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Alleged World of Warcraft Law Enforcement guide leaked

A document purporting to outline what user information Blizzard Entertainment can and can't supply to law enforcement has turned up online.

Kotaku reports the 18 page PDF was included in a document dump by hacking group AntiSec, and allegedly taken from the files of one of the California Department of Justice's cybercrime experts.

The document outlines various guidelines for what law enforcement needs to provide - warrants, court orders and sub-poenas - in order for Blizzard to comply with requests for player information, but notes that in emergency situations, the information may be released voluntarily.

The kinds of information Blizzard might hold, as listed in the document, include IP addresses; log in details; payment details such as bank account and credit card numbers; identity information; and chat logs.

According to the document, which was last revised in 2009, Blizzard holds most personal information "indefinitely", but only keeps private messages for 180 days. No deadline was given for the retention of chat logs.

Blizzard has not confirmed the document's veracity.

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Brenna Hillier avatar

Brenna Hillier

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Based in Australia and having come from a lengthy career in the Aussie games media, Brenna worked as VG247's remote Deputy Editor for several years, covering news and events from the other side of the planet to the rest of the team. After leaving VG247, Brenna retired from games media and crossed over to development, working as a writer on several video games.
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