Posted on 12/11/2013 10:00:16 AM PST by Dave346
The NSA document, written in 2008 and titled Exploiting Terrorist Use of Games & Virtual Environments, stressed the risk of leaving games communities under-monitored, describing them as a "target-rich communications network" where intelligence targets could "hide in plain sight".
Games, the analyst wrote, "are an opportunity!". According to the briefing notes, so many different US intelligence agents were conducting operations inside games that a "deconfliction" group was required to ensure they weren't spying on, or interfering with, each other.
If properly exploited, games could produce vast amounts of intelligence, according to the NSA document. They could be used as a window for hacking attacks, to build pictures of people's social networks through "buddylists and interaction", to make approaches by undercover agents, and to obtain target identifiers (such as profile photos), geolocation, and collection of communications.
The ability to extract communications from talk channels in games would be necessary, the NSA paper argued, because of the potential for them to be used to communicate anonymously: Second Life was enabling anonymous texts and planning to introduce voice calls, while game noticeboards could, it states, be used to share information on the web addresses of terrorism forums.
Given that gaming consoles often include voice headsets, video cameras, and other identifiers, the potential for joining together biometric information with activities was also an exciting one.
But the documents contain no indication that the surveillance ever foiled any terrorist plots, nor is there any clear evidence that terror groups were using the virtual communities to communicate as the intelligence agencies predicted.
It is unclear how the agencies accessed their data, or how many communications were collected. Nor is it clear how the NSA ensured that it was not monitoring innocent Americans whose identity and nationality may have been concealed behind their virtual avatar.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
I want to join the NSA so I can play Halo all day and get paid!
not to worry, with the XBOX One, the NSA will be able to see and hear everything you do in your living room. The sensors so sensitive they can track your hands, feet, and your junk.
If some game developer produced a “Game” that instead of being some WWII war game, was a “USA Civil War II” game.
Put it on X-Box live, players can pick their side and coordinate their strategies and tactics with other players.
I wonder how much interest the NSA or FBI would have in monitoring players activity outside the gaming environment.
The NSA is out of control. General Alexander needs to be impeached by the House and removed by the Senate and then tried for violating the Privacy Act. The same goes true for John Clapper who should also face charges of willfully testifying falsely under oath to Congress.
I want to play that game!
Lord help them if they mess with my Minecraft world!!
So do I !!
I think it is an interesting idea for a game, but would be a massive undertaking to do it right.
I wonder if the NSA snoops into Playstation’s network
There are so many online games on PC too, how would they monitor all the players? It would be impossible wouldn’t it?
Right now the NSA is building new facilities that are 7 times larger than the pentagon.
http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2013/07/nsas-big-dig/67406/
With all of their supercomputers I wouldn’t put anything past them.
Big brother is everywhere now!
If the NSA can get into XBOX Live and track people, I assume they are able to do the same with PC Games as well as the Playstation Network..damn, and I was going to buy an XBOX ONE too(Since I already have a PS4) I turn off the XBOX when not in use anyway so the Kinect would be off as well
There are so many online games on PC too, how would they monitor all the players? It would be impossible wouldn’t it?
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If the NSA were given access by Xbox etc to their data feeds, they can monitor everything.
The problem they would have would be trying to determine the difference between legitimate “gaming chatter” and real terrorist chatter/planning etc.
It seems to be all about the company you keep.
If they can turn on your webcam without you knowing it and listen to a cellphone when its turned off, then they probably can listen/watch the Kinect while the console is off.
yes it is
The NSA has tons of blackmail material on CONgressmen. We need to get rid of all of them - every current and former Republican and Democrat.
Its scary what the NSA has become..they are probably tracking blogs and what everyone is saying..scary times indeed..now I wonder if I should even bother getting an XBOX ONE..the games for it now are not super great but they will be over time
“Destiny” sounds really cool.
A lot of the processing will done in the cloud. A lot of the action you see in the game isn’t even done by your consoles processor. Something sort of new and different.
Sort of a Halo meets Independence Day type game I read.
A new system update is being rolled out today which is going to fix a lot of problems. I guess if I do buy one(Since Best Buy and Amazon both have them currently in stock, well, they are pretty much in stock everywhere) I will buy it from a place where I can return it if its defective, since some people have complained about dvd drives that refuse to open and make weird noises..Also Titanfall looks good
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