當心! 你的魔獸世界小夥伴可能是美國間諜

The Guardian recently said they have only published a very tiny percentage of the NSA documents provided to them by the now-infamous leaker Edward Snowden, and now a new revelation has taken a strange turn into the video game realm.

英國《衛報》（The Guardian）最近表示，他們此前只發布了由現在家喻戶曉的泄密者愛德華?斯諾登（Edward Snowden）向其提供的美國國家安全局（NSA）文件中極小的一部分，而現在，有一條線索將泄密事件引向了一個奇怪的轉折：電子遊戲領域。

Documents provided by Snowden from 2008 say that the NSA and the UK’s GCHQ agencies planted agents inside MMOs like World of Warcraft and Second Life. The document, called Exploiting Terrorist Use of Games & Virtual Environments, was published this week, and tells tales of the spy agencies trying to track down terrorist communications through each of the games. Eventually, Xbox Live was considered a possible means for terrorist contact as well.

斯諾登提供的2008年的文件顯示，美國國安局和英國政府通訊總部（GCHQ）旗下機構在諸如《魔獸世界》（World of Warcraft）和《第二人生》（Second Life）之類的大型多人網絡遊戲中安插了特工。這份名爲《發掘遊戲和虛擬環境的恐怖主義用途》（Exploiting Terrorist Use of Games & Virtual Environments）的文件於本週發佈，講述了間諜機構試圖通過遊戲來追蹤恐怖主義通訊活動的努力。稍後，Xbox Live也被認爲是恐怖分子進行聯繫的一個可能方式。

“Terrorists use online games – but perhaps not for their amusement, ” it says. “They are suspected of using them to communicate secretly and to transfer funds.”

“恐怖分子會玩在線遊戲——但或許不是爲了娛樂，”這份文件稱，“我們懷疑他們利用遊戲進行祕密溝通和轉移資金。”

The idea was that games like World of Warcraft and Second Life could be used as under the radar avenues for communication between terrorist, and even help transfer funds.

這背後的思路是，《魔獸世界》和《第二人生》之類的遊戲可能被恐怖分子用作祕密溝通的場所，甚至被用於轉移資金之用。

“Al-Qaida terrorist target selectors and … have been found associated with Xbox Live, Second Life, World of Warcraft, and other GVEs [Games and Virtual Environments], ” the document says. “Other targets include Chinese hackers, an Iranian nuclear scientist, Hizballah, and Hamas members.”

“基地組織恐怖分子的目標包括（任務）挑選人……被發現和Xbox Live、《第二人生》、《魔獸世界》，以及其他GVE（遊戲和虛擬環境）有聯繫，”上述文件稱，“其他目標包括中國黑客、一位伊朗核科學家、真主黨以及哈馬斯成員。”

But the evidence was hardly conclusive. The data collected could have simply meant that someone in the same internet cafe was gaming, or that whatever PC was being used was at some point used to play video games at an indeterminate point in the past.

然而證據並不具有說服力。所收集的數據可能只是說明了，同在一個網吧的某人正在玩遊戲，或者是正在被使用的某臺電腦曾經在過去某個時間被用於玩遊戲。

The document also shows that the NSA tried to recruit gamers to help with the project, but ultimately, it’s never said that they found any evidence of terrorists using either game for communication or collaboration, or that any terror plots were stopped through their work in the virtual realms.

這份文件還顯示，美國國安局試圖招募遊戲玩家參與這個項目，但最終，文件卻隻字未提是否找到了有關恐怖分子利用遊戲進行溝通或協作的證據，亦或是是否有恐怖主義計劃因情報部門在虛擬領域採取的行動而被阻止。

Since the revelation, Blizzard has spoken out saying that they were “unaware of any surveillance taking place, ” and never gave the NSA permission to infiltrate the game. There’s no telling just how much data the NSA collected on “suspect” players, which could include everything from personal information to text or verbal in-game communication. Yet again, privacy seems to mean little to the NSA, in this world or virtual ones.

上述消息發佈之後，暴雪公司（Blizzard）出聲表示，他們“並不知曉任何正在發生的監控行爲”，也從未給予美國國安局滲透其名下游戲的許可。沒有信息顯示，美國國安局到底就“可疑玩家”收集了多少數據，這些數據“可能包括從個人信息到遊戲中的短信或語音交流等一切訊息”。不過話說回來，隱私對美國國安局來說幾乎不構成問題，無論是在現實世界還是虛擬世界中。

It’s a strange story, but one that’s sort of familiar at this point. The NSA does something that sounds both simultaneously silly and invasive, and manages to come up with no tangible results in the process. It’s not an entirely ridiculous idea, and I imagine video games like these could theoretically be used for the nefarious purposes the NSA describes, but I’m having a hard time not laughing when picturing a bunch of government agents spending their workday grinding for XP and loot so they can reach the level of the elite terrorist guilds they want to infiltrate.

這是個奇怪的故事，但又在某種程度上令人覺得熟悉。美國國安局所做的事情，聽起來既愚蠢，又具有侵略性，而且在整個過程中並沒有出現實質性的結果。不過，其背後倒不是什麼完全荒誕無稽的想法，我認爲，此類電子遊戲在理論上確實可以被用作美國國安局所描述的不法目的，但一想到一羣政府特工每天上班時都在刻苦鑽研怎樣殺怪打經驗和拾取掉落，以便於達到他們想要打入的精英恐怖分子團體所需的級別，我就忍不住地想要大笑一番。