tersa and WoW players:

[thistlechaser]

Hey tersa, recall how when we had lunch together you mentioned FFXI watching for processes running on your machine as a way to find bots? WoW does that, and more. (That scary link comes to us by way of gbeans's LJ.)

WoW: The biggest (and worst) piece of spyware you'll ever willingly install.

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In quite an "amusing" twist, stupid FFXI will be down all day on Thursday (a rare day I'll have off from work). Stupid game. I guess I'll be playing WoW for at least part of the day. (I've not played in... three? four? five? days now. :/ At least I'll have a ton of "rested XP", I guess.)

I printed out the info/maps I'll need for the QSC headstone for ZM5, so hopefully I'll get that done tonight. Doesn't look too bad, I suppose. I guess I'll go WHM/BLM for free stealthing, warp, and because I can eat deaths on WHM if necessary. I suppose I could bring my QSC key to try to get a coffer/map, but I died three times the last time I tried that, and the thought of trying it again leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth.

Comments

[tersa.livejournal.com]

Hey tersa, recall how when we had lunch together you mentioned FFXI watching for processes running on your machine as a way to find bots? WoW does that, and more. (That scary link comes to us by way of gbeans's LJ.)

WoW: The biggest (and worst) piece of spyware you'll ever willingly install.

That is because I am SMRT!

Seriously, though, I read not only the article but the comments on it, and came to a few conclusions:

1) Labeling it 'spyware' is the opinion of the poster, and may not technically be true.

2) The WoW Terms of Service explicitly says that they do this, so it's not as if they went out to hide this fact (which is why I'm not sure I would call it 'spyware').

3) It's unclear whether or not they're actually violating anyone's privacy, because the information Blizzard may or may not be getting seems to be encrypted and not raw.

But, it is interesting that there's at least some verification in the ToS that they're doing exactly what I figured someone would be to prevent cheatbots.

[epyonmk3.livejournal.com]

Exactly. The information may be gathered but it isn't sent anywhere if it doesn't match the 'ban list', and discarded. Blizzard will not see your private info, and if they do, it's your own fault for having suspicious windows with names like WoW!Inmate. :D

And really, is it a violation of privacy when you click the 'I agree' button to the EULA, when the EULA specifically states that it does this?