Blizzard just LOL'd at privacy

[rivan]

What would they be investigating ? If people would stop and think that what they put on the internet should not be anything they do not want anyone anywhere ever to read there is no problem. You don't go around handing nude photos of yourself to strangers and I can't see why people think that doing so online affords them some sort of protection.

I can't answer that question. Maybe the pager company from 1989 sold my records again and someone will e-stalk me again.

Maybe there will be someone with a name similar to mine (pretty doubtful, admittedly) who blows up a government building and people assume I'm him.

I've got relatives a few generations back with the last name of Himmler, who lived in Germany but were no relation to Heinrich, but were assumed to be. They eventually changed their surname.

Maybe... who knows.

Why would someone want to mess with you though ? Are people really concerned they have that many enemies that everyone is out to get them ?

No, not really - at least I'm not concerned about it. But I'd prefer to remain (moderately) anonymous, and if the only reason you've got for stripping me of that anonymity is managing forum spam, you'd better come up with something better.

I don't get it. You definitely were not a internet user when it began. Then there were strict rules governing email and usenet where a user could lose their ISP account for using a pseudonym or faking identity.

No, I wasn't. Not old enough to be around for that. The internet was barely more than a mailing list at that point, and I think comparing the privacy concerns of arpanet to the modern internet are just plain silly.

My name is in my profile where it has always been.

Indeed it is. I think you're perhaps a little foolish for having it there, but to each his own. I hope for you that it never comes to haunt you.

Warrants and your name on a forum have nothing to do with each other unless you use that name to commit a crime.

I was following your reasoning of 'if you don't have anything to hide, why are you worrying about it'? You say that trolls are the only ones really sweating this.

Then send them an email. If you used your real name to ask a tech issue then who cares. Do you think people are scanning over tech forums looking for people to target ?

If they require my name on posts, I will not use the forums and will send an email, and I suspect others will, too. And no, I don't think people are scanning tech forums for targets, but I object to the policy.

I'm actually more concerned with the store clerk than my name being recorded. I have post from 1996 that are publicly accessible and it doesn't bother me one bit. I was never told those would be public but I assumed they would and acted accordingly. If I said it, then I said it, I can either try to make excuses for it or I can just live with it and get on with my life. This topic is really making people seem more paranoid than I thought they were.

If I seem paranoid because I'm thinking up weird ways data on the internet could be culled and potentially used against me, then feel free to call me paranoid.

I'm advocating for personal privacy; it's an issue you don't seem concerned about and that's ok. I respect your position, I just don't agree with it. Perhaps you can give me the same respect.

 

[NoQuarter]

So this has nothing to do with forum spam. They really are trying to make Battle.net into a social networking site:
http://content.usatoday.com/communi...networking-deal-launches-with-starcraft-ii-/1

All it needs is an opt-in/opt-out option and it wouldn't be an issue.

 

[NoQuarter]

Because they are no different when it comes down to people that are the kind to harass other people. A person is free to walk into a college and look over the students pictures and names and you will never know they did. They could see you walk by on the sidewalk and then match your photo and name later. That threat is much more dangerous.

Hmm have you ever even played an MMO? Or even dealt with childish internet personalities? Perhaps spend 5 minutes on 4chan or Somethingawful or someplace?

What people will do from behind a keyboard requires much less balls than what it would take to go to a college and look over pictures and names and actually earn their stalking pedigree.

There is a Somethingawful guild that specifically follows 'furries' from MMO to MMO just to harass them in game. Maybe they need those people's real names too?

 

[Modelworks]

Hmm have you ever even played an MMO? Or even dealt with childish internet personalities? Perhaps spend 5 minutes on 4chan or Somethingawful or someplace?

I have played a lot of MMO and I ignore people that act childish. Its easier than getting myself upset . I don't visit places that people like that frequent. If the site cannot police its users then I go elsewhere. I just don't have time to indulge people like that.

What people will do from behind a keyboard requires much less balls than what it would take to go to a college and look over pictures and names and actually earn their stalking pedigree.

That is part of what they are trying to address. People do things behind a keyboard because they assume it has no consequences.

There is a Somethingawful guild that specifically follows 'furries' from MMO to MMO just to harass them in game. Maybe they need those people's real names too?

People that are harassed by them need to sue the guild members , web site owners and affiliations if that is the reason the guild exist. If someone harasses you in game then record a video of it, save the logs, etc.

 

[Glitchny]

humm my accnt isnt even under my name, hummm this could be really fun in a very evil way

Oh you little bastard, it better not come up as my name! Actually I'm not too worried, my real name is in my profile here.

 

[Bateluer]

So Blizzard is dead then?

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Oh you little bastard, it better not come up as my name! Actually I'm not too worried, my real name is in my profile here.

I just added my real name to my profile.

 

[coloumb]

This is a very bad idea... it doesn't hold you any more accountable than you already are [unless their forums aren't equipped to recognize whatever character you sign in with is linked to the same account?]. I can see why this is being done - someone with upteenmillion level 1 characters can basically start their own little flame war - with this new system - that's not the case.

Why can't they just require a single sign on username [which has a link listing all of your in game character names] and still hold you accountable?

Though - if people want to hide their identity - this will be a huge profit base for Blizzard - you create [buy] a new account with a false name and pay the subscription fee with a game card.

 

[SithSolo1]

I wondering if that thread is the fastest growing in the history of the intarwebs. If i did my math right they've averaged 21.6 posts per min for the past 7 hrs.

 

[SunnyD]

FYI it's Activision... you can bet this move is only geared toward some sort of revenue generation scheme.

 

[NoQuarter]

That is part of what they are trying to address. People do things behind a keyboard because they assume it has no consequences.

That's not what they are trying to address, they're trying to do a social networking tie-in with facebook. You're still ignoring that the troll never has to post a single message on the forum revealing their name. They can be slighted in game, check the forums for a name, search the name for a phone number, then prank call or whatever.

People that are harassed by them need to sue the guild members , web site owners and affiliations if that is the reason the guild exist. If someone harasses you in game then record a video of it, save the logs, etc.

So instead of making Blizzard abide by privacy protection requirements you think we should leave our name out their and sue anyone that harasses you even if you can't figure out who it is?

I still don't see how a real name *prevents* trolling. I only see how it opens people up to *more* trolling.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I still don't see how a real name *prevents* trolling. I only see how it opens people up to *more* trolling.

Yup, the trolling just moves from the forums to private messages, to Skype, to Facebook, to home/work phones, etc...

 

[NoQuarter]

FYI it's Activision... you can bet this move is only geared toward some sort of revenue generation scheme.

Yup I think they're trying to turn Blizzard into a data mining company

Tying in with Facebook.. I wouldn't be surprised if the privacy rights in the EULA allow them to share details with select partners, so you can get WoW targeted ads on your facebook page. Gold sellers posting on your wall, finding out your phone number to offer you gold.

 

[Modelworks]

Yup I think they're trying to turn Blizzard into a data mining company

Tying in with Facebook.. I wouldn't be surprised if the privacy rights in the EULA allow them to share details with select partners, so you can get WoW targeted ads on your facebook page. Gold sellers posting on your wall, finding out your phone number to offer you gold.

MS has just released the new messenger beta and it too uses real names.

 

[manko]

The current Real ID page says it's completely voluntary and optional. So, by posting on the forums you automatically opt-in? If you choose to keep your privacy and opt-out of Real ID, you're locked out of the forums?

It sounds like they're creating a much bigger problem than the one they're trying to solve. I can't believe they don't see that this will open the floodgates to much more serious problems than a few forum trolls.

I get that ActiBlizzard wants to become the Facebook of gaming, but this is just completely brain dead.

 

[lupi]

about to hit 500 and counting...not to mention starting to cross several internet news sites.

 

[lupi]

Oh you little bastard, it better not come up as my name! Actually I'm not too worried, my real name is in my profile here.

http://www.intelius.com/search-summ...qmi=&qn=skillings&qs=&trackit=74&focusfirst=1

 

[SunnyD]

I gotta wonder how their going to skirt privacy LAWS when it comes to minors. I know several parents who let their children have their own accounts online.

 

[Modelworks]

That's not what they are trying to address, they're trying to do a social networking tie-in with facebook. You're still ignoring that the troll never has to post a single message on the forum revealing their name. They can be slighted in game, check the forums for a name, search the name for a phone number, then prank call or whatever.

Prank phone calls have been around since the phone could be dialed from home. Answer, hang up if it is. You can also block their number. I'm not going to worry about it for 1 second. I'm more concerned that people are playing games that make people so angry they have to go and hunt down other people, maybe those games and the people that play them is what needs to be looked at. Something seriously defective there.

So instead of making Blizzard abide by privacy protection requirements you think we should leave our name out their and sue anyone that harasses you even if you can't figure out who it is?

what privacy requirements ? The only thing with privacy requirements are health care and financial data. People need to read before they agree to things. If they had then maybe the mortgage crisis wouldn't have happened. If you have the game logs then you give them to the publisher of that game.

I still don't see how a real name *prevents* trolling. I only see how it opens people up to *more* trolling.

Because they cannot post to the forum without using a real name. If they use a real name and they get banned then they can't just go buy another cd key. I wish more games did it. It would be great to be able to know when I see someones real name on another forum that it is the same jerk from the other game .

 

[Modelworks]

I gotta wonder how their going to skirt privacy LAWS when it comes to minors. I know several parents who let their children have their own accounts online.

It is in the EULA of most software. A lot of it states that a minor cannot install it and that if it is a minor that they must have parental consent to do so.
Falls under the parent owns pc and the internet account so they are responsible for how it is used. I assume the blizzard thing would make the posting under the parents name though they haven't made it clear how they will verify the posting names.

Forgot to add that technically a minor cannot legally install any software that has a eula or TOS on install without parental consent because a minor cannot enter into a contract without the parents consent.

 

[NoQuarter]

MS has just released the new messenger beta and it too uses real names.

Hmm you must mean that app that has complete privacy options for me to choose from, so only people on my contact list that I already know can see my name? And even if random people could see my name it's just a name in the ether. I'm not against my name existing you know. Or if I really wanted I could use a fake name since as a free app it's not tied to my credit card.

Having your real name tied to your character in a competitive game is different than having your name on some random listing, or having your name listed on a real life listing.

My buddy is a pretty spiteful guy. Someone did basically nothing to him, I don't even remember now - probably beat him to a named mob, so my buddy spammed the shit out of him in tells, made a macro to /tell him and finally the guy put him on ignore. Then my buddy started sending in game mails over and over - at the time you couldn't block them. And finally he got banned. But don't think for a second he wouldn't have browsed the forums for a real name if he knew he could, just to keep going.

I just do not see why getting someone 1 step closer to calling you or your family up to screw with you over some game is a good idea and you will never convince me otherwise. You just have to accept the fact that at least some people don't want their personal info out there specifically in an area where trolls are known to congregate.

 

[waggy]

I have to agree that this is a bad idea. more i think about it the more i think its a bad idea.

while for about 95% of the wow population this is not going to be a problem. there is a small segment of it that has the knowledge and are crazy enough to do something with the information.

hell we have already seen proof of that on these forums.

 

[Anubis]

Oh you little bastard, it better not come up as my name! Actually I'm not too worried, my real name is in my profile here.

yes it does come up with your name

 

[Anubis]

also

http://wowriot.gameriot.com/blogs/A...-Official-Forums-New-REAL-ID-function?gr_i_ni

 

[NoQuarter]

Because they cannot post to the forum without using a real name. If they use a real name and they get banned then they can't just go buy another cd key. I wish more games did it. It would be great to be able to know when I see someones real name on another forum that it is the same jerk from the other game .

Why do they need to post to see our names? Why do *we* need to see their real name to ban them.. Blizzard still knows the real name of the account that got banned and can prevent that real name from ever owning a cd-key again if they wished.