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Developing: Epic Games Launcher appears to collect your steam friends & play history (Up2: Valve responds, See Threadmarks)
- Thread starter Madjoki
- Start date
at this point not only will i never install the launcher, also any game that goes epic exclusive (timed or not) is a no-buy for me, even on other platforms.
Correct, that is where my issue. If it was opt in than no problem but how this is handled is really bad.
Sums it up pretty nicely. I have no problem with anybody having a look at my games and playtime. Hence why my Steam Profile is public, but reading this stuff without even asking via another Launcher is dirty as fuck.
I hope they get flag for it. That said, I'll still use the Launcher.
Collecting this data helps us to support developers make better games.
It also allows us to maintain our 12% revenue share offsetting some of our cost by selling the data to Facebook.
Sometimes, tricks like these are nessecary to obtain the ressources required to beat a behemoth like "Steam".
I assure you, you all will benefit by this in the long run.
It also allows us to maintain our 12% revenue share offsetting some of our cost by selling the data to Facebook.
Sometimes, tricks like these are nessecary to obtain the ressources required to beat a behemoth like "Steam".
I assure you, you all will benefit by this in the long run.
All Steam profiles were set to private after GDPR. I can't see what games my friends own unless they change it manually, and most people haven't bothered setting their profiles to public again. If i understand correctly this bypasses that?
If so that is very slimy.
If so that is very slimy.
So they have security issues up the whazoo AND they mine your computer and steam client for your friends and play history? Jesus fuck, that's a recipe for disaster right there, and potentially illegal!
What if you are developer working on a game which will be on Steam and also have Epic Launcher installed in that same system?
Would Epic capture that data?
Would Epic capture that data?
This sounds unnaceptable, they should not be prying into my computer at all for other programs besides their owns, and this targetting steam specially makes it sounds way scummy, they are making me measures positives and negatives of their service a lot more than they should be. My Steam Library/Purchases should not be simply taken without asking, I know Greenmangaming's profile system does that, but they specifically ask that you do so if you link accounts if I remember. (Memories inconclusive, still more respectful/legal than this way though)
If it were opt-in after you allowed the launcher to import your Steam friends, that'd be one thing. But stealthily like that, and the playtimes.... yeah, that's sketchy as fuck.
Any indication of that in their ToS/PP?
Also, has this been tested on private Steam profiles?
Any indication of that in their ToS/PP?
Also, has this been tested on private Steam profiles?
I think automatically gathering this information without a, by default, un-checked opt-in box is a violation of GDPR.
Exactly what data here is personally indentifiable? That verbiage means something very specific in terms of IT security.
This is their privacy website. https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/privacypolicy
Of particular note is section 2
(2) Information Collected Automatically When You Use Our Websites, Games, and Applications
We collect some information automatically when you visit our websites or use our games, game engines, and applications. If a combination of information that we collect does identify you as an individual, we will treat the combined information as personal information. We typically aggregate the data that we collect automatically and use it in statistical form to determine trends among groups of users, rather than using it to identify individuals.
We collect information automatically through technologies such as web browsers, cookies, log files, web beacons, and our back-end servers collect usage data transmitted from our games and other software. We use the information for purposes such as modifying or improving features, managing advertising, addressing technical issues, preventing fraud or misuse of our services, and conducting data analytics. The type of information that we automatically collect may vary, but generally includes:
Of particular note is section 2
(2) Information Collected Automatically When You Use Our Websites, Games, and Applications
We collect some information automatically when you visit our websites or use our games, game engines, and applications. If a combination of information that we collect does identify you as an individual, we will treat the combined information as personal information. We typically aggregate the data that we collect automatically and use it in statistical form to determine trends among groups of users, rather than using it to identify individuals.
We collect information automatically through technologies such as web browsers, cookies, log files, web beacons, and our back-end servers collect usage data transmitted from our games and other software. We use the information for purposes such as modifying or improving features, managing advertising, addressing technical issues, preventing fraud or misuse of our services, and conducting data analytics. The type of information that we automatically collect may vary, but generally includes:
- Technical information about your computer, device, hardware, or software you use to access the Internet or our services, such as IP address or other transactional or identifier information for your device (such as device make and model, information about device operating systems and browsers, or other device or system related specifications);
- Usage information and statistics about your interaction with our websites, games, game engines, and applications, which may include the URLs of our websites that you have visited, URLs of referring and exiting pages, page views, time spent on a page, number of clicks, platform type, the application you used or the game you played, how long you used or played it and when, and other usage statistics;
- Crash reports, which may be automatically generated when a game or application crashes and includes information about your system and the crash;
- Information that facilitates a safer and more personalized experience, such as your display name or other user identification provided in connection with your application use or game play, saved preferences, game progress, and device identifiers or usage information for authentication and fraud prevention purposes;
- The location of your device, such as may be derived from your device's IP address.
i went and read both the eula and the tos and i see nothing that could remotely means you agree to that but i'm not a lawyer.
It's important to mention that they have done this long before the EGS started. I found files from June 2018. At this time i installed the mod tools (UE) via the Epic Launcher for Bus Simulator 18.
It's Hektor, yeah it's a /s post.
But you know there will be people actually trying to spin it.
OP
OP
Correct to option is there:
Somehow they even refuse to show Steam's logo, which is weird.
But even though I don't have anything linked, it's already collecting this information.
And it's even plausibly good feature for many, but pre-emptively collecting is bit shady at least. (And keeping historical copies).
Just to be clear, it is reading from local synced copy of steam cloud.
Since it reads local files, it wouldn't even know if profile is private or not. (Using official API would deny on private profiles)
Not to excuse it but this stuff is public by default in Steam, right? I bet that was part of their logic, but Steam does let you opt out of it being public. Anyone test it on public/non-public steam accts?
And even then since it looks like it's doing it before you connect to steam, eesh.
Yeah, it's the same launcher but updated--I just updated my epic launcher from when I was messing with UE. Hard to say when it was added then
And even then since it looks like it's doing it before you connect to steam, eesh.
Yeah, it's the same launcher but updated--I just updated my epic launcher from when I was messing with UE. Hard to say when it was added then
Didn't we have this thread earlier and it was locked because it was just a amateur Reddit sleuth.
This stuff is private by default on Steam, and has been for I think over a year now.
oh good, i was just looking for a reason to uninstall this pos client, oh well, time to learn a new engine then.
lol not showing the Steam logo (but showing the Facebook one) is kinda petty.
Yeah this is very bad...
Yeah I thought, perhaps it at least queries the API to find out if a profile is private or not before collecting this info, or perhaps there's one Steam file that contains such a flag that can tell them if it's private (and then they stop collecting if it is) but... yeah, I wasn't really expecting them to even respect this to begin with. xD
This part has since been verified by multiple people, including a mod here.
I have no idea if it was developer's fault or Epic's fault, but when Axiom Verge launched all files with "steam" in the name were deleted from the game including the sound for steam vents--so the game crashed when you entered the area with them lol. Long since fixed though, just always thought that was funny.
They would probably twist it as if it is a security problem in Steam. 🙄
There was one and it was locked. Not sure if locking this is the right choice though. Seems like a perfectly relevant discussion to be having over a polarizing storefront.
