Former CIA and NSA employee source of intelligence leaks

[Zanza]

I wonder how much of The man Without a Country's claims stem from actual belief, and how much they stem from his need to justify his own botched attempt to become famous.  As he gets more shrill, the vibe I get is closer to the latter.

Botched attempt to become famous?
The man is known around the world, he has become a hero and an icon to some and a traitor to others. But he is clearly famous.

He gets more press here than any other American except for Barack Obama.

[Neil]

I wonder how much of The man Without a Country's claims stem from actual belief, and how much they stem from his need to justify his own botched attempt to become famous.  As he gets more shrill, the vibe I get is closer to the latter.

Botched attempt to become famous?
The man is known around the world, he has become a hero and an icon to some and a traitor to others. But he is clearly famous.

Perhaps, but I don't think he's enjoying it the way he wanted to.  Life outside of North America is pretty grim, and life in Russia doubly so.

[Zanza]

Moscow is pretty cool. As long as you have enough cash, you can definitely have a very good time there.

[Razgovory]

I wonder how much of The man Without a Country's claims stem from actual belief, and how much they stem from his need to justify his own botched attempt to become famous.  As he gets more shrill, the vibe I get is closer to the latter.

Botched attempt to become famous?
The man is known around the world, he has become a hero and an icon to some and a traitor to others. But he is clearly famous.

He gets more press here than any other American except for Barack Obama.

I wonder if would get so much coverage in Germany if he revealed phone tapping in Pakistan or Nigeria.

[Zanza]

I am certain that he wouldn't get anywhere near the same coverage then.

[Razgovory]

I am certain that he wouldn't get anywhere near the same coverage then.

Yeah, I suspect so.  Funny that.

[Neil]

Moscow is pretty cool. As long as you have enough cash, you can definitely have a very good time there.

And so long as you don't mind getting murdered.

Still, I doubt that he has tons of cash on hand.

[grumbler]

Botched attempt to become famous?
The man is known around the world, he has become a hero and an icon to some and a traitor to others. But he is clearly famous.

His revelations are famous but himself... not so much.  He is much more like Manning than, say, Solzhenitsyn.

[CountDeMoney]

It would be a real shame if he came down with a terminal case of the sniffles.

[Ed Anger]

I await the day his toothpaste explodes.

[Neil]

Why not hit him with some polonium?

[Ed Anger]

A fate devised by Col Flagg is more entertaining.

[Savonarola]

Your tax dollars at work:

NSA spied on 'World of Warcraft,' other online games, leaked documents show

You can never trust a Halfling again.

The National Security Agency (NSA) and UK sister agency GCHQ sought to infiltrate the massive virtual worlds in online video games such as "World of Warcraft" and interactive environments like "Second Life," according to the latest secret documents stolen by Edward Snowden and jointly released by the Guardian, the New York Times and ProPublica.

According to a document titled "Exploiting Terrorist Use of Games & Virtual Environments," the secretive spy agencies were concerned by potential terrorist use of such games and felt an immediate need to begin analyzing in-game communications as early as 2007.

[Certain] games offer realistic weapons training (what weapon to use against what target, what ranges can be achieved, even aiming and firing), military operations and tactics, photorealistic land navigation and terrain familiarization, and leadership skills," the document notes. "Some of the 9-11 pilots had never flown a real plane, they had only trained using Microsoft's Flight Simulator."

"The Hizballah has even hooked up a PlayStation controller to a laptop in order to guide some of its real missiles," it notes. 

According to the Guardian, real-world agents were deployed into those virtual worlds to extract communications, recruit potential informants and keep tabs on potential terrorists.

"So many different U.S. intelligence agents were conducting operations inside games that a 'deconfliction' group was required to ensure they weren't spying on, or interfering with, each other," wrote the Guardian.

The documents don't indicate whether the push led to any usable information, nor whether any terrorist plots were detected or foiled in "World of Warcraft" or other virtual environments.

The NSA, Microsoft and Second Life creator Philip Rosedale all declined to comment, the paper noted. But Blizzard Entertainment, the creator of "World of Warcraft," said it was unaware of any attempts to monitor terrorist activity in its game.

"We are unaware of any surveillance taking place," a spokesman said. "If it was, it would have been done without our knowledge or permission." 

How did that pitch go?  "Boss, I think terrorists are hiding in my massive multiplayer online role playing game.  I need to be assigned to play it all the time."

[The Brain]

They certainly stopped Chinese gold farmers.

[Valmy]

The terrorists are rumored to be gathering in Molten Core every Wednesday about 3 PM.  Me and my team will be there.