Blizzard Helps Cops Track Down WoW Fan, Suspected Drug Dealer


Wanted on drug dealing charges, Alfred Hightower skipped the country after a warrant was issued for his arrest. But he didn’t stop playing World of Warcraft and that’s how police caught him. The Howard County Sheriff’s Department in Indiana discovered that Hightower, was a big fan of some “warlock and witches game”, eventually piecing together that it was World of Warcraft. The investigating deputy contacted Blizzard to see if they would help track him down, the Kokomo Perspective reports. “They don’t have to respond to us, and I was under the assumption that they wouldn’t,” Roberson told the Perspective. “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 provided the sheriff the suspect’s IP address, account information and history, his billing address, and his online screen name and preferred server. Deputies then used the information to pinpoint Hightower’s location in Canada. Hightower, who was wanted on charges of dealing in a schedule III controlled substance and dealing in a schedule IV controlled substance, and two charges of dealing in marijuana, was picked up by Canadian authorities and will be returned to Howard County on Jan. 5. While it’s good to see Blizzard helping out law enforcement, it is a touch Big Brothery to hear just how much information they track and keep and are so willing to give away… even when not legally required to do so. Long arm of law reaches into World of Warcraft

Too many links in the next story to copy and paste.

Check out this kid that nailed a cougar!

Those crazy Texans.

Here's a link to a more full article about Gifchick's post:
http://kokomoperspective.com/news/local_news/article_15a0a546-f574-11de-ab22-001cc4c03286.html

It's actually pretty cool, apparently the detective is a former Warcraft player.

In my past life working for a law enforcement agency, we subpoenaed Blizzard twice, and both times they responded pretty quickly.

I think the reason the officer mentions that Blizzard didn't have to respond was because it was a case of a person in Canada and a subpoena in the US. But, there are several loopholes which give them cause to respond: The billing address on the account, the origin of the IP where the account was created, or the Primary address of the bank which issued the credit card that the player uses to play WoW.

As for what information Blizzard holds on to. They are international, so basically they have to store information about all of the players so that they can respond to subpoenas for any LE that asks for them, and some of the requirements for retention and information required to be kept are steep in countries outside of the US. Its a way for Blizzard to cover their butts, more than anything else. The last thing they want is for Greece to sue them for not retaining IP addresses for example.

This really is an interesting case, but like I said Blizz really has a great legal department that is very willing to work with Law Enforcement in any case that is sent their way.

Just goes to show, crime and WoW don't mix... but I think we have a few other LE members in the guild that would point that out as well...

...but I think we have a few other LE members in the guild that would point that out as well...

Far out, man