Blizzard Busts Fugitive, Lvl 80 Tauren Shaman
A Level 80 Tauren Shaman wanted on drug charges was apprehended with the cooperation of Blizzard and the Shammy's own World of Warcraft habit. Alfred Hightower of Howard County, Indiana, AKA Rastlynn, a restoration-specced Shaman of the Tauren persuasion, was arrested in Ottawa, Canada and hearthstoned to Minnesota.
What led to the ill-fated Shammy's arrest? His ill-fated compulsion to play WoW: when Detective Matt Robertson learned of Hightower's WoW habit, he subpoenaed Activision Blizzard for their help, and was surprised to receive it:
"They don't have to respond to us, and I was under the assumption that they wouldn't," said Roberson. "It had been three or four months since I had sent the subpoena. I just put it in the back of my mind and went on to do other things. Then I finally got a response from them. They sent me a package of information. They were very cooperative. It was nice that they were that willing to provide information."
Blizzard's aid led to a WoW billing address, IP address, and with the aid of Google Earth the Canadian fuzz was able to bring down the bad guy in what I'm guessing was a 10 man raid. Heroic difficulty? Methinks not.
Big Brother or no: if you're wanted on drug charges, do yourself a favor and pick a nice offline game to play instead. Mebbe good ol' Dope Wars? At least you'll have an edge on the gameplay.
Long arm of law reaches into World of Warcraft [KokomoPerspective]
[via GamePolitics]
tiny dancer
Posted to Miscellany on 4 January 2010
· Comments (8)
Other stuff like this: alfred hightower, blizzard, fugitive, level 80 shaman, world of warcraft, wow
So the war on drugs targets gamers now through their video games.
This is certainly worth all the cost and effort! I mean, putting a substance into your body that does nothing to anyone else. That is terrible.
The moral majority can't stand for it. It is immoral, just like alcohol. Prohibition works. Our prisons need to be full of people that casually smoke something we don't like, or eat a mushroom that is illegal, or a plant that we determined makes you feel good so you can't have it.
*sigh*
More of Blizzards pro-Alliance agenda.
:P
Kidding of course.
I wouldn't say it was big brother if all of his information was on a record that he gave them... Big Brother implies that they're spying on everything we do, but if we're giving them all of that information... well it's just a registry that the police used and Blizzard gave them, because as an American company, it's sort of your duty to assist the police when they request it.
Wow, I'm almost positive I remember him ganking me like crazy in WoW, lol. Karma is a bitch!
Ironically, I've found connections through Wow. Haha.
And clockcat, I agree with you on victimless crimes, but I have a feeling this wasn't just some guy casually dealing, especially since he fled to Canada (if I understand correctly).
It's in Blizzard's ToS that they can divulge this info to law enforcement agencies.
I don't agree with the War on Drugs, but if you've got a warrant out for you, it's pretty obvious you should be staying off the grid.
Agreed with Bryce. I think he was doing a little more than smoking pot to get tracked and raided in Canada.
that has to be the cutest description i'v ever heard. kudos tinydancer. kudos. : 3