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Blizzard secretly watermarking World of Warcraft screenshots with user data
- Thread starter crimsonheadGCN
- Start date
Filth
Member
I know about the images being tagged with geo locations. I think that's pretty shitty to.
HarryDemeanor
Member
If this is the case then there's nothing to be worried about except for Blizzard with their server ips in there.
stuminus3
Member
The way these things work is that even the smallest piece of information can unlock a door somewhere. Example, Google search for my GAF name and you'll find links to all kinds of information about me. Put all this information together and you may find a pretty comprehensive picture of who I am. Maybe you'll find an email address belonging to me that I was dumb enough to protect with the name of one of my kids as a password (the name of which you've retrieved through the information gathering I've mentioned). Maybe that email account contains personal banking info. Or whatever. This is just an example. It's all social engineering.
They should at least tell you, than you can decide if you're allright with this.
Haunted
Member
That's pretty clever.
As long as the information can't be tracked back (so it's anonymous for others but not for Blizzard) I don't see it as a big breach of privacy or anything.
As long as the information can't be tracked back (so it's anonymous for others but not for Blizzard) I don't see it as a big breach of privacy or anything.
I think you taking pictures with a camera and you making screenshots within World of Warcraft are not comparable.
It's a JPEG artifact it seems.
It disappears if the jpeg compression of screenshots is set at 10 (no compression) and doesn't appear for non-lossy screenshots.
Overreaction much?
e:mmm when I checked the conclussion was it was jpeg artifacts.
Seems someone actually decoded them? the link is to a forum and I can only bother to check gaf.
It disappears if the jpeg compression of screenshots is set at 10 (no compression) and doesn't appear for non-lossy screenshots.
Overreaction much?
e:mmm when I checked the conclussion was it was jpeg artifacts.
Seems someone actually decoded them? the link is to a forum and I can only bother to check gaf.
this attitude is inherently fucked.
It's not exactly a secret for them...
I guess Blizzard just wanted a silent and unknown option for themselves to detect hackers and malicious users. Not a problem.
If a WoW UserID is only something like "04858214", it's still not enough to help hackers stealing your account. Haven't checked the pictures to see if a UserID really looks like that though.
How are we supposed to make that decision if we dont even know about it?
HarryDemeanor
Member
After I posted that I remembered there were other ways to get their server ips. Doh!
Overall yeah, not much of a problem.
Oni Link 666
Member
If someone was looking for the ID on WoW screenshots and matched up say, screenshots from the WoW forums to GAF and you posted personal information in another post on GAF, that's your fault and not the screenshot's fault.
ihearthawthats
Banned
or you can just not take screenshots and/or not publicly upload them to the internets?
if it's in the tos, then in a way you did agree to it? facebook makes you agree to a ton of crap as well. i'm still unsure of what the userid specifically is. if its just a bunch of numbers, i don't think that's much use to anyone but blizzard?crimsonheadgcn said:
Dictator93
Member
This was done a while ago
Metalmurphy
Member
As much as I hate Blizzard right now, I support this.
If only punkbuster was this smart.
If only punkbuster was this smart.
Which is fine and all but the userID in question here is a number that is used on Blizzard's end and not something you chose. If the userID -> usernames were available then I suppose we can go through the social engineering hoops to make use of it but, as it stands right now, this is basically a non-issue data wise.
A better solution is to stop clogging up the interwebs with awful WoW screens.
But i really want to share my picture of a human in underwear clapping his hands near a dancing female night elf, which also appear to be in underwear.
stuminus3
Member
I'm not entirely sure how a company releasing any kind of information about me in any form without my knowledge or consent would be my fault.
It's clearly not really much of a problem in this case, but that's not really the point now, is it?
Oni Link 666
Member
I didn't say that the user ID Blizzard put in the screenshot would be your fault. I said that if you post personal information on GAF, by typing it into a post, and someone sees it, that's your fault and nobody needs a WoW screenshot to go through your posting history and find it.
Q
Queen of Hunting
Unconfirmed Member
if this was EA gaf would be on this like a shit storm but blizzard are gods so its cool
Gentleman Jack
Member
Has anybody tried filtering SC2/Diablo 3 screenshots for the same information?
stuminus3
Member
Well... yes, that's obvious. I don't think you're getting the implications here.
OldJadedGamer
Banned
But in this case the gods are owned by the devil.
mysteriousmage09
Member
Are people here seriously freaking the fuck out over something that's supposedly existed in the game for 4+ years now and has done no harm at all? Incredible. The person that listed this shit is spreading all types of bullshit as well. Do you seriously believe that hidden code in screenshots is handing hackers your login information on a silver platter? Seriously.
If there nothing has come from this stupidness over the last 4 years, nothing ever will. I'm still upset about Diablo 3 but good god, people are looking for anything they can to lash out at Blizz now.
If there nothing has come from this stupidness over the last 4 years, nothing ever will. I'm still upset about Diablo 3 but good god, people are looking for anything they can to lash out at Blizz now.
out0v0rder
Member
Prt Scrn guys!
might work for this game, but in skyrim for example it overrides the traditional "copy" function that it does and saves an in game screenshot instead.
iNvid02
Member
what if it was valve though lol?
Oni Link 666
Member
I asked you what you could do with this user ID and you gave me a totally irrelevant example.
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
They would give everyone a hat to make it go away
"What a great idea, you're a genius Gabe!"
br0ken_shad0w
Member
Where have you been the last several months?
dragonelite
Member
Evil,
But kinda impressed by it taking 4 years to have it discovered.
But kinda impressed by it taking 4 years to have it discovered.
There's no proof what harm it has or has not caused. Some people are saying the account IDs encoded in the images can link characters to alts, or to actual blizzard accounts. If that's true, it's a huge deal as it can create target accounts for hackers and whatnot.
If it's not true and it doesn't expose any kind of account information that is useful to people outside of Blizzard, then it's no big deal.
I don't think we have enough information to be sure of anything. But I'm sure this will pick up steam on the main WoW forums and Reddit and Blizzard will be forced to make a statement. At which point Blizzard fanboys will say "SEE!" and haters will ignore the message and pick apart phrasings in order to lay blame on some secondary motive.
ThaiGrocer
Member
This is answer is correct. I hope Valve gets into another minor scandal so I can get some free swag.
Interfectum
Member
Uh half the forum would be saying about bad Steam has always been and the other half would disagree.
On that note, is anyone else tired of the "bu bu bu what would 'GAF' say if it were <company x>"?
Q
Queen of Hunting
Unconfirmed Member
its true though gaf shits all over EA and capcom and other company's do similar things and nothing comes of it
It gets tiring, but I think it's valid. It's hard to imagine the response would be the same if, say, we were talking Activision doing it w/ CoD vs. thatgamecompany doing it with Journey.