14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that World of Warcraft is one of the few things people cannot give up even as they are pretty much on the run because of various drug charges. One man, named Alfred Hightower, has been tracked by the police through the popular MMO, created and maintained by Blizzard, and after the company agreed to cooperate with the police, he was arrested.
Matt Robertson, who is Howard County Sheriff’s Department deputy, has told a local newspaper that “We received information that this guy was a regular player of an online game, which was referred to as ‘some warlock and witches’ game. None of that information was sound enough to pursue on its own, but putting everything we had together gave me enough evidence to send a subpoena to Blizzard Entertainment. I knew exactly what he was playing: World of Warcraft. I used to play it. It’s one of the largest online games in the world.”
Alfred Hightower was charged with drug dealing and possession, and targeted as part of Operation: Falcon. In order to escape the police, he got out of the United States of America and entered Canada, trying to lay low.
Unfortunately for him, the one thing he could not get away from was playing World of Warcraft. After receiving a subpoena from Robertson, Blizzard decided to cooperate and sent him a package of information related to Robertson and his gaming habits. Then, the Canadian police forces stepped in so that Hightower could be brought in and then sent to the United States.
The most interesting element in the whole story is that Blizzard chose to actually collaborate with the police and deliver information, which led to the arrest of the suspect. While the action in itself is commendable, the principle of privacy for MMO players will certainly be brought up, considering their propensity towards limited sharing of private data.