What you're not explaining is why this guy would target a girl who may or may not a child, on a forum. Then you're not explaining why he would travel across the country to an adress he found on the internet that may or may not be the real address.
Pedophiles tend to hit easy targets, like friends kids, or nieces. Or kids walking alone in the park.
You using situations that just WOULDN'T happen in the real world. You're trying to pick terrifiying situations to scare people rather than argue with real logic. You're a bachelor of science, you should know better than that.
Er, except that recent history abounds with examples of people doing exactly that.
Let's say that only 99.9% of men have never sexually assaulted a woman, That means that ~6,000 rapists play WoW and have access to the forums.
You don't know how many men that play WoW. Your math attempt is moot.
Blizzard say that they have 11 million subscribers. I'm assuming that at least 55% of those are male. you know that the "~" character means "approximately", right? I make no pretence at precision, but I'd be prepared to bet that my calculation is correct within a factor of 2.
Using approximately values is disliked a lot by the physics community, and it ain't particually smart to use it when you try to prove a point either. Making up statistics gets you nowhere, hence why I said your attempt was and still is moot.
If you say that 99.9% of men have never sexually assaulted a woman, then that means there are 3.415.900 men that have, which sounds quite unreasonably to me.
It's good that you make no pretence at precision because I question your result, not that it can't be true (it definitely can).
BSc in Applied Physics crew checking in here. Physicists use approximations all the time. This is aside, of course, from the much more important fact that This Aint Physics™ It's Statistics. Perhaps you're going to tell me that the Statistics community doesn't like approximations either...? *snicker* *snort* *snarf*
Defining the paramaters of the problem and making some clearly declared assumptions (you see where I clearly declared my assumptions?) to get an order-of-magnitude grasp of the solution range is a perfectly valid technique for physicists and statisticians. After all, if you're looking to do something, and a quick, rough calculation shows that you're 1000-10000x short of the required quantity, then what does it matter if the precise answer is 1158.332x ?
What number of rapists playing WoW would you deem an acceptable number before you were OK with your daughter posting on their forums with her real name? If you'd be OK with, say, 2000, then yes it's worth refining the calculation, because there might be more or less than your tolerance number. If you're not OK with any rapists seeing your daughters name, then it's not worth the trouble, because it's basically certain that at least one of the 11 million people is a rapist.
See how that works?
Here endeth the lesson.
What you're not explaining is why this guy would target a girl who may or may not a child, on a forum. Then you're not explaining why he would travel across the country to an adress he found on the internet that may or may not be the real address.
Pedophiles tend to hit easy targets, like friends kids, or nieces. Or kids walking alone in the park.
You using situations that just WOULDN'T happen in the real world. You're trying to pick terrifiying situations to scare people rather than argue with real logic. You're a bachelor of science, you should know better than that.
Er, except that recent history abounds with examples of people doing exactly that.
And all without a name! Imagine that! Plus both were giving out various pieces of personal information. Failed example to prove anything other than giving more fodder to politicians and the general public that all gamers are nothing more potential pedophiles, rapist, killers and horrid human beings. Like I said:
Politicians and general public: 1
Self damning gamers: 0
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
What you're not explaining is why this guy would target a girl who may or may not a child, on a forum. Then you're not explaining why he would travel across the country to an adress he found on the internet that may or may not be the real address.
Pedophiles tend to hit easy targets, like friends kids, or nieces. Or kids walking alone in the park.
You using situations that just WOULDN'T happen in the real world. You're trying to pick terrifiying situations to scare people rather than argue with real logic. You're a bachelor of science, you should know better than that.
Er, except that recent history abounds with examples of people doing exactly that.
Except it doesn't abound with examples. Your just spewing un-justified opinions.
Oh, except it does, and I'm not. Let's spend 10 seconds looking at Google shall we! Why, what's in this one single link on the very first page of hits for internet chat room cross state lines
Reginald Franklin, 29, from Nevada was arrested on federal charges of travel with the intent to engage in sexual acts with a juvenile in Texas. The 14-year-old boy met him in an Internet chat room. Franklin came to the boy’s school and signed to take him out of school.[91]
A 12-year-old boy, missing for several weeks from his California home, was found across the country in the Virginia home of a man he met in a chat room. The boy had been sexually abused. He had been persuaded over the Internet to take a bus to meet the man.[92]
A 22-year-old man from New Hampshire, US contacted numerous teenage girls through chat rooms on the Internet in an effort to get them to meet him. In one case he convinced a 13-year-old girl to go with him. He called her school, pretending to be her father, and told school authorities she was sick and would not be in school that day. He evaded police for three weeks as he drove the two of them across several states in New England. Kier Fiore was arraigned in US District Court in Concord on felony charges that he crossed state lines to avoid prosecution and engage in two misdemeanor charges of taking the girl out of school illegally. Three months prior to this incident he had contacted two girls from Massachusetts, ages 13 and 14, in a chat room in an attempt to get them to meet him in a mall and go to a hotel room. He said he would bring alcohol and pay them to engage in sexual acts with him. The girls became frightened when he called them and told them he was coming to get them. They refused to go and told their parents. Fiore was angry and verbally abusive to the girls’ parents on the phone. Later that day he sent one of the girls an email message, "You pissed the wrong person off, playing your little game Jew Girl!!!! Watch you [sic] back!"[93]
The problem of predators contacting children first came to widespread attention in May 1993 when 10-year-old George Stanley Burdynski, Jr. of Prince George County, Maryland disappeared. The investigation led to two suspects who had sexually exploited numerous boys over a period of 25 years. They were found to have used their computers to transmit child pornography and contact boys who were later sexually exploited.[84]
The following are other cases of predators who have been caught using the Internet to make contact with victims.
United States Brooker Maltais, 22, an airman from Offutt Air Force Base, US pleaded guilty to committing indecent acts and having sex with a 14-year-old girl after they met by exchanging email messages via computer.[85]
United States Four California men (Larry Ponziani, James Stelzenmuller, Patrick Vogt and David Dahlberg) were charged with having sexual encounters with a teen-age boy they met on the Internet. They pleaded guilty to charges such as oral copulation with a minor and sending pornography to a minor with the intent to seduce.[86]
United States A Chelmsford, Massachusetts’ man, John D. Rex, pleaded guilty to raping two boys, ages 12 and 14. He met them through a computer bulletin board. He is now serving a 20 –25 year sentence.[87]
United States In December 1996, Cheryl Kean’s 13-year-old daughter disappeared, presumably picked-up by the 22 year-old-man she communicated with online. Ms. Kean has not seen her daughter since. She says, "The Internet has got to be the pedophile’s dream come true. They stalk children without concern of being seen."
Displaying ones personal information for the entire world to see is obviously going to lead to some major problems. As the poll shows, people don't like this ridiculous decision and it's quite obvious as to why.
Most people go through life pretending to be a boss. I go through life pretending I'm not.
Uhm, people who pay for WoW pay for the forum access too. It's part of the "deal".
If the forum didn't cost anything, anyone could post there, but only people with an account can, so taht means it's part of the "subscription". So Blizzard or you who say "don't post then", don't make much sense, because you pay for the service.
I think most people would argue that they pay to play the game, not to talk on a forum. As many of the links provided show, a lot of the people complaining about this change are already gloating over being banned from the official forums. If they are paying the same subscription that everyone else pays and they have no access to the forums, I think that proves the sub is for the game.
I voted (Nay) World of Warcraft's popularity and the state of information security make this incredibly dangerous.
After recently getting my account hacked, this can only make it easier. There are so many reasons why this is a bad thing that it makes you wonder what idiot came up with it. realID in game is an opt-in only. This forum realID thing is also an opt-in only, but therein is the rub, because the only way to use the forum now is to agree to Blizzards plans to make your first and last name public. For me this is not an issue, but for many others it can and will cause problems for them on numerous levels. Boneheaded plan is saying it kindly, but that is what this is and I bet if we dig deep enough you'll find this is all Activisions doing.
BTW I still believe my account was hacked from the inside. I think there are people that work for Blizzards customer support that are making money selling gold, items and characters to Gold Farming companies. Tell me to wear a tin foil hat all you want, but to many people got there accounts hacked to easily and they never once found a trojan or keylogger on their computer - and neither did I. It seems to happen to inactive accounts more than anyone else...I wonder why that is? I'll tell you why. You do the math. $6.95 US times however many accounts adds up to almost $80 million dollars for those authenticators. That is no poultry sum of money. Blizzard is a corporation and with the merger of it to Activision(a money grubbing corporation for certain) then we can bet this whole autenticator business is merely a money grab. Hack peoples accounts from within the company, generate fear and force people to buy an authenticator.
I know...tin foil hat right...right....I do not think so.
Collectibles dealers call retail employees to set aside certain rare items just for them (e.g. Starting Lineup Figures) -- certainly not a tinfoil hat theory in the least.
What you're not explaining is why this guy would target a girl who may or may not a child, on a forum. Then you're not explaining why he would travel across the country to an adress he found on the internet that may or may not be the real address.
Pedophiles tend to hit easy targets, like friends kids, or nieces. Or kids walking alone in the park.
You using situations that just WOULDN'T happen in the real world. You're trying to pick terrifiying situations to scare people rather than argue with real logic. You're a bachelor of science, you should know better than that.
Er, except that recent history abounds with examples of people doing exactly that.
Except it doesn't abound with examples. Your just spewing un-justified opinions.
Oh, except it does, and I'm not. Let's spend 10 seconds looking at Google shall we! Why, what's in this one single link on the very first page of hits for internet chat room cross state lines
Reginald Franklin, 29, from Nevada was arrested on federal charges of travel with the intent to engage in sexual acts with a juvenile in Texas. The 14-year-old boy met him in an Internet chat room. Franklin came to the boy’s school and signed to take him out of school.[91]
A 12-year-old boy, missing for several weeks from his California home, was found across the country in the Virginia home of a man he met in a chat room. The boy had been sexually abused. He had been persuaded over the Internet to take a bus to meet the man.[92]
A 22-year-old man from New Hampshire, US contacted numerous teenage girls through chat rooms on the Internet in an effort to get them to meet him. In one case he convinced a 13-year-old girl to go with him. He called her school, pretending to be her father, and told school authorities she was sick and would not be in school that day. He evaded police for three weeks as he drove the two of them across several states in New England. Kier Fiore was arraigned in US District Court in Concord on felony charges that he crossed state lines to avoid prosecution and engage in two misdemeanor charges of taking the girl out of school illegally. Three months prior to this incident he had contacted two girls from Massachusetts, ages 13 and 14, in a chat room in an attempt to get them to meet him in a mall and go to a hotel room. He said he would bring alcohol and pay them to engage in sexual acts with him. The girls became frightened when he called them and told them he was coming to get them. They refused to go and told their parents. Fiore was angry and verbally abusive to the girls’ parents on the phone. Later that day he sent one of the girls an email message, "You pissed the wrong person off, playing your little game Jew Girl!!!! Watch you [sic] back!"[93]
The problem of predators contacting children first came to widespread attention in May 1993 when 10-year-old George Stanley Burdynski, Jr. of Prince George County, Maryland disappeared. The investigation led to two suspects who had sexually exploited numerous boys over a period of 25 years. They were found to have used their computers to transmit child pornography and contact boys who were later sexually exploited.[84]
The following are other cases of predators who have been caught using the Internet to make contact with victims.
United States Brooker Maltais, 22, an airman from Offutt Air Force Base, US pleaded guilty to committing indecent acts and having sex with a 14-year-old girl after they met by exchanging email messages via computer.[85]
United States Four California men (Larry Ponziani, James Stelzenmuller, Patrick Vogt and David Dahlberg) were charged with having sexual encounters with a teen-age boy they met on the Internet. They pleaded guilty to charges such as oral copulation with a minor and sending pornography to a minor with the intent to seduce.[86]
United States A Chelmsford, Massachusetts’ man, John D. Rex, pleaded guilty to raping two boys, ages 12 and 14. He met them through a computer bulletin board. He is now serving a 20 –25 year sentence.[87]
United States In December 1996, Cheryl Kean’s 13-year-old daughter disappeared, presumably picked-up by the 22 year-old-man she communicated with online. Ms. Kean has not seen her daughter since. She says, "The Internet has got to be the pedophile’s dream come true. They stalk children without concern of being seen."
Lets play spot the obvious flaw in your argument.
In NONE of these situations were the targest "stalked, found, kidnapped" they were all talked to, persuaded to give personal information then tricked into meeting.
This is NOTHING like what you're suggesting would happen with peoples first and last names are being shown.
Ontop of that, having your first/last name available would not have facilited any of these events. There were people chatting up idiot children, then idiot children going out willingly to meet a stranger and getting raped.
I don't see how using your first and last name on an internet forum is some how going to make it easier. These people got the information they needed from the child by just talking to them VIA an alias. If anything, the pedo would have to use his real name as well, and a quick google would tell you not to get in his van.
People will be stupid, thats not Blizzards responsibilty.
after 6 or so years, I had to change it a little...
I voted (Nay) World of Warcraft's popularity and the state of information security make this incredibly dangerous.
After recently getting my account hacked, this can only make it easier. There are so many reasons why this is a bad thing that it makes you wonder what idiot came up with it. realID in game is an opt-in only. This forum realID thing is also an opt-in only, but therein is the rub, because the only way to use the forum now is to agree to Blizzards plans to make your first and last name public. For me this is not an issue, but for many others it can and will cause problems for them on numerous levels. Boneheaded plan is saying it kindly, but that is what this is and I bet if we dig deep enough you'll find this is all Activisions doing.
BTW I still believe my account was hacked from the inside. I think there are people that work for Blizzards customer support that are making money selling gold, items and characters to Gold Farming companies. Tell me to wear a tin foil hat all you want, but to many people got there accounts hacked to easily and they never once found a trojan or keylogger on their computer - and neither did I. It seems to happen to inactive accounts more than anyone else...I wonder why that is? I'll tell you why. You do the math. $6.95 US times however many accounts adds up to almost $80 million dollars for those authenticators. That is no poultry sum of money. Blizzard is a corporation and with the merger of it to Activision(a money grubbing corporation for certain) then we can bet this whole autenticator business is merely a money grab. Hack peoples accounts from within the company, generate fear and force people to buy an authenticator.
I know...tin foil hat right...right....I do not think so.
Collectibles dealers call retail employees to set aside certain rare items just for them (e.g. Starting Lineup Figures) -- certainly not a tinfoil hat theory in the least.
Not to mention that your passwords are encrypted. If there was a way to unencrypt those passwords, I can tell you there would be FAR worse things to deal with other than video game account theft.
There is a 0% chance that an emplyee could look up your password in a the database. No matter how high up in the company they are.
after 6 or so years, I had to change it a little...
Not to mention that your passwords are encrypted. If there was a way to unencrypt those passwords, I can tell you there would be FAR worse things to deal with other than video game account theft.
There is a 0% chance that an emplyee could look up your password in a the database. No matter how high up in the company they are.
Why bother looking something up when you can reset it?
Naturally, this assumes there are people within Blizzard that have the ability to reset passwords (presumably to facilitate customer service). I don't think that is too far-fetched.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers. Do something wrong, no one forgets" -from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
On another website that I frequent, a long-time user was harassed and forced to leave because someone decided to email his employer. The targetted user was a teacher and, while there was nothing trollish in his nature, the school found some of his posts unprofessional. Fortunately, this user made an arrangement that let him keep his job, but at the expense of leaving the online community he had been a part of.
Everyone should use discretion in their dealings online but this solution will hurt innocent people. Someone brought it up already too, but you have to figure women, non-European names, and anyone who self-identifies as under 18 is going to potentially be a victim. I understand what Blizzard wants to do (clean up the forums and game by making people accountable) and can see how they believe they have critical mass (with 10 million plus players or whatever the number is) but it's a bad idea.
The innevitable removal of the shroud of annonimity that internet lurkers have relied on for decades is a good thing.
More good will come of this than bad. WoW may be the first to venture down this road, but they will not be the last, and soon, they will have the full backing of the FCC and Federal Government.
"If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse." - Henry Ford
What you're not explaining is why this guy would target a girl who may or may not a child, on a forum. Then you're not explaining why he would travel across the country to an adress he found on the internet that may or may not be the real address.
Pedophiles tend to hit easy targets, like friends kids, or nieces. Or kids walking alone in the park.
You using situations that just WOULDN'T happen in the real world. You're trying to pick terrifiying situations to scare people rather than argue with real logic. You're a bachelor of science, you should know better than that.
Er, except that recent history abounds with examples of people doing exactly that.
Except it doesn't abound with examples. Your just spewing un-justified opinions.
Oh, except it does, and I'm not. Let's spend 10 seconds looking at Google shall we! Why, what's in this one single link on the very first page of hits for internet chat room cross state lines
Reginald Franklin, 29, from Nevada was arrested on federal charges of travel with the intent to engage in sexual acts with a juvenile in Texas. The 14-year-old boy met him in an Internet chat room. Franklin came to the boy’s school and signed to take him out of school.[91]
A 12-year-old boy, missing for several weeks from his California home, was found across the country in the Virginia home of a man he met in a chat room. The boy had been sexually abused. He had been persuaded over the Internet to take a bus to meet the man.[92]
A 22-year-old man from New Hampshire, US contacted numerous teenage girls through chat rooms on the Internet in an effort to get them to meet him. In one case he convinced a 13-year-old girl to go with him. He called her school, pretending to be her father, and told school authorities she was sick and would not be in school that day. He evaded police for three weeks as he drove the two of them across several states in New England. Kier Fiore was arraigned in US District Court in Concord on felony charges that he crossed state lines to avoid prosecution and engage in two misdemeanor charges of taking the girl out of school illegally. Three months prior to this incident he had contacted two girls from Massachusetts, ages 13 and 14, in a chat room in an attempt to get them to meet him in a mall and go to a hotel room. He said he would bring alcohol and pay them to engage in sexual acts with him. The girls became frightened when he called them and told them he was coming to get them. They refused to go and told their parents. Fiore was angry and verbally abusive to the girls’ parents on the phone. Later that day he sent one of the girls an email message, "You pissed the wrong person off, playing your little game Jew Girl!!!! Watch you [sic] back!"[93]
The problem of predators contacting children first came to widespread attention in May 1993 when 10-year-old George Stanley Burdynski, Jr. of Prince George County, Maryland disappeared. The investigation led to two suspects who had sexually exploited numerous boys over a period of 25 years. They were found to have used their computers to transmit child pornography and contact boys who were later sexually exploited.[84]
The following are other cases of predators who have been caught using the Internet to make contact with victims.
United States Brooker Maltais, 22, an airman from Offutt Air Force Base, US pleaded guilty to committing indecent acts and having sex with a 14-year-old girl after they met by exchanging email messages via computer.[85]
United States Four California men (Larry Ponziani, James Stelzenmuller, Patrick Vogt and David Dahlberg) were charged with having sexual encounters with a teen-age boy they met on the Internet. They pleaded guilty to charges such as oral copulation with a minor and sending pornography to a minor with the intent to seduce.[86]
United States A Chelmsford, Massachusetts’ man, John D. Rex, pleaded guilty to raping two boys, ages 12 and 14. He met them through a computer bulletin board. He is now serving a 20 –25 year sentence.[87]
United States In December 1996, Cheryl Kean’s 13-year-old daughter disappeared, presumably picked-up by the 22 year-old-man she communicated with online. Ms. Kean has not seen her daughter since. She says, "The Internet has got to be the pedophile’s dream come true. They stalk children without concern of being seen."
Lets play spot the obvious flaw in your argument.
In NONE of these situations were the targest "stalked, found, kidnapped" they were all talked to, persuaded to give personal information then tricked into meeting.
This is NOTHING like what you're suggesting would happen with peoples first and last names are being shown.
Ontop of that, having your first/last name available would not have facilited any of these events. There were people chatting up idiot children, then idiot children going out willingly to meet a stranger and getting raped.
I don't see how using your first and last name on an internet forum is some how going to make it easier. These people got the information they needed from the child by just talking to them VIA an alias. If anything, the pedo would have to use his real name as well, and a quick google would tell you not to get in his van.
People will be stupid, thats not Blizzards responsibilty.
You're unbelievable. You dont see how giving out real names facilitates this? Have you literally ignored every post that says things you dont like about how a real name does, in fact, give a malicious person a huge starting advantage? Did you not read about what happened to the very Blizzard CM who did give his name out? How do you think those childred were "talked to" in the first place?
And saying "People will be stupid, thats not Blizzards responsibilty." when you're faced with the evidence that you denied existed, that child abusers and rapists are only too willing to spend time and cross long distances? You seriously blame the children? You're a piece of work. For God's sake, stop and think a moment, take a look at where your insistence on not being wrong has carried you. Is this really a position you want to hold?
What the hell is wrong with you man? I'm not trolling you. I dont care about scoring points off you on this matter. I'm not going to follow you round going "nah nah nah nah I was right you were wrong". This is really serious, and rather than admit you were wrong about something you're calling children "stupid" for being abused.
You're unbelievable. You dont see how giving out real names facilitates this? Have you literally ignored every post that says things you dont like about how a real name does, in fact, give a malicious person a huge starting advantage? Did you not read about what happened to the very Blizzard CM who did give his name out? How do you think those childred were "talked to" in the first place?
And saying "People will be stupid, thats not Blizzards responsibilty." when you're faced with the evidence that you denied existed, that child abusers and rapists are only too willing to spend time and cross long distances? You seriously blame the children? You're a piece of work. For God's sake, stop and think a moment, take a look at where your insistence on not being wrong has carried you. Is this really a position you want to hold?
What the hell is wrong with you man? I'm not trolling you. I dont care about scoring points off you on this matter. I'm not going to follow you round going "nah nah nah nah I was right you were wrong". This is really serious, and rather than admit you were wrong about something you're calling children "stupid" for being abused.
You're unbelievable. You dont see how giving out real names facilitates this? Have you literally ignored every post that says things you dont like about how a real name does, in fact, give a malicious person a huge starting advantage? Did you not read about what happened to the very Blizzard CM who did give his name out? How do you think those childred were "talked to" in the first place?
And saying "People will be stupid, thats not Blizzards responsibilty." when you're faced with the evidence that you denied existed, that child abusers and rapists are only too willing to spend time and cross long distances? You seriously blame the children? You're a piece of work. For God's sake, stop and think a moment, take a look at where your insistence on not being wrong has carried you. Is this really a position you want to hold?
What the hell is wrong with you man? I'm not trolling you. I dont care about scoring points off you on this matter. I'm not going to follow you round going "nah nah nah nah I was right you were wrong". This is really serious, and rather than admit you were wrong about something you're calling children "stupid" for being abused.
The guy they found wasn't Bashiok.
That's all you've got to say?
Unbelievable. I can only hope that there aren't any children in your life, because if there and you believe the things you say you do, then that's a very bad situation. Ironically enough, I wish I did have your real name, because people around you should know what you think on this matter.
Unbelievable. I can only hope that there aren't any children in your life, because if there and you believe the things you say you do, then that's a very bad situation. Ironically enough, I wish I did have your real name, because people around you should know what you think on this matter.
It was a footnote, but sure let's hunt me down now because I'm of a different opinion. People already know that I'm against it and that I'm against fear mongering too.
In NONE of these situations were the targest "stalked, found, kidnapped" they were all talked to, persuaded to give personal information then tricked into meeting.
This is NOTHING like what you're suggesting would happen with peoples first and last names are being shown.
Ontop of that, having your first/last name available would not have facilited any of these events. There were people chatting up idiot children, then idiot children going out willingly to meet a stranger and getting raped.
I don't see how using your first and last name on an internet forum is some how going to make it easier. These people got the information they needed from the child by just talking to them VIA an alias. If anything, the pedo would have to use his real name as well, and a quick google would tell you not to get in his van.
People will be stupid, thats not Blizzards responsibilty.
You're unbelievable. You dont see how giving out real names facilitates this? Have you literally ignored every post that says things you dont like about how a real name does, in fact, give a malicious person a huge starting advantage? Did you not read about what happened to the very Blizzard CM who did give his name out? How do you think those childred were "talked to" in the first place?
And saying "People will be stupid, thats not Blizzards responsibilty." when you're faced with the evidence that you denied existed, that child abusers and rapists are only too willing to spend time and cross long distances? You seriously blame the children? You're a piece of work. For God's sake, stop and think a moment, take a look at where your insistence on not being wrong has carried you. Is this really a position you want to hold?
What the hell is wrong with you man? I'm not trolling you. I dont care about scoring points off you on this matter. I'm not going to follow you round going "nah nah nah nah I was right you were wrong". This is really serious, and rather than admit you were wrong about something you're calling children "stupid" for being abused.
its not a "huge starting advantage" for the incidents you're citing it would make no difference, they used psychology not google to stalk these children.
Can you honestly not see the flaw in your logic. In EVERY case people cite, the pedophile and the target had talked before, the pedophile had gotten all the information they needed from the child, not through clever use of Google. They use social engineering, having the childs name would do nothing to get the pedophile convince the child to meet with him/her.
Futhermore I am NOT calling children stupid for being abused, you are again picking rogue sentences out of arugments and using the magic of bullshit to hear what you want. I am saying a child is stupid for giving his location, name, and agreeing to meet with a stranger over the internet. I know these people specalize in this, but it is an obvious failing on the part of the parent.
I am very intersted in arguing this point, because you haven't presented me with ANY evidence that having your first and last name shown when you post will allow child predators to stalk children. You're just sensationalizing the whole situation to instill fear.
These children were talked to through the geme. The Blizzard CM who gave his name said that his name is already on the credits reel. If people wanted to find him they could have. You are making this huge leap of faith that the availability of a persons name is dangerous, when we give our names out to compelte strangers on the street, and nothing happens. I walk around with a name tag at conventions and I've never once been raped, followed or had my identity stolen.
I put my full name up on the blizzard forums; You can look up Justin Edmond all you want, Even if you find my facebook page what is a picture of me gona do? What are you going to do with my Last.fm play list? Lookout passport office, he knows my favourite band is Red Hot Chilipeppers, where I live and my name... Next thing you know you have a mortgage? No.
Its all misplaced paranoia; and you're just making up elaborate, impossible example by twisting stories to scare people.
after 6 or so years, I had to change it a little...
Anonymity in crowds....the Blizzard CM was anonymous among those credits -- harrassment becomes easier once people can put a name to the poster.
All it takes is a handful of Facebook hackers to get someones personal information from their Facebook.
Reason that CM was targeted, was because he was the first to step out, and those trying to justify the fear are attacking him for it.
Once everyone is out in the open, those people will no longer have easy targets to pick. Will they just go down the list one by one proving it isn't safe one person at a time?
Why? To prove a point? It would take them a long time to comprimise everyones Facebook, at risk to themselves as well. Not all coders are working on loop holes and back doors. There are those working on security, closing the loop holes as they are used.
Seems to me things will calm down after the change, if they stay strong and go through with it.
Anonymity in crowds....the Blizzard CM was anonymous among those credits -- harrassment becomes easier once people can put a name to the poster.
All it takes is a handful of Facebook hackers to get someones personal information from their Facebook.
Reason that CM was targeted, was because he was the first to step out, and those trying to justify the fear are attacking him for it.
Once everyone is out in the open, those people will no longer have easy targets to pick. Will they just go down the list one by one proving it isn't safe one person at a time?
Why? To prove a point? It would take them a long time to comprimise everyones Facebook, at risk to themselves as well. Not all coders are working on loop holes and back doors. There are those working on security, closing the loop holes as they are used.
Seems to me things will calm down after the change, if they stay strong and go through with it.
And if they continue to do so, they can see what happens when people so stupid stuff like that on Facebook etc..
People lose jobs, get arrested, go to jail, etc.. All for something they said online they thought was innocent..
Using RealID isn't illegal, telling people who use your site that you use RealID is enough to let them opt out. Those who chose not to opt out, then proceed to do what you just described, have broken the law. One of two things will eventually happen.. They'll either pull their head out of their ass and stop being internet jerks, or the feds will pull their head out of their ass for them and stick them in jail for 12-24 months to think about their stupidity... Don't think it's coming???? JUST WAIT.
"If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse." - Henry Ford
Im personally excited for the changes this will bring forward...
When it works for them, who knows who else will adopt it. Maybe having your name on the internet will mean something and people will think twice about their opinions.
I know if I was posting with my full name, I might think twice before taking a break and slippin in a few insults for the hell of it.
Could be the next big thing; and Im always excited when there is a huge progressive shift in anything.
after 6 or so years, I had to change it a little...
Personally I don't think the internet itself should be anonymous. Logging it at all should connect your computer with your identity. If a person wishes to use an anonymous service, the administrators should still be aware of the real person's data at all times even if other users are not. Everything one does online should be tagged with your data, making scams and hackers stick out like sore thumbs. If this could be linked to hardware, perhaps a finger-print login tool, all the better. Somewhere along the way we seem to have cultivated the delusion that anonymity is a right of the internet age.
Unfortunately it's not set up that way right now. I don't really know how it will work with a single game company adopting similar standards but since I don't play, I'm willing to let them to experiment and sit back to observe. Unethical I suppose, but I'm as curious as I am wary and willing to let others discover whatever may come of such a change.
The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night.
Comments
There are some real weirdos out there and people can get really wrapped up in an MMO. I just think it could caused some terrible incidents.
Sent me an email if you want me to mail you some pizza rolls.
Except it doesn't abound with examples. Your just spewing un-justified opinions.
after 6 or so years, I had to change it a little...
And all without a name! Imagine that! Plus both were giving out various pieces of personal information. Failed example to prove anything other than giving more fodder to politicians and the general public that all gamers are nothing more potential pedophiles, rapist, killers and horrid human beings. Like I said:
Politicians and general public: 1
Self damning gamers: 0
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
Oh, except it does, and I'm not. Let's spend 10 seconds looking at Google shall we! Why, what's in this one single link on the very first page of hits for internet chat room cross state lines
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/ppncpt5.htm
Reginald Franklin, 29, from Nevada was arrested on federal charges of travel with the intent to engage in sexual acts with a juvenile in Texas. The 14-year-old boy met him in an Internet chat room. Franklin came to the boy’s school and signed to take him out of school.[91]
A 12-year-old boy, missing for several weeks from his California home, was found across the country in the Virginia home of a man he met in a chat room. The boy had been sexually abused. He had been persuaded over the Internet to take a bus to meet the man.[92]
A 22-year-old man from New Hampshire, US contacted numerous teenage girls through chat rooms on the Internet in an effort to get them to meet him. In one case he convinced a 13-year-old girl to go with him. He called her school, pretending to be her father, and told school authorities she was sick and would not be in school that day. He evaded police for three weeks as he drove the two of them across several states in New England. Kier Fiore was arraigned in US District Court in Concord on felony charges that he crossed state lines to avoid prosecution and engage in two misdemeanor charges of taking the girl out of school illegally. Three months prior to this incident he had contacted two girls from Massachusetts, ages 13 and 14, in a chat room in an attempt to get them to meet him in a mall and go to a hotel room. He said he would bring alcohol and pay them to engage in sexual acts with him. The girls became frightened when he called them and told them he was coming to get them. They refused to go and told their parents. Fiore was angry and verbally abusive to the girls’ parents on the phone. Later that day he sent one of the girls an email message, "You pissed the wrong person off, playing your little game Jew Girl!!!! Watch you [sic] back!"[93]
The problem of predators contacting children first came to widespread attention in May 1993 when 10-year-old George Stanley Burdynski, Jr. of Prince George County, Maryland disappeared. The investigation led to two suspects who had sexually exploited numerous boys over a period of 25 years. They were found to have used their computers to transmit child pornography and contact boys who were later sexually exploited.[84]
The following are other cases of predators who have been caught using the Internet to make contact with victims.
Give me liberty or give me lasers
Displaying ones personal information for the entire world to see is obviously going to lead to some major problems. As the poll shows, people don't like this ridiculous decision and it's quite obvious as to why.
Most people go through life pretending to be a boss. I go through life pretending I'm not.
I think most people would argue that they pay to play the game, not to talk on a forum. As many of the links provided show, a lot of the people complaining about this change are already gloating over being banned from the official forums. If they are paying the same subscription that everyone else pays and they have no access to the forums, I think that proves the sub is for the game.
Collectibles dealers call retail employees to set aside certain rare items just for them (e.g. Starting Lineup Figures) -- certainly not a tinfoil hat theory in the least.
Lets play spot the obvious flaw in your argument.
In NONE of these situations were the targest "stalked, found, kidnapped" they were all talked to, persuaded to give personal information then tricked into meeting.
This is NOTHING like what you're suggesting would happen with peoples first and last names are being shown.
Ontop of that, having your first/last name available would not have facilited any of these events. There were people chatting up idiot children, then idiot children going out willingly to meet a stranger and getting raped.
I don't see how using your first and last name on an internet forum is some how going to make it easier. These people got the information they needed from the child by just talking to them VIA an alias. If anything, the pedo would have to use his real name as well, and a quick google would tell you not to get in his van.
People will be stupid, thats not Blizzards responsibilty.
after 6 or so years, I had to change it a little...
Not to mention that your passwords are encrypted. If there was a way to unencrypt those passwords, I can tell you there would be FAR worse things to deal with other than video game account theft.
There is a 0% chance that an emplyee could look up your password in a the database. No matter how high up in the company they are.
after 6 or so years, I had to change it a little...
Why bother looking something up when you can reset it?
Naturally, this assumes there are people within Blizzard that have the ability to reset passwords (presumably to facilitate customer service). I don't think that is too far-fetched.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
I voted nay.
On another website that I frequent, a long-time user was harassed and forced to leave because someone decided to email his employer. The targetted user was a teacher and, while there was nothing trollish in his nature, the school found some of his posts unprofessional. Fortunately, this user made an arrangement that let him keep his job, but at the expense of leaving the online community he had been a part of.
Everyone should use discretion in their dealings online but this solution will hurt innocent people. Someone brought it up already too, but you have to figure women, non-European names, and anyone who self-identifies as under 18 is going to potentially be a victim. I understand what Blizzard wants to do (clean up the forums and game by making people accountable) and can see how they believe they have critical mass (with 10 million plus players or whatever the number is) but it's a bad idea.
awful idea, but with a cool element to it- seeing if you recognize anyone's name
I voted Yea.
The innevitable removal of the shroud of annonimity that internet lurkers have relied on for decades is a good thing.
More good will come of this than bad. WoW may be the first to venture down this road, but they will not be the last, and soon, they will have the full backing of the FCC and Federal Government.
"If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse." - Henry Ford
You're unbelievable. You dont see how giving out real names facilitates this? Have you literally ignored every post that says things you dont like about how a real name does, in fact, give a malicious person a huge starting advantage? Did you not read about what happened to the very Blizzard CM who did give his name out? How do you think those childred were "talked to" in the first place?
And saying "People will be stupid, thats not Blizzards responsibilty." when you're faced with the evidence that you denied existed, that child abusers and rapists are only too willing to spend time and cross long distances? You seriously blame the children? You're a piece of work. For God's sake, stop and think a moment, take a look at where your insistence on not being wrong has carried you. Is this really a position you want to hold?
What the hell is wrong with you man? I'm not trolling you. I dont care about scoring points off you on this matter. I'm not going to follow you round going "nah nah nah nah I was right you were wrong". This is really serious, and rather than admit you were wrong about something you're calling children "stupid" for being abused.
Give me liberty or give me lasers
The guy they found wasn't Bashiok.
Eleanor Rigby.
That's all you've got to say?
Unbelievable. I can only hope that there aren't any children in your life, because if there and you believe the things you say you do, then that's a very bad situation. Ironically enough, I wish I did have your real name, because people around you should know what you think on this matter.
Give me liberty or give me lasers
It was a footnote, but sure let's hunt me down now because I'm of a different opinion. People already know that I'm against it and that I'm against fear mongering too.
If you want, you can have my Facebook.
Eleanor Rigby.
People need to see the consequences of their actions? Bwahahaha.
A troll is a troll is a troll is a troll.
its not a "huge starting advantage" for the incidents you're citing it would make no difference, they used psychology not google to stalk these children.
Can you honestly not see the flaw in your logic. In EVERY case people cite, the pedophile and the target had talked before, the pedophile had gotten all the information they needed from the child, not through clever use of Google. They use social engineering, having the childs name would do nothing to get the pedophile convince the child to meet with him/her.
Futhermore I am NOT calling children stupid for being abused, you are again picking rogue sentences out of arugments and using the magic of bullshit to hear what you want. I am saying a child is stupid for giving his location, name, and agreeing to meet with a stranger over the internet. I know these people specalize in this, but it is an obvious failing on the part of the parent.
I am very intersted in arguing this point, because you haven't presented me with ANY evidence that having your first and last name shown when you post will allow child predators to stalk children. You're just sensationalizing the whole situation to instill fear.
These children were talked to through the geme. The Blizzard CM who gave his name said that his name is already on the credits reel. If people wanted to find him they could have. You are making this huge leap of faith that the availability of a persons name is dangerous, when we give our names out to compelte strangers on the street, and nothing happens. I walk around with a name tag at conventions and I've never once been raped, followed or had my identity stolen.
I put my full name up on the blizzard forums; You can look up Justin Edmond all you want, Even if you find my facebook page what is a picture of me gona do? What are you going to do with my Last.fm play list? Lookout passport office, he knows my favourite band is Red Hot Chilipeppers, where I live and my name... Next thing you know you have a mortgage? No.
Its all misplaced paranoia; and you're just making up elaborate, impossible example by twisting stories to scare people.
after 6 or so years, I had to change it a little...
Anonymity in crowds....the Blizzard CM was anonymous among those credits -- harrassment becomes easier once people can put a name to the poster.
All it takes is a handful of Facebook hackers to get someones personal information from their Facebook.
Reason that CM was targeted, was because he was the first to step out, and those trying to justify the fear are attacking him for it.
Once everyone is out in the open, those people will no longer have easy targets to pick. Will they just go down the list one by one proving it isn't safe one person at a time?
Why? To prove a point? It would take them a long time to comprimise everyones Facebook, at risk to themselves as well. Not all coders are working on loop holes and back doors. There are those working on security, closing the loop holes as they are used.
Seems to me things will calm down after the change, if they stay strong and go through with it.
That CM will soon be suing blizz for ruining his life. Just wait for it cause you know the 4chaners will do something horrible.
And if they continue to do so, they can see what happens when people so stupid stuff like that on Facebook etc..
People lose jobs, get arrested, go to jail, etc.. All for something they said online they thought was innocent..
Using RealID isn't illegal, telling people who use your site that you use RealID is enough to let them opt out. Those who chose not to opt out, then proceed to do what you just described, have broken the law. One of two things will eventually happen.. They'll either pull their head out of their ass and stop being internet jerks, or the feds will pull their head out of their ass for them and stick them in jail for 12-24 months to think about their stupidity... Don't think it's coming???? JUST WAIT.
"If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse." - Henry Ford
Im personally excited for the changes this will bring forward...
When it works for them, who knows who else will adopt it. Maybe having your name on the internet will mean something and people will think twice about their opinions.
I know if I was posting with my full name, I might think twice before taking a break and slippin in a few insults for the hell of it.
Could be the next big thing; and Im always excited when there is a huge progressive shift in anything.
after 6 or so years, I had to change it a little...
Personally I don't think the internet itself should be anonymous. Logging it at all should connect your computer with your identity. If a person wishes to use an anonymous service, the administrators should still be aware of the real person's data at all times even if other users are not. Everything one does online should be tagged with your data, making scams and hackers stick out like sore thumbs. If this could be linked to hardware, perhaps a finger-print login tool, all the better. Somewhere along the way we seem to have cultivated the delusion that anonymity is a right of the internet age.
Unfortunately it's not set up that way right now. I don't really know how it will work with a single game company adopting similar standards but since I don't play, I'm willing to let them to experiment and sit back to observe. Unethical I suppose, but I'm as curious as I am wary and willing to let others discover whatever may come of such a change.
The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night.