next 100 years; and by the time some asshole decides to use one, we'll have the technology to shoot it out of the sky.

Edit - Hell, why not just use some form of p2p chat. Everything can be, potentially, stored by the ISP, so if you're going to use a computer to transmit a message, might as well not risk it being logged by AOL, Yahoo, MSN, or any game server.

 

[Jintor]

Just because the CIA isn't blowing it's cover by explaining to you the goals of a top secret program doesn't mean they lack due cause for the programs existence.

Using that logic, anything the CIA ever does is unquestionable.

 

[Kyorisu]

This whole idea has a ****ing massive gaping hole through the centre of it.

Roleplaying.

Who wants to bet you'll see a bunch of small groups pop up, deliberatley trying to get the CIAs attention?

No they didn't. Seriously, how many American deaths are caused by terrorist attacks? Now how many die because of murder, childhood diseases, vehicular accidents, and warfare?

Indeed. Anyone who supports the government wasting money on this stupid crap needs to slap themselves.

Edit - Hell, why not just use some form of p2p chat. Everything can be, potentially, stored by the ISP, so if you're going to use a computer to transmit a message, might as well not risk it being logged by AOL, Yahoo, MSN, or any game server.

This is why you use encrypted chat, encrypted emails and just plain encrypt anything you don't want anyone else but the intended receiver to get. Just the thought of the government monitoring it's citizens in such a way outright pisses me off.

 

[CptStern]

Just because the CIA isn't blowing it's cover by explaining to you the goals of a top secret program doesn't mean they lack due cause for the programs existence.

the article clearly says:

Mysteriously titled The Reynard Project, the software will study the way gamers behave online ....So, it hopes to discover what "normal" massively multiplayer online gaming behaviour is like, and set off alarm bells if people are deviating

this is nothing more than phishing to see what comes up, they admit as much. You've been watching too much 24

Using a video games online communication (regardless of what game it is) is a great way to talk to your terrorist buddies if you actually think about it.
It's far more secure and hard to monitor than any conventional mode of communication.

except you're tied to an account, your ip is clearly visible and now you're being monitored for "behaviour" ..not too mention 9,999,999 other players who report behaviour for the hell of it

"he's a gold farming bot!"


and wouldnt IM provide the same means of communication? why go through the elaborate ruse of setting up a WoW account?


the bottom line is:

The ultimate aim is to catch all those violent extremists who have been using their time to infiltrate World of Warcraft.

see how stupid that sounds?

Well in 2001 there was this terrorist attack see.... It happened in New York City... and 3000 or so Americans were killed. In addition, two of the most important buildings to our nations economy were also destroyed. Oh yeah... and I forgot to mention that the same terrorist organization has made multiple attempts at even greater attacks on the United States...

slipery slope; the abscence of an attack doesnt mean you are safe in fact the war on terror has escalated terror. Besides how does that justifies giving up your privacy and allowing them to trample on your rights? what if in the course of investigating your behaviour as a player you make an off-colour remark about killing dwarves ..would it be permissible for them to pass along to authorities a note saying you might be planning to commit wholesale genocide against midgets? or maybe you're smoking a joint, or drinking under age or hey what if you're beating it to some elf doing the travolta emote? should the morality police be informed? ..what if you mention to your gildmates that you're attending a peaceful rally against anti-globalisation, what if they then pass it along to the fbi who are in attendence at the rally taking names and making lists of potential "dissidents" ...would that be ok?

see how absolutely ridiculous this is? and how you're opening a door to whole whack of issues around privacy?

Oh... but by your reasoning, we should just let terrorist attacks happen and focus all of our nations resources on a policy of Isolationism (because they wont attack if we don't bug them right?) and focus solely on murder, disease, car accidents, and war (crimes?)?

and monitoring behaviour in World of Warcraft is the answer? give me a break, where the hell do you draw the line?

...the last time our nation went with the Isolationist direction, Adolf Hitler killed 6,000,000 jews, 3,000,000 ethnic minorities, and caused WW2 which resulted in 50,000,000 or so deaths.

Great idea, genius.

slippery slope nonsense ...again, monitoring WoW is the answer?

... just wait till they get a nuclear weapon. It's not a matter of 'if', but 'when'.

omg the sky is falling

 

[Sulkdodds]

Pretty sure most MMO devs keep logs of stuff that happens in their game, so actually, the CIA could just pay devs to hand over the information - seeing as they've already secrety set up monitoring deals with telecoms companies.

That is, if there was any point.

 

[Druckles]

Watch it, that might be an extremist you're selling that sword to!

 

[Sulkdodds]

Shit, I just realised my roleplay character in World of Warcraft recently led an armed (player) uprising against the (player) nobles of Stormwind.

I'm in trouble!

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Does this mean doing emoticons randomly on your own in a middle of the forest is considered suspicious?

 

[Absinthe]

I'd be really curious as to what the CIA's criteria for "abnormal behavior" is in WoW. Player trains doing circles in Org? Scorpid stinger farming? Excessive slaughter in newbie zones? Or do I have to yell "BOMB!" in a capital city? In a game played by millions - many of which who act strangely on a regular basis - just how exactly are you going to separate bloodthirsty cyber-terrorists from the ubiquitous goon?

If this was just to track communications, I'm pretty sure they could just pay Blizzard and other MMO devs to hand over logs. And considering how anonymous gaming seems to inherently encourage people to act stupid, aggressive, and irregular, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to conceive of how they'll draw the distinction.

Oh, but then I'm not supposed to know how it works, right? I trust that the CIA, in all its infinite wisdom, is going about this in a perfectly sensible and intelligent matter.

 

[99.vikram]

Well in 2001 there was this terrorist attack see.... It happened in New York City... and 3000 or so Americans were killed. In addition, two of the most important buildings to our nations economy were also destroyed. Oh yeah... and I forgot to mention that the same terrorist organization has made multiple attempts at even greater attacks on the United States...

The US faces a greater threat from diseases than terrorists. Neither is terrorism a new phenomenon, other countries have been dealing with it for decades. Keep things in perspective before you talk out of your arse.

(because they wont attack if we don't bug them right?) and focus solely on murder, disease, car accidents, and war (crimes?)?

Going halfway around the world helped neither Iraq nor US. It was a waste of lives and resources, and a terrible example to set for future generations. Seriously, Saddam couldn't have maintained this death rate himself.

...the last time our nation went with the Isolationist direction, Adolf Hitler killed 6,000,000 jews, 3,000,000 ethnic minorities, and caused WW2 which resulted in 50,000,000 or so deaths.

I'm at a loss for words. :\

... just wait till they get a nuclear weapon. It's not a matter of 'if', but 'when'.

I hear they buy them from Kmart. Seriously, biological superweapons are easier to research and use. Why haven't they been misused yet? Terrorist networks are always underground. We face a greater nuclear threat from illegitimate governments than terrorists.