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Does Anonymity In Virtual Worlds Breed Terrorism?
An Anonymous Coward writes "The Washington Post has an article about the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity's take on the numerous virtual worlds (e.g. Second Life) that have cropped up in recent years. IARPA's thesis is that because the Government can't currently monitor all the communication and interaction, terrorists will plot and scheme in such environments."
no more than anonymity in the real world breeds bank robbery.
The government can't monitor what I'm saying to my co-workers at this moment, either. Maybe terrorists will plot things in our work environment, too. They can't monitor what I say to my friends on the street. Better make going outside illegal. Who pays these people to say stupid stuff? Oh, I forgot - that's where taxes go. Maybe Ron Paul really is onto something with his talk about cutting unnecessary parts of the government (I'm Australian, so I can't vote for him).
I always knew those gnomes in the tram were up to something!
-mrxak
Onions Will Kill You
I don't see a problem with creating a virtual tower and airplane... Maybe we should have a virtual reality world where you can blow yourself up and be reborn in heaven. If it is addictive enough it may curb real life terrorism.
Our (the US) government and its intelligence agencies are getting a little out of hand.
because the Government can't currently monitor all the communication and interaction, terrorists will plot and scheme in such environments.
If by "terrorists", you mean "furries" and "furry sympathizers", then I would have to agree with you.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
These people were paid to say, "Hey, um, terrorists might use the global communications network to communicate with one another." Better tear it down. Glad our taxes are going to good use.
Fact: Stupid articles like this breed terrorism.
and I will blow up anyone who says otherwise.
Just like free-thinking and education breeds terrorism...
Be A Patriot! Don't Read!
Will terrorists will plot and scheme where the government cannot monitor them?
Yes, of course!
Will it help to let the government monitor everywhere?
Maybe a bit, if it is possible. But it would mean that we destroy the kind of society we are trying to defend against the terrorists.
Any more rediculous sensationalist statements? Sjeesj. I don't know about you people, but I'm not living out my life fearing the next, so-called terrorist, action.
Bye! Gotta get to work.
MMO Vampire Role Playing
The simple fact that humans organize into Governments that think that they can with impunity kill other human beings in other parts of the world is what breeds terrorism. When you bomb people a fraction of those that survive, or their relatives, or descendants, may at their choice become fighters against those bombers or those who otherwise terrorized them. It's simple primitive brain response to being killed and all humans still have that primitive brain, it's known as our lizard brain. It's responsible for the fight, flight or freeze response.
So YES, any place that people gather, or communicate one on one, one on many or many on many will be a place where potential plans for evil deeds are carried out. The Pentagon is one such place for those with organized power centers while other places, real or virtual are places where those kinds of communications can occur.
Those in power are those that kill. They are often the ones that also need to be stopped along with the - so called - terrorists that they fight. They both carry out evil deeds including killing.
And why would terrorists download a special client, usually made for graphics-intensive computers, and pay a monthly fee to hop in and "PM" Osama405_bigluv their nefarious plans? I thought terrorism's aims were generally low-budget and crass, not web 2.0.
:P Whenever there's a bunch of people trying to get a meeting done, it's done in Skype, or email, or IRC, or Basecamp.
Ever heard of IRC? Email? Smoke signals?
Just chatting in virtual worlds is too time consuming if you want to convey information quickly and easily. I should know, I work in them.
hookers and grits.
Nothing terrorists can do is a bigger threat to our freedom and way of life than nincompoops who think all communication should be government monitored.
No really, you want /b/ to take over the world?
Think of it, Memes filling every newspaper, kittehs running wild in the streets, and lets not even go into the bucket..
Terrorism is a phenomena that is internal to countries. Terrorists regard themselves as freedom fighters. terrorism occurs where people have been suppressed by a regime, and want their freedom back. They are not well armed, or have large numbers of forces at their disposal, so they rely on tactics to pressurise the population of a country to invoke change. Generally only small numbers of people are killed by terrorism, but the technique invokes fear, which in turn prompts for change.
What is happening in America is not terrorism. It bears none of the characteristic traits. It is something else. Terrorism is probably something that will emerge in America in the next few years as/if the government becomes more suppressive. People seeking their liberty back will unite and work together to return liberty to USA. The current legislation being put in place is a strategy to counter the ability of people to unite and rise up against a government.
If I was American or British right now, I would be very concerned.
Participatory Governance : The only feasible option for a real democracy, where everyone really does have a say.
Using Second Life and "virtual worlds" to formulate terrorist plans? Why? Don't telephones, email, and real world meetings (that's when you are actually in the same room with someone, or outside near them, look it up) all work for these people? I don't know much about plotting against governments, but if I want to plan to go out for dinner tomorrow night, I am not going to make sure I have a computer running Second Life, create an account, wait for my friends to login, then make plans online; much easier to call them on the phone, send an email, or drop by to see them. Silly. Out of all forms of communication, I'd have to rank Second Life, etc. as about the most cumbersome and least convenient.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
Expect that to be severly curtailed real soon, too.
Visit CryptoGnome in his home.
Terrorism?
plotting dangerous megalomaniacal schemes around my kitchen table either.
Because they don't know I'm a terrorist.
Oh, Sh**t! What's that red dot?
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Even sysadmins can't get away with that. The best we can do is sit around all day playing slashdot and get paid for it.
Carrying a lightning rod around will actually increase your chances of being struck.
Just so you know. I mean, I wouldn't want to see somebody get hurt.
What made so many Americans such cowards?
It has been a slow, degenerative process. The causes will probably all be obvious in the end, but that will be too late.
Of course if I'm a terrorist I'm going to get people in place all over the US, and openly discuss my plans AFTER everyone is in place, in front of countless online witnesses, any one of which might not want us to kill them as opposed to making the plans before we came over and NOT EVER MENTIONING THEM.
If the terrorists are really that incompetant, we don't need to stop them, because they're just going to mess their own plan up anyway.
So two possibilities remain:
1. This is a blatant move towards a police state, leaving people too afraid to speak their mind (ala China).
2. There's legitimate reason to fear a massive uprising of "terrorism" from AMERICANS themselves. This sort of thing doesn't just happen in a vacuum. If this is expected, it begs the question, what are those pushing this bill planning to do that's so horrible Americans would revolt in large numbers? This is not a fear of legitimate governments that AREN'T looking to do something horrible.
Someone might speculate that perhaps they aren't worried about ordinary citizens or terrorists, but that perhaps there's another secret group we don't know about (or the extent of) seeking to infiltrate the government. Darn those commies trying to sneak back in! If there was such a group, and they were well coordinated enough to make such an attempt, don't you think they'ed have their own encrypted communications, and possibly face to face IRL meetings that left no record?
One way or another, this doesn't pass the smell test.
Anonymity breeds terrorism. end of sentence.
s/anonymity/desperation and you have a valid argument. Anonymity is completely counter to all the goals of terrorism. You cannot effect political change, if you do not reveal yourself or your motivations. Anonymous terrorism is just plain old murder. Doing it in secret defeats the purpose.
It helps to be anonymous when you are in the planning stages, but it is pointless to remain anonymous after the fact.
Unlike telephone communications or bank records, there are few, if any, regulations covering privacy in MMOs. If terrorists are clever enough to figure out using the drafts folder of a hotmail account for communicating, they're clever enough to figure out that Blizzard probably won't even ask for a subpoena, they'll just record the keystrokes of anyone the NSA asks them to.
Anyone who loves or hates any language, platform, or manufacturer, doesn't know what they're talking about.
Virtual worlds come about last in the list of options. If you were a terrorist and you wanted to communicates would you:
- Talk in a virtual world, where you could be monitored if suspected
- Talk in the real world in some random location
- Use a off prepaid mobiles, brought for cash
- Use heavily encrypted emails, where they would know who you were talking too but not what you said
- Post stenographic encrypted images on Flicr (images which hold a hidden coded message, not visible to normal users), where they could not tell what you said or who you sait it to. Possibility of finding out people who regularly checked images, though if it was good porn....
- Get a spam company to send a message to millions of people with stenographic encrypted messages or pre-arranged phrases. (other terrorists don't need to regualrly check images)
I am sure that most of you can think up some more "better than second life" means of covert communication.we also scheme heavily on slashdot.
Does Anonymity In Virtual Worlds Breed Terrorism?
No, it is repression and colonialism in real world that breeds terrorism.
There you are, staring at me again.
The number of false positives is going to be astronomical. A bunch of terrorists planning a attack is going to sound very much like a bunch of spotty teens planing to raid the Dungeon of Crushing Inevitability.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I'm sure they're keeping terrorist recruiters or suspected terrorists under surveilance right now.
You americans make me laugh. Yeah, the government has everything under control. Keep believing it, after all it's only another lie.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
"Generally only small numbers of people are killed by terrorism" - well just 10,500+ since 9/11... no big deal right. You won't care if they kill you then?
I find it interesting the way you can pull numbers out of your ass. 10,500 people? Oh wait, are you including troops and contractors who invaded foreign countries without a formal declaration of war (against the Rules of War) and who persist on foreign soil in a de facto state of war, without any clear goals for withdrawal (against the Geneva conventions), and have been killed by nationals of those countries who resent being occupied by foreigners? Seems to me a certain nation told the British just where they could stick it a few hundred years ago too. But THAT wasn't "terrorism" back then, was it?
See when I was young, a "terrorist" was someone who blew things up for political reasons, like the IRA, ETA, PLO, etc. They'd hijack airplanes, blow up discos and hotels, etc. But NOW it seems that the very ambiguous word "terrorist" has been broadened to include "anyone who shoots at American troops" or even better "anyone who is shot at by American troops". In fact soon it will include "Anyone we call a terrorist". 10,500 people since 9/11. Right.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
- Government bans such activities because it is disrupting work of government agencies.
- Government bans encryption (unless using NSA approved algorithms or keys).
From what I read USA is not far from it.If it supports anonymous free speech. Any uncontrolled arena in life will be viewed by government as a threat. That's why the Bill of Rights was written in the first place.
Pavlov wouldn't be so famous if he'd used a can opener instead of a bell.
Given that our government keeps firing translators, terrorists would just have to speak in a foreign language. No other measure would be necessary.
Are they seriously trying to imply that we won't be safe unless the government can monitor all communication, all the time? I.e. that any kind of privacy breeds terrorism?
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
They are there now, plotting, and terrorizing.
We call them griefers .
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
It's just too hard to govern when we act as if the Constitution meant something. It would just be easier for overworked bureaucrats, politicians, and CEO's if we just submitted our will to a Larger Program. Don't you think?
Oh, wait... I said "think". Slip of the tongue! I may need more reeducation.
What breeds terrorism?
Lets see...
Turning a country into a war zone;
Turning whole populations into refugees;
Military occupations with checkpoints, no knock searches, arbitrary detentions, torture, etc.;
Desperation;
Hopelessness; and
Training religious fanatics in terrorist techniques, arming them, and funding them, until they defeat your enemy for you and then abandoning them.
Yep all of those things are really good at breeding terrorism, but I don't see anonymity in virtual worlds anywhere on the list. Nope. Sorry.
-- QED