US project spots online terrorists

The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has started a project to spot terrorists using online virtual worlds.

Project Reynard aims to recognise terrorist behaviour by researching the way people normally behave in virtual worlds.

It will then combine this with software to help pinpoint any abnormalities that could suggest terrorist activity.

However physiologists have said the project will not work as people exaggerate their characters in virtual worlds.

Professor Mark Griffiths, director of gaming research at Nottingham Trent University, said: “People use virtual worlds as a safe fantasy place to do things they wouldn’t do in the real world. The data needs to be examined carefully.”

A senior intelligence official for the ODNI said Mr Griffiths had “hit the nail on the head, and any work on the project would be for research rather than operational purposes.”

He referred to a report sent by the organisation to the US Congress, which described the project as a “seedling effort.”

It said Reynard would identify the emerging social, behavioural and cultural “norms” in virtual worlds and gaming environments. It would then apply the lessons learned to “determine the feasibility of automatically detecting suspicious behaviour and actions in the virtual world.”

Anti-terrorist group Concentric Solutions International said terrorists use 2D gaming sites, forums and social networking sites to organise their plans in their own password-protected, secure environments.

It added that terrorists would not use World of Warcraft or Second Life as these sites did not offer this security.