[aldo_14]

[q]
Some of you (and clearly the bad guys are among them) don’t always remember that this game, and all accounts and derivative products, are the property of the United States Army. When you tamper with the game, not only are you breaking the EULA you’re misusing Army property – and, worse, you’re misusing US Army computer programs and equipment.

Tampering with software and servers owned or used by the Army is cyber crime.

In the early 1940’s, Japan learned an important lesson – “let the sleeping giant lie.” We may not react swiftly, but when we do it’s with unstoppable force. The Army has partners that deal with cyber crime as a matter of course. These include not just various Army IT departments, but also the Department of Justice, the Secret Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

It’s going to get uncomfortable for some of the bad guys, but you know what? They brought it on themselves. Knowing this anyone who continues to be bad is just plain foolish. Keep trying, though. Sooner or later the bad guy will realize we’ve known about him for a while… and by then it’s too late.

Allow me to speak directly to the bad guys for a moment: When you get banned, know that we know and have records showing you were doing something that’s a violation of terms of service, breaks your EULA, and also happens to be against the law. We know who you are, and can track down where you play from. We have incontrovertible proof you did something illegal. The Army is angry, and we’re coming for you.
[/q]

Yee haw.

(quoted on Bluesnews.com)

[Fineus]

God bless the police state.

Not that I think they're wrong for dealing with cheaters and software pirates in the same way that any other company should.

But who exactly are they threatening here? From one point of view.. any cracked version of AA used by any small time user will bring down the brunt of the American Army and federal services?

[aldo_14]

This amuses me;

n the early 1940’s, Japan learned an important lesson – “let the sleeping giant lie.” We may not react swiftly, but when we do it’s with unstoppable force

The Army is angry, and we’re coming for you.

[BlackDove]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SOOOOOOOOOOO SCAAAAAAAAAAARED

They can suck me.

[Drew]

(the game) Americas Army has been plaged by hackers over its lifetime.  Lamers from CS come over and code exploits and ****, and really end up ruining things.  The Army is doing constantly update softwere, but hackers pop up and ruin the Army's million dollar recruitment tool. Hacking servers is against the law in any modern country. This is called intimidation, not cruel or unusal anything. The Army is probably the most effecient US government body, and they really dont take **** from the outside that well.

[Fineus]

Ahh, but if they were really clever - having ID'd the hackers they'd employ them.

Why?

Because these hackers have found ways around code endorsed by the US Army. Seems to me that the army could stand to learn a lot more by employing them than by being so suprised that they got hacked.

[aldo_14]

I'm just wondering why they put out such an appallingly badly worded press release.... do they really expect people to go "Ooh, the Army's after me!  Scary!"

and is the comparison to WW2 really required?

NB: to be honest, the idea of using a game to literally indoctrinate kids into joining the army (any army), I find pretty morally repugnant.  Like the scary man who offers to show you puppies in the back of his unmarked van.

[Deathstorm V2]

The concept of the game is troubling in the least.  

Personally, I refuse to play games based on real conflicts, and if this one is being uses as a recruiting tool then I have to agree with Aldo's comments.

[Unknown Target]

Originally posted by Kalfireth
Ahh, but if they were really clever - having ID'd the hackers they'd employ them.

Why?

Because these hackers have found ways around code endorsed by the US Army. Seems to me that the army could stand to learn a lot more by employing them than by being so suprised that they got hacked.

It's usually a bunch of loser kids...so are you saying that the Army should employ a bunch of 13 year old script kiddies with cracking voices?
A lot of the times, the hacks are distributed, so it may not just be the same person that's cheating and made the hack.


Also, I used to play AA:O, but the problem is, the game went bonkers after about the third patch. It got popular, you got the CS guys (the bad ones---I'm playing CS:Source now, and it's pretty good), come over and scream and ***** and moan and etc, and the whole thing just went to hell.

Sad, too, the game used to be incredible, with great players.

[Fineus]

Originally posted by Unknown Target

It's usually a bunch of loser kids...so are you saying that the Army should employ a bunch of 13 year old script kiddies with cracking voices?

Who can apparently think of ways around things that the currently employed code monkeys can't.

I might not give them full time employment - but I'd certainly try and learn a thing or two from them before I started chucking my weight around in punishment.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Kalfireth

Who can apparently think of ways around things that the currently employed code monkeys can't.

I might not give them full time employment - but I'd certainly try and learn a thing or two from them before I started chucking my weight around in punishment.

The thing is that finding a problem is a different set of skills to fixing it.  Once they find out they're doing something, they can quickly figure out what and how; there's not much use in hiring a 'one-trick pony.

[Fineus]

But they should certainly learn from them.

Don't get me wrong - I can see where you're coming from. I think that I was wrong to suggest actually hiring them as employees - however they could turn the situation to their advantage. Imagine a.. reward system for people who identify cracks. Actually encourage cracking the system and reporting the crack as soon as you've done it, without actually using it to do any damage.

What you end up with is a horde of nerdy coding kids who - wanting to get ahead in the scheme of things - search out these cracks for free and report them. Those that report them get some kind of reward and those that miss-use them can have the book thrown at them as per normal.

Don't ask me what rewards you might have though... a free years online subscription or something perhaps... some other small insentive.

[Flipside]

Working from deep in the heart of the seething Metropolis to the deserted outbacks of Arizona, a crack team of Cyber-hunter soldiers are working day and night to hunt down the evil men who commit cyber terrorism on a nightly basis. Without these men and women, thousands of innocent civilians would be at mortal risk of not being able to play an online game.

America sleeps safer in it's bed knowing their tax-dollar is buffering them from the terror of the bored teenager.

[Deepblue]

Funny thing is that if you play older versions (namely 2.1 in my case) of AA, all of the whining n00bs and cheaters go to the new version and some veterans stay on the old because updating can be a pain. There are only around 8 servers on but it is enough, especially if you like Bridge Crossing.

The absolutely greatest thing about the game is that
A. It is as fun as hell.
B. It is free.

[Drew]

it is fun as hell. it also attracts CS players and god knows CS players have the smallest dicks in the world.

Most crack out there are scripts that the smart ones put together so that any gimp can exploit security holes.  Nobody really knows who made the programs, all the server admins can do is read punkbuster logs and pin the lamers who exploit the scripts. So the army cant really  reqruit master crackers anyway simply because of fedral law, which, in the united states, isnt the exact responsibilty of the army.

you would have millions of people claiming theyv identified a crack. And what about the assholes who rip up servers just for the hell of it?  "haha dumbass army see if i care about the reward, you just lost millions for server repairs haha"  thats a smart idea.

if men were angels....

[Deepblue]

The problem for CS players is that AA is NOT CS. If you go rushing out guns blazing, you WILL die, and quickly. It takes careful measured pacing, a good ear, and a good aim.

[Rictor]

I hope some Russian 15 year olds hack these morons back to the 17th century.

oh, and

[Drew]

moron

[Ford Prefect]

[demon442]

The reaon they make the WWII reference is because that's all they've got.  The US army isn't suited for technical work anyway, their mental conditioning makes even their IT departments just no-gun combat teams.

And I dont agree with using video games as a recruitment tool either.  The way I see it, if the standard annoyance tactics fail, then they're probably gonna go to college and make something of themselves anyway.