Long arm of law reaches into World of Warcraft – kokomo persepective.com — Was Blizzard right to give the users info to the police?
Two weeks ago, Howard County Sheriff’s Department deputy Matt Roberson tracked down a wanted fugitive through one of the most popular games on the Internet — World of Warcraft. And he got his man.
[…]
“We received information that this guy was a regular player of an online game, which was referred to as ‘some warlock and witches’ game,” said Roberson. “None of that information was sound enough to pursue on its own, but putting everything we had together gave me enough evidence to send a subpoena to Blizzard Entertainment. I knew exactly what he was playing — World of Warcraft. I used to play it. It’s one of the largest online games in the world.”
[…]
“They don’t have to respond to us, and I was under the assumption that they wouldn’t,” said Roberson. “It had been three or four months since I had sent the subpoena. I just put it in the back of my mind and went on to do other things. Then I finally got a response from them. They sent me a package of information. They were very cooperative. It was nice that they were that willing to provide information.”Blizzard did more than cooperate. It gave Roberson everything he needed to track down Hightower, including his IP address, his account information and history, his billing address, and even his online screen name and preferred server. From there it was a simple matter to zero in on the suspect’s location.
I suddenly have a reason to like coronary heart disease.
But no word on what this guy is allegedly accused of? Aren’t there laws against cyber-stalking? I guess it depends on what crimes he’s accused of; like murder, rape or something violent, and if he’s still a danger to society. Other than that Blizzard shoulda minded their own business, and kept a loyal paying customer.
Makes me wonder how easy it would be to bullshit to Blizzard on ppl you meet on WoW and get a nice “package” of information to stalk some online-lover, or enemy.
[RTFA :)- It was drugs – h.]
My god, they’re like saucers.
And that photo is precisely the reason why I read this site on RSS.
The man is an alleged drug dealer.
Read the Agreement, Blizzard owns you once you click ok. PERIOD.
Ah drug dealer, that qualifies as a threat to society. So, yeah track his ass down in the world of Azeroth! Huzzah!
I’ll never look at peperoni pizza the same way again…
Is he a wanna-be member?
What will bloggers do when finally people wake up and realise that the internet is not some alien thing and is just another form of communication and expression.
I wonder if telephone was viewed the same way as in 1910?
Cursor_
#11 the telephone didn’t scour the world for lunatics, and allowed them to communicate easily. They reenforce and enable each others delusions. This site attracts disagreeable assholes like myself, and there is no chance any consensus will be formed here.
that “man” is a woman.
There is nothing more silly than a pasty white kid acting black.
The content of this picture is just wrong on so many levels.
#12, RT,
Ya but, you’re a nice disagreeable asshole.
😉
Once again, I thank God for my image block plug-in for Firefox.
“Uncensored” indeed…
Please never use that photo again or risk turning this into a fetish site!
Blizzard is being seen as the bad guy here, but the larger question looms: What defense do companies and consumers that aggregate information in “the cloud” have against dubious law enforcement agencies that want to conduct endless fishing expeditions?
>Blizzard is being seen as the bad guy here
They actually got a warrant and a subpoena from a real judge, proper due process? I claim fowl!
I thought these companies automatically handed over any details they wanted to anyone claiming any links to government.
Aw, c’mon, I met some of those guys at Blizzard way, way, back, when they were sweating to distribute Warcraft I. I was a BBS sysop/owner. Seemed nice hard working folks. I’ve watched them bring out product after product and was thrilled to see their success with WOW. They really broke new ground with it and the industry has enjoyed much success thanks to their example. Online games will make piracy a thing of the past. Oh, and if you think all those consoles playing all those other games online don’t cooperate with the law you’re delusional.
#19
Think about this though: The subpoena issued for this information had no jurisdiction in California.
But who cares about details like that right? After all, only people that have something to hide should worry about the government going through their stuff.
# 19 Nobody said, on January 5th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
“I claim fowl!”
I’m sure you can have that turkey.
Slew of a thousand needles. Another example that the world is steadily becoming more ubiquitous. I wait for the day when you can’t take a sh!t without your toilet analyzing your DNA/stool sample and sending police over because you’ve eaten something containing illegal drugs or outlawed transfats.