Virtual worlds could be used to plan attacks, agency says.
By Bianca Fox
02/12/2008
WASHINGTON - The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects
Activity said on Monday that terrorists might be occupying virtual worlds,
including Second Life, to meet and share ideas.
The IARPA, part of the U.S. intelligence
community that focuses on developing technologies, said the CIA has a presence
in Second Life, where they conduct meetings and training. The IARPA suggests
setting up "Red" teams of intelligence operatives dedicated to investigating
virtual worlds and tracking potential threats.
"The virtual world is the next great frontier
and, in some respects, is still very much a Wild West environment," the IARPA
said. "Unfortunately, what started out as a benign environment where people
would congregate to share information or explore fantasy worlds is now offering
the opportunity for religious [and] political extremists to recruit, rehearse,
transfer money and ultimately engage in information warfare or worse with
impunity."
The IARPA report has been questioned by
privacy campaigners. Jim Dempsey, policy director at the Center for Democracy
and Technology, pointed out that the government had said the same things about the
Internet and mobile phones.
"They want to control this technology and
make it even easier to tap than it already is," he said. "When the
government is finished, every new technology becomes a more powerful
surveillance tool than the technology before it."
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