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While I agree that is what they officially say they do, the means employed go beyond that. From the article: > "These are generally data points about the user’

While I agree that is what they officially say they do, the means employed go beyond that. From the article: > "These are generally data points about the user’s device, such as its operating system, installed fonts, browsers (and versions) used, timezone, language, the user’s in-game ID, and screen resolution. This is what Red Shell calls a ‘fingerprint’, which can also be made on games consoles as well as PCs." Such a fingerprint is very unique and can easily be connected to a person with very little effort down the line, even if now nobody does that (yeah, right). Personally, I do not trust any company that collects such detailed information without my informed consent and without a clear (i.e. verifiable and legally enforceable) pledge to delete that information when the original purpose has been served. This is exactly the overshooting behaviour that was rightfully targeted by the Europeans with their recent data protection law. edit: formatting

Flammy 8y ago
That is correct. Red Shell also specifies to devs you should configure it to report some of those and not all should be reported. It provides guidelines for how many to report based on how many unique users you have/are expecting. All of these factors are available to web browsers (which is why they were chosen, so they can be matched up to web clicks). These are tracked in most web analytics suites today by default. Based on my research I don't believe that these (even all of them together) are PII.
- travistravel 8y ago
  > These are tracked in most web analytics suites today by default. All installed browsers? All fonts? Which web analytics suites report this by default? > Based on my research I don't believe that these (even all of them together) are PII. Great argument, but I have the perfect counter: based on my research they can constitute PII, back to square one.
legitster 8y ago
Okay, I get this, but then do services like Google Analytics get a free pass?
- mondoshawan 8y ago
  No, they don't, and they are just as subject to the GDPR as anybody else is, in fact, probably more given the EU decisions lately and because they're a huge big, fat target. The distinction here is that they have been doing it a very long time, and user privacy actually is a core tenet of what they worry about at Google.
- rostigerpudel 8y ago
  No, I don't trust Google either. But at least Google is somewhat open about the fact that they collect the data. I can have a look at it and I have settings to influence and even delete (probably) what is being collected. That is vastly different from a spyware module installed clandestinely together with a software I paid for that sends data about me to somewhere and somebody then does something with it that I don't know about.
- actsasbuffoon 8y ago
  You can install browser extensions to block that kind of tracking, or you can go nuclear (as I have) by disabling JavaScript altogether. When I buy a game, I do not have this freedom.

Flammy 8y ago

That is correct. Red Shell also specifies to devs you should configure it to report some of those and not all should be reported. It provides guidelines for how many to report based on how many unique users you have/are expecting. All of these factors are available to web browsers (which is why they were chosen, so they can be matched up to web clicks). These are tracked in most web analytics suites today by default. Based on my research I don't believe that these (even all of them together) are PII.

travistravel 8y ago
> These are tracked in most web analytics suites today by default. All installed browsers? All fonts? Which web analytics suites report this by default? > Based on my research I don't believe that these (even all of them together) are PII. Great argument, but I have the perfect counter: based on my research they can constitute PII, back to square one.

legitster 8y ago

Okay, I get this, but then do services like Google Analytics get a free pass?

mondoshawan 8y ago
No, they don't, and they are just as subject to the GDPR as anybody else is, in fact, probably more given the EU decisions lately and because they're a huge big, fat target. The distinction here is that they have been doing it a very long time, and user privacy actually is a core tenet of what they worry about at Google.
rostigerpudel 8y ago
No, I don't trust Google either. But at least Google is somewhat open about the fact that they collect the data. I can have a look at it and I have settings to influence and even delete (probably) what is being collected. That is vastly different from a spyware module installed clandestinely together with a software I paid for that sends data about me to somewhere and somebody then does something with it that I don't know about.
actsasbuffoon 8y ago
You can install browser extensions to block that kind of tracking, or you can go nuclear (as I have) by disabling JavaScript altogether. When I buy a game, I do not have this freedom.