US and UK spies infiltrate Second Life, World of Warcraft and other online games, Snowden's NSA documents show

AMERICAN and British spies are infiltrating the online worlds of Second Life and World of Warcraft to collect information about users, documents show.

Second Life

AMERICAN and British spies are infiltrating the online worlds of Second Life and World of Warcraft to collect information about users, documents show.

Stories carried by The New York Times, the Guardian, and ProPublica said US and UK spies have spent years trawling online games for terrorists or informants.

The stories, based on documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, offer an unusual take on America's world-spanning surveillance campaign, suggesting that even the fantasy worlds popular with children, teens, and escapists of all ages aren't beyond the attention of the NSA and its British counterpart, GCHQ.

Virtual universes like World of Warcraft can be massively popular, drawing in millions of players who log months' worth of real-world time competing with other players for online glory, virtual treasure, and magical loot.

At its height, World of Warcraft boasted some 12 million paying subscribers, more than the population of Greece. Other virtual worlds, like Linden Labs' Second Life or the various games hosted by Microsoft's Xbox - home to the popular science fiction-themed shoot-em-up Halo - host millions more.

Spy agencies have long worried that such games serve as a good cover for terrorists or other evildoers who could use in-game messaging systems to swap information. In one of the documents cited Monday by media outlets, the NSA warned that the games could give intelligence targets a place to "hide in plain sight."

Linden Labs and Microsoft did not immediately return messages seeking comment. In a statement, Blizzard Entertainment said that it is "unaware of any surveillance taking place. If it was, it would have been done without our knowledge or permission."

Microsoft issued a similar statement, saying it is "not aware of any surveillance activity. If it has occurred as reported, it certainly wasn't done with our consent."

The 82-page-document, published on The New York Times' website, also noted that opponents could use video games to recruit other users or carry out virtual weapons training - pointing to the September 11, 2001, hijackers as examples of terrorists who had used flight simulation software to hone their skills.

Important details - such as how the agencies secured access to gamers' data, how many players' information was compromised, or whether Americans were swept up in the spying - were not clear, the Times and ProPublica said, but the reports point to a determined effort to infiltrate a world many people associate with adolescents and shut-ins.

At the request of GCHQ, the NSA began extracting World of Warcraft data from its global intelligence haul, trying to tie specific accounts and characters to Islamic extremism and arms dealing efforts, the Guardian reported.

Intelligence on the fantasy world could eventually translate to real-world espionage success, one of the documents suggested, noting that World of Warcraft subscribers included "telecom engineers, embassy drivers, scientists, the military and other intelligence agencies."

World of Warcraft wasn't the only target.

Another memo noted that GCHQ had "successfully been able to get the discussions between different game players on Xbox Live." Meanwhile, so many US spies were roaming around Second Life that a special "deconfliction" unit was set up to prevent them from stepping on each other's toes.

It comes as eight major technology companies joined forces to call for tighter controls on government surveillance, issuing an open letter on Monday to US President Barack Obama arguing for reforms in the way the US snoops on people.

The companies, which include Google, Facebook and Twitter, said that while they sympathise with national security concerns, recent revelations make it clear that laws should be carefully tailored to balance them against individual rights.

"The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual - rights that are enshrined in our Constitution,'' the letter said. "This undermines the freedoms we all cherish. It's time for a change.''

The letter follows this summer's revelations by Snowden, who leaked details of the secret programs that critics argue violate privacy rights.

Intelligence officials argue that the NSA's tactics have helped to disrupt terror attacks and that they've taken care not to routinely look at the content of conversations or messages by American citizens.

But the technology companies' campaign - aimed at governments across the globe - argues that officials should codify "sensible limitations on their ability to compel service providers to disclose user data'' and to ensure that law enforcement and intelligence efforts should be transparent and accountable. In comments attached to the campaign's website, CEOs and senior leaders of the companies also weighed in, making it clear they were personally behind reform.

"Reports about government surveillance have shown there is a real need for greater disclosure and new limits on how governments collect information,'' said Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook. "The US government should take this opportunity to lead this reform effort and make things right.''

Marissa Meyer, the chief executive at Yahoo, said the disclosures had "shaken the trust of our users.''

The letter was signed by AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter. and Yahoo!

Opponents of the US government's global espionage program appeared to give the campaign a cautious welcome, although some of them said Silicon Valley's stance probably had more to do with profit than principle.

"It sure would have been nice if the tech companies had been loudly supporting intelligence reform before Snowden's disclosures,'' said Chris Soghoian, a senior analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union.

WikiLeaks, which has helped Snowden win temporary asylum in Russia, said in a tweet that the corporations were only speaking out against mass surveillance "after seeing profit problems over their complicity in it.''