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This is not as silly as it appears. I spend a lot of time 'in' an online game playing with one of my relatives. We have a collective circle of online friends a

This is not as silly as it appears. I spend a lot of time 'in' an online game playing with one of my relatives. We have a collective circle of online friends and we know when something is up with any of our friends. If they have not logged on all day that is a cause of concern. Equally, if someone is going to be away from the game for a few days then they will let everyone know. I doubt they would email the same to everyone in their address book. With aforementioned relative I know if she is working from home, on business or with time to herself. Her involvement in the game shows that. I know more from her gameplay than I do from emails or from what anyone else in the family has to say. Important family news is relayed in game rather than on the phone or in email. Email might be moved to if something needs to be discussed away from a public forum, but, that first message, in-game is best. As for online friends, I am not that picky. I have online in-game friends from all over the world and I don't care if they are raving Christian nutters. In real life I would not have time for those that want to quote the bible to me every day, but I will tolerate it in-game, so long as they further my game goals. Therefore I am easier to befriend in-game than in real life. I get up to things that my friends and family don't get to hear about, they are not to know. However, if I was to be targeted for spying then the in-game communication would show whether I was busy with something else or not. I don't have to conspire with others in-game for the communications to be useful, so I don't think the NSA/GCHQ actually have to be looking for 'bomb plots', just a level of game devotion.

Zigurd 13y ago
> This is not as silly as it appears. Oh yes it is. This is the readily and deservedly lampoon-ready tail end of snooping on everything without know what you are looking for.
MrZongle2 13y ago
This is not as silly as it appears. No offense, but it IS that silly. Look at all the missed opportunities to stop the 9/11 hijackers. Look at the neglected follow-ups prior to the Boston Marathon bombings. Are we supposed to believe that agencies that ignore or under-prioritize basic law enforcement/counterintelligence warning signs about potential terrorists are somehow going to do something useful with a World of Warcraft chat log? This is waste, fraud and abuse at best. At worst, it is another example of using the "terrorism" boogeyman to monitor innocent people.

Zigurd 13y ago

> This is not as silly as it appears. Oh yes it is. This is the readily and deservedly lampoon-ready tail end of snooping on everything without know what you are looking for.

MrZongle2 13y ago

This is not as silly as it appears. No offense, but it IS that silly. Look at all the missed opportunities to stop the 9/11 hijackers. Look at the neglected follow-ups prior to the Boston Marathon bombings. Are we supposed to believe that agencies that ignore or under-prioritize basic law enforcement/counterintelligence warning signs about potential terrorists are somehow going to do something useful with a World of Warcraft chat log? This is waste, fraud and abuse at best. At worst, it is another example of using the "terrorism" boogeyman to monitor innocent people.