US Government Hopes to Hunt Terrorists in MMOs
According to a data-mining report from the Director of National Intelligence, the U.S. intelligence community is developing software to detect “violent extremist” activity in World of Warcraft and other MMOS, reports Wired’s Threat Level. The Reynard Project will begin by monitoring online gaming to define “emerging social, behavioral and cultural norms in virtual worlds and gaming environments.” Their reasoning seems to be that if they can map out what’s normal in the the “understudied” [read: frequently misunderstood by outsiders] world of MMOs, they’ll eventually be able to automatically detect suspicious activity. Is it possible that Al-Qaeda actually has the time to recruit fresh members in WoW? Is it also possible that there’s a shadowy warehouse full of game-loving CIA operatives who are delighted for an opportunity to play WoW round-the-clock? How do you feel about your activity being monitored by the government during online gaming? For more insight into the perpetually shifting boundaries of online rights, check out the Human And Property Rights ScreenBurn panel led by Susan Wu, virtual venture capitalist as well as noted WoW player.