exploitation
Latest
Microsoft releases a free tool to fight online child abuse
Microsoft has developed a new technique to detect and report predators who attempt to lure children online. Dubbed "Project Artemis," the technology will be made available for free to qualifying online service companies that offer a chat function.
Sex, lies, and surveillance: Something's wrong with the war on sex trafficking
Silicon Valley's biggest companies have partnered with a single organization to fight sex trafficking -- one that maintains a data collection pipeline, is partnered with Palantir, and helps law enforcement profile and track sex workers without their consent. Major websites like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and others are working with a nonprofit called Thorn ("digital defenders of children") and, perhaps predictably, its methods are dubious.
Instagram warns you if posts show harm to animals or nature
Protecting wildlife and sensitive natural areas is hard enough as it is, and it's not helping that every brain-dead tourist wants to post a selfie with a koala bear or dolphin. Starting today, Instagram is making it harder to find such content. If you search hashtags associated with images that could harm wildlife or the environment, it will post a warning before letting you proceed. "I think it's important for the community right now to be more aware," Instagram's Emily Cain told National Geographic. "We're trying to do our part to educate them."
Internet giants now support bill to curb online sex trafficking
For ages, internet companies have fought changes to the Communications Decency Act's Section 230, which protects them from liability for content that might pass through their websites. They don't want to be sued because someone conducted sex trafficking on their sites without their knowledge. They've had a change of heart, though. The Internet Association (which includes Amazon, Facebook and Google) now supports the proposed Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, which would explicitly punish online sites that facilitate exploitation, after lawmakers altered the bill to protect innocent sites against criminal charges and lawsuits.
Interpol is using AI to hunt down child predators online
The FBI may have scored a big win with operation Playpen, which helped dismantle a ring of TOR-based pedophiles and prosecute its members (thanks, Rule 41), but that was just one battle in the ongoing war against the sexual exploitation of children. That fight is now a bit easier for European law enforcement, which as debuted a new machine learning AI system that hunts for child porn on P2P networks.
California's new online hub helps you fight revenge porn
If you're a victim of revenge porn, the attempt to fight back can prove daunting. How do you get someone to pull the offending images? Where do you turn to for legal aid? California wants to offer some help. The state has launched a cyberexploitation hub that gives victims, police and companies the resources they need to respond to (and ideally, prevent) revenge porn. You can find a pro bono lawyer, for instance, or the best practices for website owners trying to protect their visitors. No, the hub isn't guaranteed to fix anything -- but it might provide an important first step when you're hurt, lost and seeking justice. [Image credit: Getty Images]
Stick and Rudder: How Star Citizen is turning the game industry on its ear
When this column began, the first thing I talked about was Star Citizen's then-unique development model and how important it was both for fans and the game industry as a whole. Over a year later, the jury's still out on whether or not Cloud Imperium's opus will bring balance to the Force and give starving hardcores a home of their own. It's already safe to say that Star Citizen has turned the industry on its ear, though.
Microsoft offers 'mad loot' Bluehat prize to entice security developers (video)
Mere numbers aren't enough to describe cash prizes for Microsoft, it seems. The firm's inaugural Bluehat security competition's introduction video opted for a clearer term: "mad loot, lots of it." The big M hopes the hefty first prize of $200,000 will inspire the creation of the next generation of defensive computer security technology. The most innovative "novel runtime mitigation technology designed to prevent the exploitation of memory safety vulnerabilities" (phew!) will take home the aforesaid mad loot, while second and third places will receive $50,000 and an MSDN Universal subscription, respectively. The winner won't be announced until Blackhat 2012, of course, and applicants have until April to submit their prototypes and technical descriptions. Hit the break for the official announcement video, complete with CG backgrounds and prize euphemisms.
Chinese prisoners forced to produce virtual gold, real profits for their guards
The virtual goods economy of massively multiplayer online games may be thriving, but it's also stimulating an undesirable side-effect: exploitation. A former detainee at a prison in Heilongjiang province, China, has told the Guardian about how he was habitually forced into playing MMOs like World of Warcraft for the collection of loot, which the prison guards would then resell online for as much as ¥6,000 ($924) per day. Such totals would be the product of up to 300 inmates working 12-hour daily shifts, though predictably they saw none of the profits themselves. The unnamed source was at a "re-education through labor" camp where the usual toil would involve actual, rather than virtual, mining. The profitability of the online market has seemingly inspired prison bosses to move with the times, however, with business being so brisk that the computers "were never turned off." A Chinese government edict from 2009 is supposed to have introduced a requirement that online currencies only be traded by licensed entities, but it's believed that the practice of using prisoners in this fashion continues unabated.
Goon Squad downs Tirion Fordring
Perennial pariahs Goon Squad, Horde-side on Mal'Ganis-US, have really carved out a niche for themselves in the World of Warcraft. Well, two niches. The first is a rock-solid reputation of being the foremost trolls and griefers in the MMO market, period -- a reputation perpetuated by a community that operates mostly on word-of-mouth and lovingly crafted by the guild itself. The second is providing some of the best and most hilarious WoW videos on the internet. This one is no exception -- they managed to score a victory for the Lich King by defeating the dread paladin Fordring. It's a rare ability, possessed by Goon Squad and a few other community figures, to be able to take the building blocks of the game experience provided by Blizzard -- strictly compartmentalized and defined by sets of incontrovertible rules -- and then cobble together something wholly new and, frankly, ridiculous out of them. You're not supposed to be able to bring together two often-'shipped faction leaders for an impromptu date. You're not supposed to be able to blow the Wintergrasp fortress wall to smithereens in a minute's time. You're certainly not supposed to be able to kill the head of the Argent Crusade who, by the way, should learn to cast Consecrate.
'Sex Box' exposé might be the greatest news report of all time
digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/02/sex-box-expose-might-be-the-greatest-news-report-of-all-time/'; Well, we know one up-and-coming reporter who's well on her way to Pulitzer City. Posted just after the jump is one of the most hard-hitting news reports on the dangers of online gaming we've seen in years. Oh, sorry -- did we say "hard-hitting?" We meant "sensationalized, irrational, unresearched, and absolutely hilarious." We get those two phrases mixed up with surprising frequency. If we were only allowed to give you one piece of advice in our lifetime, it would be that you should watch the video posted after the jump. If we could give you two pieces of advice, they would be to watch the video, and never, ever let a reporter into your house. For any reason. Ever. Ever. [Via Kotaku]
Greg Costikyan slams Epic for 'exploitative' work hours
Game designer Greg Costikyan has come out swinging against Epic president Michael Capps for supporting what the author and Manifesto Games co-founder describes "exploitation of talent." Capps, who lately has made a habit out of putting his foot in his mouth, reportedly told those attending a leadership meeting by the International Game Developers Association that just putting in a 40-hour work week was utterly senseless. Instead, the exec claimed that devs should accept that toiling for 60 or more hours each week was just part of the "corporate culture."Costikyan points out that such a stance would be plausible coming from an industry exec, were Capps not also a board member of the IGDA, "an organization," Costikyan writes, "the ostensible purpose of which is to support game developers. Not, you know, to support management dickheads."There is more to the story as well, including nebulous comments by IGDA chair Jen MacLean that only add fuel to the fire. Costikyan notes the kerfluffle has cost the IGDA some members, though he urges current and future members to join in and "vote to replace anyone on the current board who will not take a clear stand in favor of reasonable working conditions." Fight. The. Power.
Player vs. Everything: Exploits are fun
Pretty much everyone knows that "exploit" is a dirty word. An exploit in an MMOG is anything that lets you work outside of the established rules of the game to do something that you couldn't normally do, usually in a way that lets you bypass or defeat content more easily than you're supposed to be able to. Finding a way to jump the fence before Arathi Basin actually starts is an exploit. Purposely glitching trash mobs into walls so that you can walk past them to a raid boss is an exploit. Killing a monster from a position where they're totally unable to hurt you is an exploit. In PvP gameplay, exploits are the kiss of death -- they break the game and make things totally unfun, because one player is cheating at the game. But is that necessarily the case for PvE gameplay? I'm not so sure. The commonest way to avoid players using exploits to kill monsters is that when a monster decides that a player is jerking it around too much (and is able to damage it without being hurt themselves), the monster just starts evading and goes back to its starting point. It's the virtual NPC equivalent of saying, "Fine, you don't want to play fair? I'm going home." But that mechanic misses an important consideration -- it's kind of fun to find and use ways to exploit mobs.
Is Blizzard exploiting WoW players?
Is Blizzard doing something unethical by producing and selling World of Warcraft? Rather than just the ol' "MMO games are too addictive" angle, an article in Australia's The Age (seriously, it's always the Aussies) has a new twist: game companies like Blizzard are actually "exploiting" their own players by implementing a reward system that keeps people playing.In a sense, um... yeah. Game companies have gotten the art of rewarding down to a science-- every great videogame out there lately is really terrific at balancing the challenge of playing with a suitable reward, whether that be an amazing headshot (along with sound and graphics, usually), epic loot, or just a shiny bit of treasure. That's why we play these things.So are you being exploited for your money when you hear about Zul'Aman and decide to keep paying monthly to stick around and pay it? No more than when the grocery stores exploit you for profit when you buy food, or when Starbucks exploits you for a tall when you want it. You decide when and where to spend your time and money, and if you'd rather not be "exploited" by Blizzard, you have the right to quit.Obviously, I don't think what Blizzard's doing is unethical. They're doing their best to make an involving and addictive game. And the reason they're doing that is because that's exactly what we want. Fortunately, as Terra Nova points out, The Age has included a hot nelf pic, so their piece isn't a complete waste of time.[ via Terra Nova ]
Overheard at E3: We're your props
Booth babe # 1: "We're your props. We'll do anything you want."Booth babe # 2: "Should we get on our knees?"Attendee: "No. For God's sake, where's your self respect?"Actually, I didn't hear that last part.
