It is worthwhile for you to keep your distance from the world of games. You never know for sure, who is listening to your conversations in the games! In an article published by The Guardian it was reported that the US and the UK government agencies eavesdropped on various communications made in the games like World of Warcraft, Second Life and Xbox Live and various other games and portals.
The GCHQ supposedly came up with the plan to develop “exploit packages” for the Xbox Live and the games similarly. This was planned to be carried out so as to help the agencies in spotting people related to the Al Qaeda who were using such games and the forms of virtual communication thereon for the purposes of communicating and training also. This platform available to the terrorists is much comfortable and convenient for them, and usually goes unnoticed, but not this time.
The report also disclosed that the targets were not only Al Qaeda members but also Chinese hackers, Hamas members, and Iranian Nuclear Scientist and the members of Hezbollah. The games and virtual worlds prove not only as a means to monitor their communication but also helps in slipping malware into their systems which then coughs up more data. One can easily determine their geographical locations and information on their connections, which are virtual connections as well as physical connections to the systems.
The GCHQ has been very instrumental and vocal in developing and enabling modules to work on the games and virtual environments (GVEs). By early 2007, they had enabled test versions for modules of Xbox Live and World of Warcraft, likewise. The British Agency had expected integration to be successful by April 2008. The NSA in the US emphasizes on the need of the agency to develop new projects to accommodate the new games that the targets are switching over to.
NSA with its already available intrusive surveillance options is teaming up with other agencies. All the agencies should come together for a collaborative effort and develop strategies for the GVEs by atleast GCHQ, CIA, FBI and NSA.
