- Monday, 9 November 2009
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I think it's inevitable we move to 64-bit architecture - Bob Colwell, former chief architect, Intel
Games could be used to plan terror raids
TERRORISTS COULD USE online games like World of Warcraft to plan terror raids, a pentagon researcher claims.
In a presentation at an Open Source Conference in Washington, Dr Dwight Toavs, a professor at the Pentagon-funded National Defense University, explained how planning could be hidden by in-game chatter.
He showed two World of Warcraft players discuss a raid on the "White Keep" inside the "Stonetalon Mountains".
The major objective is to set off a "Dragon Fire spell" inside, and make off with "110 Gold and 234 Silver" in treasure.
One of the players said that no one will dance there for a hundred years after this spell is cast.
Toavs said that the "White Keep" is at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, "Dragon Fire " is an unconventional weapon and that "110 Gold and 234 Silver" tells the plotters how to align the game's fantasy map with a real one of Washington DC.
The plot was made up and the spooks clearly know nothing about WoW. There is no "White Keep" in World of Warcraft and "Dragon Fire" is a spell in EverQuest. However it does give an idea about how WoW could be used as a communications tool.
Toavs said that he believes that spies will have to spend more time in virtual worlds like WoW... although we reckon the whole thing was made up because he was caught playing the massively popular and notoriously addictive game during work hours.
"Err... I was doing research guvnor... honest." µ
L'Inq
Wired
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Possibly a new low for the crystal-bothering gitwizard.
Or the terrorists could just visit and have a chat?

How on earth do you distinguish between a couple of kids planning to take down some game target and a couple of terrorists planning to take down a real world target unless you manage to find the "dumb and dumber" of terrorists?
Surely if your going this far you could list endless things "terrorists" could use that would be safe. For example ventrilo, skype, hidden messageboards, their mouths, letters.

What merit is there in the idiotic statement that they could communicate within an online game in code.. really. What are they going to do monitor EVERYONE on WoW to see if they are terrorists?

On another note, my god he has an easy job, think of what he can blither on about next.
bombing stormwind keep or a poison gas attack or the sunwell ??

Soon the FBI ads will state that every agent needs their own WoW account !! lol
Nice way to give the terrorists new ideas Jackasses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Soon the security researchers will realize that communication can be achieved through an almost unlimited variety of methods.

People will be investigated for activities including the following: speaking, writing, making facial expressions, typing, reading, writing, banging rocks together, making smoke signals.

The Department of Homemade Security will then ban all groups of people larger than one, because another security researcher will have the blinding insight that what is communicated from one to another can be passed on the a third or fourth! 

Therefore all interaction will be banned lest it be used to plan a terrorist raid.
breaking news;

It was discovered that pen and paper can be used to plan terror raids.

So perhaps it should be included in the Patriot Act ammendment... 

rotfl
Next month: WoW tops middle eastern games charts for the first time ever. Record sales attributed to FBI terrorist warning.
It's easy. Just don't go around the world killing 1,000's of families for their oil, copper, iron, aluminium, gold etc.

The families of the innocent dead will then not feel the need to support terrorism.

Here's an easy way to kill terrorism, and it doesn't cost any money. Keep an eye on our own blood crazed politicians and the loonies in the arms, oil and banking trade that direct them. Monitor only their emails, texts etc.
What a huge joke, everyone knows if terrorists were training for attacking something like the whitehouse online they'd more likely play Battlefield 2142 and create a custom map that looks like DC while maintain realistic weapons. Unless terrorists are now recruiting mages and liches in which case we should all run for the hills!!
I hope they plot to kick that moron into permanent (unpaid) retirement.