For all the battling you do against the forces of darkness in your favorite online games, the United States and British intelligence agencies ballooning with fattened budgets in a post 9/11 fear state have decided that you and all the gamers you interact with in massive virtual worlds pose a threat to the safety of citizens everywhere.
A document shared by NSA-whistleblower Edward Snowden, currently holed up in a Russian brothel where no internet will ever go, details the lengths at which government agencies have gone to infiltrate your favorite online games. The report begins:
Although online gaming may seem like an innocuous form of entertainment, when the basic features and capabilities are examined, it could potentially become a target-rich communication network.
Well, I suppose when every single human being on the planet is a target, yes online games present target-rich environments, but how many agency operators have been caught jerking it to dancing night elves on the tax payer's dime?
The documents from Snowden actually reveal that so many government spies were wandering around Second Life looking for terrorists that a "deconfliction" group was formed to ensure that these agents avoid stepping on each other's toes in the search for bad dudes. That sounds even scarier than Watch Dogs given that those Second–Life-snooping agents could have also attacked you with virtual dildos at any moment in-game.
The report continues to say that terrorists love the Internet, games, Voice Over IP, and other communications tools, which leaves me to ask why those thugs on the Vonage commercials are allowed to litter and get away with it.
Between the British and American "intelligence" forces at work, Xbox Live, World of Warcraft, Second Life, and more entertainment software networks have been infiltrated at what sounds like a base level. The standard response from representatives at Blizzard is that they were "unaware of any surveillance taking place" and that "it would have been done without our knowledge or permission." Here are 5 games you've been playing with NSA and GCHQ operatives.
Soooooo, is anyone doing anything about the problem? How many voices will it take to shout over the insane volume of money pouring into democratic systems like the one we have in America? This entire system of "safety" is a joke.
Thanks to tipster elmoreoocyte.
