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The award to Blizzard, Inc. for memory scans to prevent cheating in an MMO video game (something that I'd wager most players would accept) sort of cheapens the
by danneu 14y ago
The award to Blizzard, Inc. for memory scans to prevent cheating in an MMO video game (something that I'd wager most players would accept) sort of cheapens the award when it's shared by widespread government-disseminated trojans and citizen surveillance.
- cube13 14y agoIt's also saying that the Starcraft 2 ladder system, which records your games so you can review them later, and ranks players based on some ELO-ish formula, is a privacy invasion. Plus, aside from the entire real name forums stupidity last year, which would be a valid criticism of Blizzard, but is not named here, the only functionality the RealID system gives is social: cross-game chat and the ability to group up with friends on a different server.
- aw3c2 14y agoI do consider not being able to privately secretly play games to ungodly hours a privacy issue.
- tptacek 14y agoAn example of what is developing into my biggest problem with EFF: an organization doing incredibly important work that at the same time has seemingly no scruples about muddying the water to gain attention and gin up outrage. It's hard to escape the thought that Blizzard is on this list because nobody cares about German frozen food companies, but everyone recognizes Blizzard.
- tobiasu 14y agoHow do you come to that conclusion? The German Big Brother Award is not an EFF event. It concerns itself with issues mostly relevant to Germany and is split into different categories. Blizzard "won" the in the consumer protection category. I would also argue that it's wrong that nobody cares about frozen food companies. Germany has strong privacy laws and while not nearly enough people care, a lot still do. Companies violating employees right to privacy _is_ a big deal in Germany and gets top spots in the news.
- tptacek 14y agoI agree that companies violating German privacy laws are a big deal.
- RobertKohr 14y agoThis was were I was quite surprised as well. Blizzard is always in a fight against cheaters, and it is required since their games are competitive in nature.
- SeanDav 14y agoI am in a love-hate relationship with Blizzard, love their games, hate their big brother approach. Scan my computer memory because I might be cheating is both insulting and an invasion of privacy. Another example is I was registered with them in one country and now moved to another country - they won't change my country status unless I give them a copy of my passport (or similar ID) and a physical copy of a utility bill. Just who do they think they are?
- JoeAltmaier 14y agoI'd note that the automatic-water-dispensing machine that used an RFID chip in your water bottle, seems like more of a red herring. They described it in a fairly technophobic way, like kids are being injured by exposure to technology. They come off sounding like out-of-touch old fogies.