Sep 16 2008Uh-Oh: Government Fears Terrorists Are Plotting Attacks In Online Worlds

First

u gotta be shittin me, are they this bored in the government??? they should be more concerned about what's happening to our economy right now.

Lies....Everyone knows that World of Warcraft players don't have enough willpower to leave their computers long enough to pull off a terrorist attack.

its just so sad im weeping at meh computer. stupid w.o.w jockeys.....................................................

Isn't that a subplot from Never Back Down? I never understood that part though.Wouldn't it be easier to just IM or skype? There must be better communications channels than Warcraft.

whats next...? terrorist plan an attack on virtual dating game ? and cast a spell on porn ? COME ON !!! this government is full of paranoid and bullshit..We all know its a lie after the Iraqi war.

Kind of the scary that the government is monitoring online gaming...

I wish I could get a government job playing Warcraft all day and claiming I'm "keeping an eye out for terrorist activities". But government job or not, everyone else would still laugh at me when I bragged about getting my epic flying mount. Job security cannot protect my dignity :(

See i was right in that rant i had a few years ago in my head when i drank that tea, WoW will end up destroying the World

No! That's cruel to people like me who think "Osama234" is funny

xXOsamaWoW69Xx

Man your American government will come up with just about any kind of story in order to create paranoia and fear in your countries people.

Wait till CNN gets a hold of this story and pumps it down your fear mongering throats. America is going to hell in a hand basket and your government is leading the charge at full speed.

There is a war going on for your mind, if you are thinking, you are winning. And it's apparent that nobody is thinking in the US.

Matt

LMFAO, Some W.O.W. addict found a way to justify playing at work - that was pretty slick...
Now just wait until they say Geekologie is a forum for this BS... then, we are all screwed...

@12: no u

common what kind of half assed CIA research was this? anyone who plays warcraft knows there is nothing to raid in stonetalon mountains!

@2: They take half of the money everyone makes, I'm sure they have time for all the silly things you can imagine. Although this falls into national defense. And would seem like a more secure form of communication.

This is all part of the plan. The Governement will strike fear into our bones, and just when it seems to be our darkest hour, Obama will step up and spread his arms and say something to the effect of "We can have hope..." and then everyone will vote for him.

Simple, but genius.

f*** me. we are so close to living in Orwell's 1984.
i really hope Obama wins, and turns this shit around.

The expansion just got a confirmed release date, viral marketing ftw.

lol @ america

Why doesn't the government just say:

"Wherever someone can communicate with someone else, terrorists may be plotting the over throw of the U.S. Government!"

What they're really worried about is gamers using online games to plot resistance or spread news if the gov't institutes martial law & there's a media blackout. Gamers more or less know each other, and as they are from different parts of the country, they could easily communicate what was going on around their community f their was a media blackout (because of martial law) and the government was doing some nasty, oppressive shit.

It makes no logical sense why terrorists would use online worlds to plot attacks. Think about it. If these imaginary terrorists were plotting something they could just as easily put up an ad on craigslist or ebay with coded signals. For them to do so on a game, the terrorists would have to play together regularly or get a signal from somewhere else telling them when to play and where in the game to be - which would lead to the question, why not put the codes in that orginal signal in-the-first-place, instead of drawing it out through some dumb game.

Apparently, the government fears people in the online gaming community could get around a media blackout by chatting with each other. Remember that microwave weapon that fries people's skin? Imagine it being a martial law type of situation and Blackwater using it on crowds...think the media would cover it? Heeeell no. Now do you think somebody who was there might mention it to their pals in the gaming world (assuming social sites and blogs have already been shut down)? I guess they would shut down online gaming communities too. Welcome to Bush country.

Why doesn't the government just say:"Wherever someone can communicate with someone else, terrorists may be plotting the over throw of the U.S. Government!"

Because that would show the futility and utter stupidity of what they're saying.......if you thought they were trying to stop terrorists. If their goal was some kinda police state, where communications and ideas are strictly monitored, THEN it makes sense...and then it becomes perfectly clear what their agenda is. "Terrorism" is the 21st century version of Hitler's "Big Lie".

@12

Nice Flobots reference.

Geeze, someone comes up with the idea that terrorists might communicate via a virtual world and you all wet your pants about being ushered off to a gulag. Biggest problem with America is not about being Orwellian, it's that we've become a nation of snivelling little babies. You can't even simply talk about some theory without hysteria breaking out. Comment section fear mongering is getting to be so old.

... but you can't have 234 silver, that's just 2 gold and 34 silver. zomg nerd flaw in their logic

you also can't have numbers or underscores in wow names. STUPID GOVERNMENT.

We got too many foreigners here trying to tell us how to improve the US of America. Hey stinky assholes - if we wanted a country like yours we'd move there! So STFU!

@12&24, I have yet to see one post that shows any serious fear, so go back to world #3 and eat your rice ration. You love to bash the USA until you need us to bail you out of a hole.

@21, don't look now but terrorists have used Craig's list and other direct methods to send messages. Furthermore, you must be joking if you think the millions of WoW players know each other on a personal basis. Even if that were true, it's not like you know someone personally.

I'm getting too serious here! Back to being an asshat.

@28 I didn't say you all knew each other OFF PERSONAL BASIS. People playing together in these online games DO have a connection (even if its just an SN you recognize) that can be built on, especially if there's some dramatic catalyzing circumstance like them being the only link for news in an area where there's a media blackout. In fact, its those kind of distant social networks that government fears the most, because its outside their normal monitoring channels. And you even admit "tewewithts" use craigslist so why would they need something thats more complicated, less useful, and much, much less anonymous? You're an assclown if your still falling for this shit in 2008.

Obviously a gov't agent got busted playing WOW at work, and took his excuse way too far. :-P

28 & 29 too much text. please shut the f*** up.

I think it's very obvious what's happened here;
An overpaid worker in the defence force was caught by his unnacountably more successful supervisor playing WoW, and he came up with an inspired excuse to save himself.

To whoever that worker is, I salute you, and the ideals you hold dear.

@29 Yes if we would be put under martial law and have a media blackout the governemtn would forget to shut down your ISP. And they are deathly afraid of all the WoW players staging an uprising. they are our nations last bastion of hope to protect the ideals this country was founded on. TOO FUNNY

28 Momboelitist

Yes I'll go eat my rice rations. Im Canadian fool, im well informed on American media and am exposed to what is fed to you through your media outlets. CNN, FOX etc, its all fear based news. And if you don't see that, then you are blind and a sheep which is what they want.

Ever since LDJ's term in office your government has learned that they can influence political issues / views through fear. This has been further illuminated since 9/11. Everyone is a f***ing terrorist apparently.

Fear of terrorism has been exploited and is used to frighten you as citizens in order to influence your vote and thoughts and keep certain powers and politicians in place for their own agenda.

Again if you can't see this, you are nothing more than a herd of sheep. Start thinking for yourself, cause you're having your own wool from your backside pulled over your eyes.

Matt

#2 it could be 1930 and the pentagon still wouldn't be worried about the economy. That's because they're the pentagon.

#3 it's not the WoW players might be terrorists, it's that ... just see #20; they said it best

#20: thank you for making sense.

Fortunately, terrorists are prone to say things like "won't dance there for 100 years" that, even in role playing, sound very ridiculous and terrorist-y.

#32 thank you for humor

why is the government showing in public, how to use tools against itself?
this makes no sense to me.

this would be like me yelling out in public, where i keep my emergency key, in my backyard behind the pot with the 2 cracks in it.

aww sht...

#2: agreed
#3: agreed

#7: government monitors everything. It's their right to infringe everyone else's rights and be right about it.

#12: agreed

#20: too easy, too logical (read: the government doesn't work that way)

#27: I weep for the future of this nation because it's arrogant, ignorant, pompous idiots like yourself who think this is the best nation in the world, etc. Don't procreate, ever. You're wrong...so grow up.

#34: agreed, but it's LBJ

writer: interesting how one little post can spark so much BS from people.

37 guate6

Yes I meant to say "LBJ" thanks for the correction. Not sure where I got the "D" from lol.

Anyway, glad to see you agree.

Matt

"why is the government showing in public, how to use tools against itself?
this makes no sense to me."-
-
-
-
-
Because the threat is false and this is part of their continued psychological warfare campaign against the public.

"Yes if we would be put under martial law and have a media blackout the governemtn would forget to shut down your ISP. "
-
-
-
The same people that own ISPs are the same ones who recently got immunity allowing illegal wiretaps. The government looks out for their corporate buddies. They would rather keep the internet running and heavily filter or censor everything (remember tewewits might use it to plot an attack) than completely shut it down. If online gaming was still around in such a scenario, then people might be able to circumvent a media blackout and report was happening locally.

I knew it! I keep telling everyone, "Bin Laden's hiding out in Wailing Caverns!" But do they listen? Nooooo.
Now who's laughing, bitches.

@26 its probably because for a name they didnt want to have someone's actual character name

@ #41 Brilliant! Of course he's hiding in an instance...so you can't even get in unless you group with him.

Or you could just, you know, email someone through a proxy on a throwaway account and get the same result.

terrorists don't speak english!

sorry have to point a few things out here after reading all that

1. WoW has separate servers for US and Europe and they are not interconnected. so there is a fail in the us logic right there. as i would assume most of the bad guys would play on Europe servers.

2. Why would they do it on wow when you can just a easily set up a private and secure IRC. Most hackers have been using them for years. and not been caught by the government or police.

3. Total agree with the fact that US is now more scared of it's own shadow than ever I live in the uk and we have lived with the threat of terrorism for years thanks to the IRA. You don't see us taking extreme measure like monitoring calls or putting illegal wire taps. Or looking for other mediums that could potentially be used.

4. Sorry but US does not bail shit out it starts more wars and Kill more of it's own and friendly troops than it does kill the enemy. FACT.

5. totally agree with that fact that the guy probably got caught playing wow in work. Epic fail for getting caught. coming up with the bullshit excuse priceless

@46

#4 is not a fact you retarded monkey, your statement is so absurd I can't even justify doing the work to grab the numbers on death ratios.

hey man dont waste your breath on it. they still think they won vietnam. but hey why not soon enough they might think that terrorists are in with the canadian government using BSE and the chicken flu to take over the states lmao

and besides like i said about vietnam, the government controls them. they tell them what to beilive and who to fear so they can have power. when people are in fear and are scared for there lives, there family, and there property they are easiest to controll and influence. say obama got in now and said "the terrorists are planning on taking over the world via W.o.W. WE NEED TO STRIKE NOW! im puttin x amount of dollars into millitary research on war craft, than lots more people will join than he says theyr going to take over us by using W.o.W. to access our internet mainfrme and cause dissorder than hit us while were down, we need to strike now. than they'd be ready for war. its all psycological.

@ 45
Dear god I hope you're joking...

SHUT THE F*** UP

Terrorist, Niggers there's no difference either way our country is full of these porch monkeys and towel heads none of which would play WoW...They are all really dirty and should die...Also if god was real he would be a faggot

ZOMG how racist can you be.

its all a excuse so that FBI can play wow at their work comps, names in wow cant even have underscores.

thats just an example picture its to explain how it could be and to avoid discrimination against actual characters they made up ones u cant have. and my "theory" is just an example of how easy it is to controll a mass population in disorder. and yes, the americans do believe they won the vietnam war

and "bob" racism will eventually be your demise. i cant wait till you get dropped off on a researve or in the gehto and get curb stomped. its ignorence like that, that causes people to feel like outcasts and feel the need to cause dissorder and terror, thus making you a "recruter" for terrorists.

another thing, the U.S. governmant is a super power, a powerful country, but yet a paranoid country and one that likes to control. they are power crazed and monitor other countries and there comunications. like i said earlier, they look for anything that they can use to help cause dissorder and than they use it to control there country. second, every thing you do on a computer can be traced no matter how much you protect your computer, so long as your using an internet connection, W.O.W. is inconspicuos and poppular enough to hide such things, in fact its actually kinda impressive that they thought of this. third the U.S iS terified of its shadow but once again only because the government wants them to be.

Don't worry their terrorists from the middle east they never be able to get of the game. Just like the Koreans

If a media blackout were ever to occur, I wouldn't take it sitting down. I hate authority. I'd rather die than to be controlled to that degree, no matter what their "reason".
I'm not afraid of terrorists. I strongly oppose the Patriot Act and the post-911 airport security regulations which are a pain in the ass to travelers and it offers a false sense of security. The 3 oz rule about liquids in your carry-on is the biggest joke in the world. What's to stop a group of terrorists from flying together, each with a 3 oz bottle of their magically explosive liquid? Then, they could go to the bathroom one at a time, leaving their 3 ounce bottles in the tampon cabinet. The last terrorist to enter the bathroom would combine all of the liquid into one water bottle that he bought at the airport, and BAM! Bye bye jet and passengers. How difficult is that to figure out? If I could think up that scenario all by myself, then I'm sure a group of terrorists could figure out something just like it.
They need to get rid of these useless restrictions that make flying such a pain in the ass, because where there's a will there's a way. If terrorists want to blow up a plane, then they'll find a way. I refuse to live in fear of this. I don't want to live under a government that wants to control us through fear. At this stage I fear my own government more than I do terrorists. I laugh in the face of terrorism. No disrespect toward the victims of 911, but the number of people killed in that are like a grain of sand on the beach compared to how many people there are in America. Terrorists can't kill us all. They're weak, pathetic idiots who are being given more credit than they deserve. The American government and the media is responsible for all the undeserved credit these terrorists get. The US government needs to stop micromanaging. They need to stop trying to control us via fear. They need to back the f*** off!!!
Any of my fellow Americans who can't see through the bullshit need to wake the f*** up. Wake up before it's too late!!! The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Right? Oh, and we should fear the biggest superpower in the world. With great power comes great responsibility. Clearly, our current government can't handle that responsibility and the power has gone to their heads.

@28: Except now it's China bailing your ass out... L2Think