U.S. Warns of Second Life Terrorist Threat

Virtual worlds could be used to plan attacks, agency says.

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."