NSA Spies On MMOs Says Snowden Reveal

[Jamieson 90]

Spy: Okay so where's Putin's orc?

Beggar: Got gold? I need gold.

Spy: What?

Beggar: 1 gold please?

Spy: No I don't have gold! Go away!

Beggar: But I need gold...

Spy: Shut up I need to spy on Putin! Shit! I just said that out loud! You didn't see nothing...

Beggar: Gold???.....

 

[Grimh]

Well that's just silly.

I mean WoW... Whoever approved of this initiative is probably a bit of a Dofus.
I guess they think these Secret Worlds are a perfect place for terrorists to plot and scheme.
Maybe they think it's absolute Anarchy Online and they want to keep an eye on it? But it will probably just serve widen the Rift between the government and the people.
But perhaps we should be happy to have these Champions Online to protect us from evil, if there are any threats online they'll know the full Fury of the government. I mean these guys just want to protect the Soul of the Ultimate Nation.
Who knows? They might uncover a whole City of Villains!
Or maybe this is a sign that there are Dark Ages ahead...
But honestly though this seems like a bit of a Dead Frontier as I don't think terrorists are actually hiding in these games. But even so they are venturing into a World of Darkness what with all the creeps and general idiots online.
But I guess they get a lot of time on their hands to become very good Dungeon Runners.

Seriously though, I'd Love for this to be fake. Sometimes I think they want to control everyone on this Earth & Beyond, I guess in a Perfect World there would be no suspicion.
Perhaps this truly is the Face of Mankind... Will this really be our Lineage?

 

[Jamieson 90]

Spy: Okay so where's Putin's orc?

Beggar: Got gold? I need gold.

Spy: What?

Beggar: 1 gold please?

Spy: No I don't have gold! Go away!

Beggar: But I need gold...

Spy: Shut up I need to spy on Putin! Shit! I just said that out loud! You didn't see nothing...

Beggar: Gold???.....

i truly dread to think what the governments deductions might possibly be from playing WoW...

"where can i mine for fish ?"

...

I know or "Where can I learn how to use guns?"

 

[Headbiter]

This could be so funny if I couldn't imagine SO WELL that whoever initiated this actually considered ingame-chat as a real potential threat to "national security" and would be ready, even now, to defend those actions as vital and "essential in stopping at least x terroristic attacks, whom we cannot discuss in public at this point".

Yeah, it'd be amusing if this was just someone trying to make up an excuse for playing at work but I'm almost ready to bet that they were, sadly, being serious when starting this.

*sigh*

 

[Jamash]

...Lockheed Martin have been awarded million-dollar contracts to work on means of spying on MMO gamers.

Weren't Lockheed Martin also given the contract to conduct the official Census?

I suppose it makes spying easier if everyone is required to give you their information.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

What? Do they think terrorists play WoW in their spare time? What would be their guild name? Get Rid Of Slimy InfidelS?

 

[Pebkio]

The real amusing twist is to imagine that this is exactly what is happening.

"Michael, what are you doing?!"
"I'm leveling my undead mage until Jack gets on."
"Oh, you're playing an undead mage? Want to raid the newest dungeon?"
"Sure, but let's not forget our overall plan to overthrow the government."
"WoW sure is addictive..."

That or it's equally funny to think that there is this entire group of gamers in the CIA who've completely scammed their bosses into paying for their subscriptions.

 

[Frission]

The U.S is cutting down on many essential agencies, yet they're keeping these branches of the NSA open? What are they thinking?

EDIT; Or it's one of the best scams to get the government to pay for WoW subscriptions.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

The chat features of online gaming really got the intelligence agencies steamed. There was a chance, the spies believed, that enemies could use chat to transmit secret messages, perhaps arranging a terror attack using code words like 'fireball'. Or perhaps the cash economies would be used to transmit funds.

Here's a thought:

Instead of collecting zettabytes of useless data in violation of the 4[sup]th[/sup] Amendment the NSA instead uses warrants to collect and/or monitor relevant chat-logs and transaction histories when they have an actual reason to suspect these things are happening.

 

[RandV80]

Honestly if they're already spying on every damned little thing then putting their all encompassing data mining to work on MMO's isn't really surprising.

 

[Weaver]

... Not quite as bad as phone-tapping and spying on foreign diplomats, but still not okay I suppose.

I kinda wish I knew what was going on in the heads of people giving out these orders.

They want to digest, process and monitor information. Any and all information. If there is a communications channel they aren't monitoring, they will monitor it.

I would bet $1000 this forum is logged in an NSA database and monitored. You can count on it.

People just don't seem to realize the scope of the NSA. It's gigantic and it's sole purpose in the last 15 years has been to suck in any and all data it possibly can. It's safe to assume their goal is to monitor any and all communications everywhere in the world at all times. Americans like to point at China as a government gone mad with power. China's intelligence collection pales in comparison to what the Americans do every second of every day.

 

[PinotEnvy]

I feel sorry for the poor bastard who had to listen in on Goldshire chat.

 

[Itchi_da_killa]

I'm thinking what happened is that some people just wanted to play WoW, and were able to successfully convince "who ever" was in charge to let them. In the guise of security of course. As long as reports were written, everything seemed legit to the higher ups.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

These people isolate themselves from society and spend years talking to a small group of people across the country... THEY MUST BE RADICALIZING AND PREPARING FOR AN ATTACK!

All these years we thought people were talking about in game assets when in reality they were codewords for real world weapons of...

I can't do it anymore, this is just too absurd.

 

[gamegod25]

Any terrorist/criminal stupid enough to discuss their illegal activities over any of these services kinda deserves to get caught. And frankly while I don't like the thought I'm being spied on i don't have anything to hide and if I did there would be far easier methods for them to find out anyway.

 

[Reyold]

Well that's just silly.

I mean WoW... Whoever approved of this initiative is probably a bit of a Dofus.
I guess they think these Secret Worlds are a perfect place for terrorists to plot and scheme.
Maybe they think it's absolute Anarchy Online and they want to keep an eye on it? But it will probably just serve widen the Rift between the government and the people.
But perhaps we should be happy to have these Champions Online to protect us from evil, if there are any threats online they'll know the full Fury of the government. I mean these guys just want to protect the Soul of the Ultimate Nation.
Who knows? They might uncover a whole City of Villains!
Or maybe this is a sign that there are Dark Ages ahead...
But honestly though this seems like a bit of a Dead Frontier as I don't think terrorists are actually hiding in these games. But even so they are venturing into a World of Darkness what with all the creeps and general idiots online.
But I guess they get a lot of time on their hands to become very good Dungeon Runners.

Seriously though, I'd Love for this to be fake. Sometimes I think they want to control everyone on this Earth & Beyond, I guess in a Perfect World there would be no suspicion.
Perhaps this truly is the Face of Mankind... Will this really be our Lineage?

That... that was brilliant. Well played, good sir.

OT: Oh goody. As if my government wasn't wasting enough money already.

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

"The chat features of online gaming really got the intelligence agencies steamed"

So they got all hot and bothered over all the "role play" going on in Goldshire and all of Second Life? Oohmyy~