Is it good intelligence or simply more war on terror paranoia? We may never know. But the US intelligence agency, Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) has warned that terroristmight be using Second Life or other virtual communities to meet and plan ideas for the future, according to a report on Vnunet. They’re so serious about it that they’ve recommended agencies put teams of operatives in virtual worlds to track activity. Of course, agenciessaid the same thing about the Internet and cell phones, which has led to increased surveillance powers on both, raising the hackles of privacy advocates. But IARPA, insisting the virtualworlds are a “Wild West environment,” said, "Unfortunately, what started out as a benign environment where people would congregate to share information or explore fantasyworlds is now offering the opportunity for religious/political extremists to recruit, rehearse, transfer money and ultimately engage in information warfare or worse with impunity."
Tag Archive: intelligence
Terrorists Using Virtual Worlds To Plan?
Multimedia Phones to Outsell TVs in 2008?
When most people think of mass media, one item that almost always comes to mind is that perennial favorite, the television. From the almost quaintly naïve days of “Uncle Miltie” and Jack Parr through contemporary abominations like a channel dedicated to an aquarium and Rock of Love, for generations television has been the mass medium of choice for many cultures, and a perpetual best-seller.
Would you believe it’s about to be eclipsed by the multimedia phone?
According to market research form Multimedia Intelligence, worldwide shipments of multimedia phones are on track to overtake worldwide shipments of televisions in 2008, totaling some 300 million units for the year.
AIs May Call Virtual Worlds Home
If artificial intelligence developers like Novamente have their way, virtual worlds like Second Life may soon become training grounds for self-directed artificial intelligence applications which learn by interacting with their environments—and with the virtual people populating them. And maybe users will be able to own their own AI-powered companions.
