No, as has been outlined previously (and I am unsure if Epic has fully changed it yet) the data scraping occurred on sync of installing the client to your computer. It parsed all of the data in the Steam folder, without going through the official API which would allow proper handling of your private data. The other issue is we don't know what it is they are sending back because they are parsing a file that has a lot more than just your friends list in it, whereas the API is more controller towards friend integration only. Thus the concern and the legitimate labelling of spyware.I don't claim to be an expert on GDPR (or in my case specifically DSGVO) but I don't see how a local copy of a file (and even some light parsing of it) would violate it. Sending that data to Epic is a clear opt-in, isn't it?
This:
hardly qualifies as spyware or even anything of interest, as long as it doesn't get transmitted to someone else without me knowing.Bash:cp steamdir/userdata/*/config/localconfig.vdf epicdir/secret_spyware_storage/stolendata.vdf awk (some nefarious command extracting data from this plaintext file, lying around on your harddrive)
It is OT to this thread so I won't elaborate any further but as I mentioned I'm not at all polished up on the Huawei ordeal so I have no real clue on what is going on, just that we removed them from the tender process of the 5G network rollout which caused TPG to bow out due their backbone being based on Huawei as well. I do actually believe we have bans on some Huawei phones as well but again I'm not 100% sure.Would it though? If they banned Huawei from your nation's 5G rollout but still allow Huawei phones to be sold and can't come out and say, "Australians, don't buy this shit, it's banned because they use it to spy on us," how does that inspire confidence?
My honest opinion is that they're most likely not spying, but that doesn't mean that should Australia go to war with China that they couldn't ask Huawei if there were ways to get around their security and eavesdrop on Australian communications. I bet it's that uncertain future that has government agencies spooked because if it was life or death, NATO was knocking on China's door, the administration, and possibly Huawei's, existence was in jeopardy to you really believe they'd cross their arms and tell the Chinese government to fuck off, that they're neutral? And we all spy on each other and steal to degrees but I figure each NATO member doesn't imagine ever outright going to war with another so if one of us spies on the other and gets caught, it's an annoyance and embarrassment but it's probably for a specific thing and I think that all of us trust that we're not invading each other any time soon. We clearly don't give China that same benefit of the doubt.
But they must if the government says so, that's one of the features of a Communist or Authoritarian state. It worked out for Haier, it was totally beneficial to the Chinese government, Haier and the Chinese people to take a bunch of underperforming shit factories and hand them over to a company that was performing, just that same power when used for a negative is scary is all.
Spyware is software that aims to gather information about a person or organization, sometimes without their knowledge, that may send such information to another entity without the consumer's consent, that asserts control over a device without the consumer's knowledge, or it may send such information to another entity with the consumer's consent, through cookies.
Competition.So what do we call software that goes through your steam friends list without permission?
This.xenophobia, lmao
hating chinese corporations or their AWFUL government(winnie the pooh) has nothing to do with hating chinese people. The less tencent is involved with something, the better. The more, the worse. I don't think EGS is spying for the chinese government, but if they did have majority stake (which they almost do) in Epic, I wouldn't be surprised at all if that was the case. It's not just a meme. I don't blame people for being vary.
Wrong thread.So I went and looked back at the Era thread on the topic of Epic Game Store lifting Steam data through the Steam folder and not through the API and, yep, as I guessed it was OP'ed as a look at the data scraping: https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-epic-game-store-spyware-tracking-and-you.105356/.
Yup, pretty much this. It's pretty sad, really.It's undeniable that, mainly on Reddit, there was people screaming that they were collecting data for Tencent, which was then connected to the Chinese government and the whole angle of EGS being some sort of Chinese spyware, and the whole conspiracy about them giving free games went off.
That was wrong, of course, but still doesn't explain why EGS was scrapping a file containing a good number of user details without using the Steam API that has a dedicated functionality for what they said they wanted, and the said file contained much more information, that could be especially useful to Epic themselves.
Funnily how even after Valve's answer and all this had settled down, USGamer came out of nowhere with this piece; not focusing in the entire story, but instead using the xenophobic comments to overshadow the whole situation.
Funnily how even after Valve's answer and all this had settled down, USGamer came out of nowhere with this piece; not focusing in the entire story, but instead using the xenophobic comments to overshadow the whole situation.
I mean, Winnie the Pooh was absolutely actually banned, so...?This kind of thing has been rampant lately, including on this forum, and it's really disgusting. Tons of people will post a bunch of nonsense about Winnie the pooh being "banned" in China (a total fabrication) as if that being true (it isn't) would justify everyone's blatant yellow peril racist garbage parties that have been some of these threads about China.
What's really disgusting is posts like these who are spreading misinformation about the censorship.This kind of thing has been rampant lately, including on this forum, and it's really disgusting. Tons of people will post a bunch of nonsense about Winnie the pooh being "banned" in China (a total fabrication) as if that being true (it isn't) would justify everyone's blatant yellow peril racist garbage parties that have been some of these threads about China.
Winnie the Pooh is actually banned in China though.This kind of thing has been rampant lately, including on this forum, and it's really disgusting. Tons of people will post a bunch of nonsense about Winnie the pooh being "banned" in China (a total fabrication) as if that being true (it isn't) would justify everyone's blatant yellow peril racist garbage parties that have been some of these threads about China.
Nah, they are right. Here is Liu Xiaobo enjoying his morning beverage in their Winnie the Pooh mug.What's really disgusting is posts like these who are spreading misinformation about the censorship.
Tons of people will post a bunch of nonsense about Winnie the pooh being "banned" in China (a total fabrication) as if that being true (it isn't)
Yeah I just realised that -_- I'll edit that post with the correct link, thank you!
xenophobia, lmao
hating chinese corporations or their AWFUL government(winnie the pooh) has nothing to do with hating chinese people. The less tencent is involved with something, the better. The more, the worse. I don't think EGS is spying for the chinese government, but if they did have majority stake (which they almost do) in Epic, I wouldn't be surprised at all if that was the case. It's not just a meme. I don't blame people for being vary.
Tons of people will post a bunch of nonsense about Winnie the pooh being "banned" in China (a total fabrication) as if that being true (it isn't) would justify everyone's blatant yellow peril racist garbage parties that have been some of these threads about China.
Well, I suppose having a lot of money doesn't stop you giving a shit about your insecurities.I would kinda troll Sweeney on twitter about his pro-Apple, Anti-Ms tweets a few years ago. I felt it was pretty hypocritical many of his stances he took against MS/Windows when Apple would do the exact same things in iOS and he clearly admired Apple. He actually earnestly Dmed me wishing to engage about my accusations. I kinda felt bad about it then and didn't bother him after that.
Funny to think now a REALLY REALLY rich tech titan dmed me. Shoulda asked him for a loan...
Video games media coverage of Epic has been poor. They took up a narrative predicated on a fallacious factoid ("30% vs 12%"). Epic's game store was cast as a positive market disruption without a good factual analysis of the situation. Then some sites doubled down despite the growth and development of the story, handwaving away apologies for some significant issues with Epic's game store, usually just regurgitating Epic's PR clips without further critique.
In that time Epic has...
- told most indie developers to, basically, go fuck themselves
- outright stated they want to control digital distribution (i.e. limited/no 3rd party key selling) and prices
- tried to appease user criticism by allowing 3rd party selling on a very limited and disingenuous basis (humble's site only)
- pushed credit card process fees onto users
- pushed discovery costs onto developers
- continued to moneyhat exclusives just about to release on Steam
- locked out user usability options, like reviews and customer service
- basically shit on PC users telling them they don't know what's good for them
- was discovered to be stealing Steam user data
And Valve has...
- stopped one shitty game, which was never going to be approved for sale, from being approved for sale
- continued to expand and support Steam Link
- continued to develop and improve discoverability
- continued to significantly improve the user interface
- is working on dedicated servers for any game
-Take 0% from keys sold outside steam.
- and more
I can recall several sites that regurgitated Epic PR points without much analysis. I can't think of many sites that covered any of the above concerns or issues with the Epic store with any sincerity. Meanwhile the coverage of Valve has mostly revolved around one shitty game that was never going to be approved.
I understand gaming news is, like any other news, driven by interest and titillation (dirty laundry), but it's worth pointing out how weak the coverage has been of the entire situation.
Or Taiwanese!If this is a race thing, why don't people have the same issues with a japanese company like Nintendo or even Sony?.
People on this forum hate on Foxconn all the time and they're Taiwanese.
How has criticising a government for their inhumane practices ever been xenophobic or racist?
Can the same be said when criticising the UK government for Brexit or criticising Donald Trump? Are the people who take issue with those also racist or xenophobic?
I am not denying there is always a certain section of knuckle dragging idiots who will say "Those damn Chinese" and mean it in a racist way, that's inevitable unfortunately.
But isn't articles like this, which is essentially disregarding any concerns people have about Epic and their private information storing and pushing them aside and then shouting "racism" "xenophobia" and suggesting that's the entire reason people take issue with Epic the same damn thing?
Casting a wide net over people and pretending that a small minority of idiots represent every single persons opinion is, in itself, a bigoted approach to a discussion.
People have good reason to have genuine concerns about Epic that have absolutely nothing to do with China, this article is disingenuous and another example of hand waving for the things Epic are doing.
I also find it funny how Tim has been largely silent on the private data issue and offering no real explanation other than "It's an outdated system we just threw in" but now this article is out he is shouting from the rooftops with supreme confidence.
Epic = shady and the people astroturfing for them should be ashamed, you are contributing to a toxic environment for both gamers and indie developers.
I will end this by sharing an excellent post from another thread which fully covers everything wrong with Epic (that has nothing to do with the Chinese government) maybe USGAMER should write an article based on these facts...
Foxconn had to literally install nets to catch people trying to kill themselves by jumping off their workplaces roof, it's deserved.People on this forum hate on Foxconn all the time and they're Taiwanese.
This. Criticising chinese government is the literal opposite of xenophobia or racism.Hating the shitty Chinese government has nothing to do with xenophobia. I hate it even more because I love Chine and chinese people as whole.
And I am saying this as a non detractor of Epic.
Porque no los dos ?I'm from Sweden and I can say that I don't really care if the chinese would spy on me, I already know that US is spying on me and that scares me more because I consume american media and services, while I don't consume a single thing from China.
Garbage take, Epic trying to muddy the waters by trying to get sympathy evoking a fringe opinion like it was the majority.
Not going to fall for this bullshit.
Yeah this shit is straight out of the aipac playbookIt's disturbing seeing the same tactics used to excuse genocidal acts by countries cross over to gaming.
Garbage take, Epic trying to muddy the waters by trying to get sympathy evoking a fringe opinion like it was the majority.
Not going to fall for this bullshit.
Wait, we have to be accepting of being spied on to be more acceptive of other cultures? Huh? Not to mention it's almost impossible to consume nothing from China, I would be willing to bet my entire life savings on the fact you have an electronic device in your house that had the majority of it manufactured in China. Not to mention if you've ever played games like LoL or used gaming services with Chinese stakes in them.I really don't like that several western countries with the US at the front have started with racism against chinese. Yes, I've seen posts (not on era but on other forums/news sites of how bad the chinese people are.... It's everywhere, last weeks it's been about how Huawei spies on everyone. I'm from Sweden and I can say that I don't really care if the chinese would spy on me, I already know that US is spying on me and that scares me more because I consume american media and services, while I don't consume a single thing from China.
We should be more open to other cultures.
Official Staff CommunicationLet us have a civil and sane discussion in this thread please. For the record:
- Until there is direct and credible evidence that the Chinese government is influencing Epic policy, this kind of speculation will be moderated as a conspiracy theory.
- It remains fair game to scrutinize EGS' monitoring of Steam files.
- Do not hurl hyperbolical or inflammatory accusations at other members. If you see a real problem, use the report feature.
I mean there already are multiple users on the first page insinuating that people on Era against the EGS are dumb, whiners, idiots and racists.a sane decision would be to shut this thread for equating criticism at epic as some sort of racist fueled fear
it automatically insinuates one camp as xenophobic
Yeah. Frankly we shouldn't be giving credence to such disingenuous bullshit.I mean there already are multiple users on the first page insinuating that people on Era against the EGS are dumb, whiners, idiots and racists.