Borderlands 2: Reviews and Impressions

Started by FrontierCybrarian, September 20, 2012, 03:48:17 PM

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Yskonyn

Yes indeed. It all comes down to try to guard data as best we can. If Epic is proven to be harvesting personal data people should have enough reason to avoid it for now.
On the other hand I have no illusion Steam, Uplay and Battle.net would not have some kind of 'harvester' built in.
I comes down to 'damage control' or 'security priorities', if you will. What data am I ok with to be shared and what not. Credit Card info or bank account details are obviously a big no no.

But what do I care if companies know what games I like? What do I care if companies have access to my OS version, hardware signature, etc?
In essence this should be safe to share, but we all know this information gets sold to 3rd parties and that's where the potential problems lie:
The more bits of a puzzle this overarcing database has about people, the more infringing it becomes to the point of -for example- people not being able to get a certain insurance because the company is of the opinion that people who play GTA V often have a social disorder. (inflating on purpose here).

A rather silly, but smart thing we often say in aviation is "You don't know what you don't know". That's applicable to the privacy problem people are becoming more aware of as time goes by.
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

Pete Dero

If I got it right the problem was that the Epic app collected info about the player's Steam account.

They later (when it got out) claimed this was 'by mistake'.



http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=16512.msg644350#msg644350

https://www.bluesnews.com/s/198430/valve-on-epic-games-store-and-steam-data
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/epic-promises-to-fix-game-launcher-after-privacy-concerns/

Vogel also stated that the Epic Games Launcher is also designed to track some user behavior, as well as to send some select information to the company's servers, but nothing that is not covered by the program's privacy policy or that would be considered privacy invasion.

Epic Games CEO and Founder Tim Sweeney also chimed in to answer some of the gamers' questions on Reddit, stating that "Since this issue came to the forefront we're going to fix it."
Sweeney said that the current way of collecting client Steam info from users' computers is actually his fault:
You guys are right that we ought to only access the localconfig.vdf file after the user chooses to import Steam friends. The current implementation is a remnant left over from our rush to implement social features in the early days of Fortnite. It's actually my fault for pushing the launcher team to support it super quickly and then identifying that we had to change it. Since this issue came to the forefront we're going to fix it.

JudgeDredd

Alba gu' brath

Gusington

And besides the harvesting, Epic's security is just crap. I saw a bunch of online examples of users getting dozens of warnings from Epic over just a few hours that their accounts were hacked.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Jarhead0331

Quote from: Gusington on April 05, 2019, 10:18:18 AM
And besides the harvesting, Epic's security is just crap. I saw a bunch of online examples of users getting dozens of warnings from Epic over just a few hours that their accounts were hacked.

I get these warnings weekly. Not that it has been hacked, but that somebody has tried to hack it.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Gusington

Specifically what I saw was one user post a gif of his inbox and just that one sample showed 25+ attempts to breach in 1-2 hours.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Pete Dero

Next phase :  Epic is the new Huawei  !?  (https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/23/tech/huawei-us-government/index.html)


https://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-epic-games-store-is-spyware-how-a-toxic-accusation-was-started-by-anti-chinese-sentiment

But perhaps most stunningly some have gone as far to say that the Epic Games Store is literal spyware. Not in a cheeky way either, but that Epic is a conduit for the Chinese government to spy on players.


https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/1113970715173294081

I support everyone's right to complain about tech industry stuff. Epic's store, with exclusive games and a spartan feature set, is a fine target for ire. But please help separate facts and opinions from the lies about spyware and foreign control.

I'm the controlling shareholder in Epic Games, and have been since 1991. We have a number of outside investors now. Tencent is the largest. All of Epic's investors our friends and partners. None can dictate decisions to Epic. None have access to Epic customer data.

Tencent is a Chinese company
founded in 1998. CEO Pony Ma and the other co-founders played a lot of Unreal Tournament back then, and visited Epic in the early 2000's. In 2012 Epic was looking to move to online games, and we invited Tencent in as an investor to help us.

I've never regretted it, and the recent anti-China rage doesn't change that even slightly, as its completely unfounded. Epic has only had positive interactions with Tencent at all levels.

All of Epic's big decisions are made here in the USA and as CEO I'm 100% responsible for them. I'm grateful for everyone who has spoken in support. I also read and respectfully consider all dissenting arguments of fact and principle. Just please keep it real.


https://www.bluesnews.com/s/199029/tim-sweeney-on-epic-games-store-spyware-theories