lederhosen: (Default)
lederhosen ([personal profile] lederhosen) wrote2007-08-01 06:51 pm

Oz RLY?

Via [livejournal.com profile] reynardo, the Murdoch press gives us the high-quality journalism that made it famous:

Kevin Zuccato, head of the Australian High Tech Crime Centre in Canberra, says terrorists can gain training in games such as World of Warcraft in a simulated environment, using weapons that are identical to real-world armaments.

Even on the article's main focus, Second Life, the Oz can't resist embellishing. Compare the shocking lead sentence:

The bomb hit the ABC's headquarters, destroying everything except one digital transmission tower.

With this admission, buried way down in the article:

The ABC has discovered that its bomb was a computer server error that it was able to fix within a couple of hours. Nonetheless, it is taking the likelihood of a terrorist attack seriously.

Which is to say, it wasn't a bomb, not even in SL's pretend universe. There are other genuine SL attacks, discussed in the article, so I'm not sure why they felt the need to pad it - maybe they wanted an Australian connection?

(BTW, before we go lambasting Zuccato for that remark, note that the Oz doesn't actually quote him there; my money would be on the stupidity coming from a journalist.)

[identity profile] insaint.livejournal.com 2007-08-01 12:13 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm still amused at the thought that World of Warcraft provides weapons identical to real-world armaments. We're about to be attacked by a group of terrorists with wands...

[identity profile] lederhosen.livejournal.com 2007-08-01 03:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Zug zug!

[identity profile] elynne.livejournal.com 2007-08-01 06:10 pm (UTC)(link)
If the terrorists have fireballs, velociraptors, and people that can turn into trees... I'm switchin' sides. o.O