5 thoughts on “NSA Intelligence Contractors Created Online Games to Lure Islamist Terrorists – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. From your NYT link –
    “But for all their enthusiasm — so many C.I.A., F.B.I. and Pentagon spies were hunting around in Second Life, the document noted, that a “deconfliction” group was needed to avoid collisions — the intelligence agencies may have inflated the threat.”

    Dutch ministers have been denying their role in cooperating with NSA spying …
    Infiltration method Dutch intelligence (AIVD) in gaming Second Life presented to an intelligence congress in New York in 2008.

  2. I think you’re attributing the media hype on this one to the NSA and GCHQ, when the reality was, as has actually been in the public domain for a few years now, that they thought that online games could allow terrorists and criminals to exchange information in an untraceable manner.

    There was also the matter of crime involving the virtual currencies used in these virtual worlds, and there have actually been real-world prosecutions (and a conviction) for stealing virtual currency and selling it to other gamers for real money.

    I am not sure that Al Qaeda is the likeliest group to take advantage of this, but perhaps the Animal Rights Militia didn’t make a dramatic enough headline.

    There is real world crime being worked through online gaming, and it’s obvious that at some point someone has to go and look to see what’s going on.

    It’s also the case that some college and school shooters have been very heavy online gamers, so I can see some scope for law enforcement interest from that angle too.

    So I think the substance behind all this hype is that now and then someone goes online and has a look, or maybe even monitors the gaming activity of someone they suspect anyway, not just in case he’s communicating via the game, which is a serious possibility, but also because his conduct in the game may actually allow his state of mind to be assessed. (A bit numb and detached, for the average gamer.)

    The rest is probably hype, bragging and third hand exaggeration.

  3. Speaking of the NSA I am curious how richard communicates with his sources inside Israel. If not encrypted it would seem that every message would be widely known especially if his source is a government official. This would imply that these leaks are sanctioned. I am raising this question not because of any personal hostility — I like this blog and find the perspectives refreshing. I am curious about why so many others are so suspicious of this site.

    1. Any decent reporter has a variety of sources, some official & sanctioned & others not. In addition official sources leak for a wide variety of reasons, some laudatory & some patently self-serving. It’s the job of a good reporter to examine not just the information, but the context & reasons it was offered to you. That’s why this can be a very delicate dance.

      Though it’s easy to see why the right wing hates what I do & disparages it. It’s more interesting to examine the motives of liberal Zionists & the left who accuse me of being a dupe of the Mossad. It is they who are shallow and lacking in understanding of the value of what I do.

  4. “…project a big flap-doodle.” Colorful but maybe yes, maybe no. It is highly unlikely you or most people in NSA for that matter would be made aware of the successful recruitment of potential agents: especially without the help from the ilk of the thief and traitor Snowden.

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