MMO's: That well know terrorist training ground

**Tytanya_MxO**

This article appeared on the Virginmedia news website today..... Remember the time when a persons thoughts were their own? How long before we see the first person sentenced for Thought crimes?

US government to spy on online gamers

The US government is developing methods to find terrorists who use online virtual worlds.

A new project, codenamed Reynard, aims to recognise terrorist behaviour in online worlds like Second Life or World of Warcraft and notify government officials.

Details about the project became public in a report sent to the US Congress by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

The report states: "The cultural and behavioural norms of virtual worlds and gaming are generally unstudied. Therefore, Reynard will seek to identify the emerging social, behavioral and cultural norms in virtual worlds and gaming environments. The project would then apply the lessons learned to determine the feasibility of automatically detecting suspicious behavior and actions in the virtual world."

A senior intelligence officer at the ODNI said Reynard was in its initial stage and it was too soon to say which online worlds it would be studying. He added that any work on it would be for research rather than "operational" purposes

**SolidRevolver**

Yeah, makes sense, terrorist behavior in MxO... we'd all end up locked up SMILEY

And how can you tell 'Terrorist Activity' in a game?! Let alone a Roleplaying game! Do people occasionally tell of their plots in the middle of Mara C or Stormwind?

The Leo · 03/05/2008 10:36:28

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Pyraci

This is absurd.

How long does this doctrine of control and fear in the name of "fighting terrorism" have to go on?! How far does it have to go?!

What I find funny is, we're supposed to be reporting "terrorist" activity on online games to the government, when in "the real world", a guy can go shoot up a Wendy's or a university or a shopping mall before taking his own life, and little is done to stop the problems that exist there.

We're spending all this money to fight non-conformist governments and police the world, looking for Arabic-speaking Muslim people that have a problem with us occupying their homes, when we turn our backs to the disturbed kids that go postal here in ours. -_-

**Dripping-Cheese**

They've got it all wrong, this is a 'murder simulator', not a 'terrorism simulator'!

**Procurator**

Tytanya_MxO wrote:

"Therefore, Reynard will seek to identify the emerging social, behavioral and cultural norms in virtual worlds and gaming environments."

I'm not so sure that's a good idea...

'LOL!'

'pwnt'

'NO U'

'Leave Neo alone!'

**Archangel**

Well...there goes every EPN player taken into the custody of Homeland Security...

*looks around* I've gotta go...

**Dripping-Cheese** · 03/05/2008 07:47:24

Isn't there a faction somewhere called Insurgence?

**GoDGiVeR**

Archangel wrote:

Well...there goes every EPN player taken into the custody of Homeland Security...
*looks around* I've gotta go...

I feel sorry for Kid.

**Dxy**

Ah excellent, added "security" to our digital prison. So I suppose the next time an EPN operative mentions the word code bomb in area chat, he or she will be flagged in Big Brother's database as a potential terrorist.

They're encroaching on more and more of our freedoms. The internet was built around the ideals of personal expression, independance, the ability to surf unimpeded. If they continue to compromise these simple freedoms, as well as others we might as well have our own little digital Revolution.

This game is based off the world of The Matrix, whose themes represent digital warfare, imprisonment, terrorism of sorts, rising up against the machine. Hell we downright rage against it. I would not be surprised to find us being watched rather closely, and you know what? That's free advertising. SMILEY

**Roukan**

*CENSORED*, they're gonna find me.

*slips off Turban and slinks away*

**ShiXinFeng**

You guys act like MxO would even be on their radar. . .

Seriously though, it doesn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to see that terrorist cells could be using a game like WoW to communicate and plan stuff.

And I rather doubt the HSD came up with this one on their own. I smell the NSA behind something like this; they're notorious for using techs to run their computer systems that are, or have been, gamers and hackers.

**0uranos**

Roukan wrote:

*CENSORED*, they're gonna find me.

*slips off Turban and slinks away*

Quick Roukan ! We have to find another way to train !

**Avalod**

Just to add to help Tytanya to back up this lil topic

Wired News Article

Still its a shame. The American Government is more paranoid than its own people when it is about terrorism. Should it not be the other way around?

**sonofthree**

Ugh as if recruiting wasn't bad enough already. Now you gotta worry about REAL spies as well as RP spies. >.>

Are you a cop? You know you can't lie man you have to tell me if you're a cop!

Waiting for the first <Al Qaeda> MXO faction D: (do it on syntax! SMILEY

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