Thread: really?

Originally Posted by dex71

There is no privacy any more. Anywhere.

The gov't has my Google Contacts list on file, and are not-so-secretly recording every phone, text, and e-mail conversation.

Visa knows where I am at all times, knows how much I spend and on what, and knows my bill-paying habits.

If I walk in Downtown Minneapolis (or any other major city in the US), I can be sure I am being watched by any number of cameras.

Punkbuster is just getting on an already full bandwagon.

To all of them I ask....How many fingers am I holding up?

Originally Posted by WileECyte

Before people go jumping off bridges and donning tin foil hats... Punkbuster only takes a PARTIAL shot of your screen. Half the time, the screenshot doesn't show much of anything It takes a 320x240 snapshot of your screen, typically a random section of your screen. If you're really worried, kill the punkbuster services when you aren't gaming.

I hope I'm not in the tin-foil-crowd yet, but you have to ask yourself (by which I mean I have to ask myself) what's a reasonable level of precaution? How many more companies/agencies do I want to actively give full access to?

If a sufficiently motivated and well-funded entity (government or otherwise) really wants to see what's on my machine then I know there's no way to stop it. That's not new, it's been true for a long time ("You have zero privacy anyway, get over it." Scott McNealy, 1999). But I'm not willing to simply give everything away to everyone, and there's a limit to how much mental overhead I'm willing to devote to keeping it all sorted out.

Could PunkBuster's license be any more broad? I don't want to suggest that they're actively evil, but when I think about who's best interests they have in mind the only thing I'm sure of is that it's not mine.

Here, Dex, let me add my finger to the message.


Æ

I think you are all right by questioning the software but you can't really question the need. Is there a better way? I don't really know.. I would think that the sophistication of our little hackers today...there really isn't much that can be done. The world wants to automate itself as much as possible and PB takes advantage of that. They know that server admins aren't always going to be online, they know that they need the upper hand.

There's this online service called ProctorU where they do proctoring for exams via webcam and screensharing. I hope that PB never comes to this.. If it does.. My priorities, like AE's will probably change.

The bad thing is... Punkbuster really only catches the low hanging fruit. There's always hacks that circumvent EvenBalance and DICE's best efforts (which can be questioned).

If EvenBalance or DICE just simply subscribed to the various 'hack' vendors out there discretely and actively worked to block the hacks it'd be a lot more effective, but I don't see that happening.

Working in the Security and LE field, this kind of stuff isn't that uncommon. I don't think I could name an instance or company that doesn't track in one way or another.

Hackers(Crackers) are going to ALWAYS have the upper-hand. It is a losing battle that is being fought uphill. Ultimately, they are winning and getting what they want. Most of their end goals are to make life a bitch or take the enjoyment out of things and troll. The actions of few make life shitty for the rest.

I could go on for hours but I will leave it at that.

Originally Posted by Partyball

Working in the Security and LE field, this kind of stuff isn't that uncommon. I don't think I could name an instance or company that doesn't track in one way or another.

Hackers(Crackers) are going to ALWAYS have the upper-hand. It is a losing battle that is being fought uphill. Ultimately, they are winning and getting what they want. Most of their end goals are to make life a bitch or take the enjoyment out of things and troll. The actions of few make life shitty for the rest.

I could go on for hours but I will leave it at that.

Only the good and smart hackers have the upper hand. Too many hackers open their mouths and share with their very talkative friends... In reality I would say that PB gets a majority of the dumb hackers.

Originally Posted by Warprosper

Only the good and smart hackers have the upper hand. Too many hackers open their mouths and share with their very talkative friends... In reality I would say that PB gets a majority of the dumb hackers.

Yep... and even then I think it's a fraction of the actual number of hackers. I think they catch all the widely/freely available hacks... and seldom catch the ones that are constantly being updated by the companies that sell hacks.

Originally Posted by Warprosper

Only the good and smart hackers have the upper hand. Too many hackers open their mouths and share with their very talkative friends... In reality I would say that PB gets a majority of the dumb hackers.

I wouldn't disagree. But they cant only ban/catch ones of known hacks to PB. Most of those guys are only doing it to troll and be stupid. Kids.

The upper level guys are few and far between and good at what they do. Those are the guys that need to be getting banned. The ones that are questionable and no one is really sure. The low hanging fruit will be dealt with by any server admin almost instantly anyways.

I see they are trying to implement a type of IPS system. I hope it works. I do fear for the "anomalies" that don't hack though. They may get stung with a false-positive.

Originally Posted by Warprosper

I think you are all right by questioning the software but you can't really question the need. Is there a better way? I don't really know.. I would think that the sophistication of our little hackers today...there really isn't much that can be done. The world wants to automate itself as much as possible and PB takes advantage of that. They know that server admins aren't always going to be online, they know that they need the upper hand.

There's this online service called ProctorU where they do proctoring for exams via webcam and screensharing. I hope that PB never comes to this.. If it does.. My priorities, like AE's will probably change.

I don't question the need at all. I like interactive, cooperative, online games. Having played CS in the (very) early days, I don't need to be convinced of the need to counter-act cheating.

The issues, and the debate, aren't really all that different from the debate over police powers in the real world. The online world is a relatively complete world, and PunkBuster is a private police force. Their terms are that they get access to everything. They tell you not to worry, and that they're not interested in anything outside gaming matters.

I don't even know if my priorities have changed yet, just that I'm thinking more about what it all means.

Cheers,


AetheLove