Blizzard Potentially Watching Users via Watermarking Screenshots
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A few days ago I noticed some weird artifacts covering the screenshots I captured using the WoW game client application. I sharpened the images and found a repeating pattern secretly embedded inside. I posted this information on the OwnedCore forum and after an amazing three-day cooperation marathon, we managed to prove that all our WoW screenshots, since at least 2008, contain a custom watermark. This watermark includes our user IDs, the time the screenshot was captured and the IP address of the server we were on at the time. It can be used to track down activities which are against Blizzard's Terms of Service, like hacking the game or running a private server. The users were never notified by the ToS that this watermarking was going on so, for four years now, we have all been publicly sharing our account and realm information for hackers to decode and exploit. You can find more information on how to access the watermark in the aforementioned forum post which is still quite active.
Sued for what, pray tell? Care to come up with a cause of action?
Gamers are free to leave if they don't like the policies (a valid response), but I don't see anything actionable about this, if the most "private" information in there is your user ID and the Blizzard server IP.
Sued for what, pray tell? Care to come up with a cause of action?
Gamers are free to leave if they don't like the policies (a valid response), but I don't see anything actionable about this, if the most "private" information in there is your user ID and the Blizzard server IP.
Yeah, the only people who would really have grounds to sue would be those who had their accounts compromised because of this (i.e. suffered financial damage).
Wonder if this is present in Diablo 3 as well. Blizzard really has become one of the more anti gamer companies selling games out there. I have already said this but Diablo 3 is my last Blizzard game. They have come a long way from loved game house to notorious jackasses.
People are over reacting. Color copiers (as rubishfoo pointed out) and laser printers have done stuff like this for years. Every photo you take with your smartphone has data embedded in it (exactly what varies).
Blizzard is a company that offers a service, one that is incredibly expensive to maintain and provide. They make a killer profit, but if things like custom servers ever started to seriously eat into their revenue, something like this could help them identify and stop them. As a business, they have the right to protect their revenue source from people who just don't give a fuck. It this a little sleazy? Probably. It is illegal? No, probably not. Nobody is forcing you to take screenshots (and as the forum thread points out, if you use max quality this watermark isn't embedded) anyway.
Besides, remember all the hooplah that surrounded the "warden" spyware they install on your machine? This isn't exactly revelatory news. And what do you think that WoW launcher is for anyway? It's not really so you can see news posts, it scans your machine before you log into the game.
Long story short, if you're surprised companies do secret things to protect their money makers and don't tell you about it, you haven't been paying attention.
"The secret watermark which is being intentionally embedded inside WoW generated screenshots below top quality, DOES NOT CONTAIN the account password, the IP address of the user or any personal information like name/surname etc. It does contain the account ID, a timestamp and the IP address of the current realm."
They probably started doing this because of people like me. I did a lot of mountain climbing into Hyjal back in the days before it was a playable instance ;P
They probably started doing this because of people like me. I did a lot of mountain climbing into Hyjal back in the days before it was a playable instance ;P
Ehhh probably not...
I'm sure they'd be more concerned with actual cheating that blowing time mountain climbing to areas that just gain you a screen shot.
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Originally Posted by Johan
Valve hasn't stripped anyone of anything.
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Originally Posted by lockwoodx
Steam has always been 100% voluntary. Origin.... not so much.
Ths issue is that they didnt bother to tell anyone that they were giving their account ID and server in every screenshot they take. Information that can be used to hack an account.
You know, Activision exists in name only at this point. Blizzard's parent company (Vivendi) "merged" it's games division, including Blizzard, with Activision. What this really means is Vivendi purchased Activision, and kept the name because it is a better brand than their internal brand was (Vivendi Universal Games). Blizzard's owners didn't change, Activision's did.
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A cannon? Get out of here with that!
Ths issue is that they didnt bother to tell anyone that they were giving their account ID and server in every screenshot they take. Information that can be used to hack an account.
Sounds like it cannot actually be used to hack an account. I assume the ID being talked about encoded here is a numerical one, not alphanumeric, thus it could easily be hashed. Guesswork, but just the id and other info is not innately hackable. Even a plaintext ID isn't. Though, I wouldn't want my plaintext ID in public images either >_>
Warden is far more intrusive than this. I gotta admit that I love the ingenuity of the Blizz developers. BTW, color copiers do this so that if you copy money and try and use it, they will be able to find you.
Sued for what, pray tell? Care to come up with a cause of action?
Gamers are free to leave if they don't like the policies (a valid response), but I don't see anything actionable about this, if the most "private" information in there is your user ID and the Blizzard server IP.
Really? Lets see. They've made Bliz/battle.net accounts a LOT less secure, all the while SELLING security in the way of key-fobs. If you don't have a security key generator you can't access the RMAH. Seems f-ed up to me. I don't know if theres enough to merit a lawsuit but at the very least by providing additional information to potential would-be hackers all the while selling you additional security, they're scumbags.
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"Well some day you will die somehow and something's going to steal your carbon."
