Blizzard Entertainment Joins The Cast Of CSI: Big Brother
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[caption id="attachment_9518" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Casting agency still searching for a plucky female lead with a torn past."]
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There was a tidbit of news that dropped at the end of the year that any World of Warcraft player should know, because it concerns the privacy of your information. Way back on December 31st it came to light that Blizzard Entertainment had helped the Howard County Sheriff's Department track down an alleged drug dealer. Across country, not county, lines, no less.
Alfred Hightower had a warrant issued for his arrest in 2007. He was wanted for dealing in controlled substances and marijuana. During the investigation two pieces of information came out that ultimately lead to Hightower's arrest. Deputy Matt Roberson discovered that Hightower had fled the country, and that he enjoyed playing a little game called World of Warcraft. Taking a shot in the dark, Roberson, a retired WoW player himself, sent Blizzard a subpeona seeking any information the company would divulge.
Roberson hit the jackpot.
In accordance with the Terms of Service that Hightower agreed to by playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard sent the deputy loads of information on the suspect. His IP address, account information and history, billing address, preferred server and even his "online screen name" was handed over. With that much information in hand it became a routine bounty hunt.
“I did a search off the IP address to locate him,” said Roberson. “I got a longitude and latitude. Then I went to Google Earth. It works wonders. It uses longitude and latitude. Boom! I had an address. I was not able to go streetside at the location, but I had" his location in Canada.
This should serve as an important reminder to players that your information is never secure on the Internet. Big Brother Blizzard implications can now commence.
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There was a tidbit of news that dropped at the end of the year that any World of Warcraft player should know, because it concerns the privacy of your information. Way back on December 31st it came to light that Blizzard Entertainment had helped the Howard County Sheriff's Department track down an alleged drug dealer. Across country, not county, lines, no less.
Alfred Hightower had a warrant issued for his arrest in 2007. He was wanted for dealing in controlled substances and marijuana. During the investigation two pieces of information came out that ultimately lead to Hightower's arrest. Deputy Matt Roberson discovered that Hightower had fled the country, and that he enjoyed playing a little game called World of Warcraft. Taking a shot in the dark, Roberson, a retired WoW player himself, sent Blizzard a subpeona seeking any information the company would divulge.
Roberson hit the jackpot.
In accordance with the Terms of Service that Hightower agreed to by playing World of Warcraft, Blizzard sent the deputy loads of information on the suspect. His IP address, account information and history, billing address, preferred server and even his "online screen name" was handed over. With that much information in hand it became a routine bounty hunt.
“I did a search off the IP address to locate him,” said Roberson. “I got a longitude and latitude. Then I went to Google Earth. It works wonders. It uses longitude and latitude. Boom! I had an address. I was not able to go streetside at the location, but I had" his location in Canada.
This should serve as an important reminder to players that your information is never secure on the Internet. Big Brother Blizzard implications can now commence.
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