[Air-L] terrorism, web 2.0/3D & moral panic

[Alex Halavais]

I was at a conference on open source intelligence put on last summer
by the office of the Director of National Intelligence in the US, and
several people from various branches of the intelligence services
noted that they were actively seeking virtual ethnographers to work
with in understanding how to make better use of virtual worlds. I was
a little surprised to hear this, but it seems to grow out of the
Army's active use of what they are calling "Human Terrain
Teams"--anthropologists and other social scientists embedded in
military units.

This raises obvious ethical dilemmas. While I don't know if the CIA is
meeting in Second Life, I'm hardly as dismissive as Tracy is below.
Given that people in the intelligence industry routinely keep blogs
and participate on Wikipedia (when they are not adding to the secure
Intellipedia, the CIA's secure(r) version of Wikipedia), it doesn't
strike me as all that odd that they--like other organizations--might
try forms of training in Second Life. Those being sent into Iraq by
the US military currently train in Arabic using a system built on the
(ironically) Unreal engine, I believe, so Second Life seems like an
obvious way to develop training exercises.

Although I have no direct experience of this, it also seems very
likely to me that many people that would be of interest to a national
intelligence force would meet in second life. Sure: including
terrorists. I've run into white supremacists (or at least those
playing at being white supremacists) in Second Life, and given the
terrorist threat of White Nationalists and other hate groups in the
US, I can see why you would want to keep an eye on this. Hate groups
of all types have made effective use of the internet for recruiting in
the past, and despite Second Life's restrictions on hate speech, I
would be shocked if they didn't make use of Second Life in this way.

Yes, ill-informed statements about new technology can lead to
reporting that fuels hyperbolic fear. On the other hand, I would be
very disappointed in government agencies charged with gathering
knowledge that ignored--as they largely have in the past--open
repositories of information. Yes, open information can be used by the
enemy as well, but the solution to this problem is to become at least
as expert as they are in exploiting that resource.

- Alex


On Feb 16, 2008 10:07 AM, T. Kennedy <tkennedy at netwomen.ca> wrote:
> Subject: Re: [Air-L] Canadian general warns that Wikipedia postings may be
> aiding the Taliban
>
> Oh but wait, I thought Second Life was a terrorist threat according to
> IARPA:
>
> http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2209187/agency-warns-second-life
>
> (note the line: "the CIA already has a presence in Second Life which it uses
> for meetings & training" lol - sure!)
>
> Anyone else seeing a trend here? Moral panic? Media hype? Revisiting old
> hype & fears from internet days gone by?
>
> t
>

-- 


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// Social Architect
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