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WoW scans your IE browser history... uh-oh... |
Listed in: Titles, Off Topic Tags: Blizzard, Digg, Firefox
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Flukes submitted this JPEG screencap to Digg which could be funny, freaky, or downright furiously worrisome, depending on where you stand in the online privacy debate. Here's what Flukes has to say:
The linked screenshot provides proof that WoW developer Blizzard is actively scanning players' browsing history and cookies. Early speculation is that this is a countermeasure against cheaters, but players are arguing that Blizzard has no right to access this highly private data.
(You will note with great trepidation that the next thing the program checks after the temp files is the Cookies folder)
Not knowing what Blizzard's reasons are for checking your computer's internet history, all everyone at Digg and here can do is speculate. Beyond jokes of (and we quote) "Worried about Blizz finding out about your (just use the sickest imagination you've got) pr0n collection?", there are some very serious repercussions from this.
One theory being strung out at Digg is that the game's actively looking for the computer having visited sites Blizzard frowns on for one reason or another. A more benign reason is that WoW could simply be saving cache files from the news ticker, or from the program's launcher, which is why it's accessing the temp folder. Could be an anti-scam thing, too. Of course, those are the benign reasons - who wants to speculate on the more overtly provocative ones?
But again, no one knows why, and Blizzard didn't say anything about this before. And a lot of people in Digg are seriously miffed and are, not to mention, switching to Firefox - unless WoW's designed to look in there, too.
Via Digg
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Comments
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It's a sad trend that people don't mind giving up their privacy, it's going to get scary in the future as technology develops!
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Does the EULA for WoW allow for this clearly? As I recall, most, in fact all major companies inform you VERY clearly of what data they collect from your system before or during a program installation. Everything from Winamp to MS software to even opensource guys mention clearly if they are collecting ANY information from your PC for their own use.
THey can't hide stuff like this deep into the EULA.
This looks like a BIG lawsuit to me...
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I am curious as to what they're looking for, though..
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Also, as far as contracts of adhesion (as opposed to negotiated contracts) are concerned, usually, the expectations of the consumer govern.
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