🚀 go-pugleaf

DoonMan wrote:

> This is true it's not a joke !
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>
> I am writing to inform ya and the rest of the world about blizzards
> unacceptable
> behaviour. This was first spoted by Beowulf of rzr and I give him full
> credit, I
> am so disturbed about his discovery that I feel I have to let people
> know.So far
> no one seems to care with Starcraft players being to preoccupied in
> their games....
>
> Apparently Starcraft being a program running on your pc is privliged by
> the os to
> access the registry of win95 and illegaly extract sensitive information
> about ya,
> like name and e-mail address.

Any program in windows has full access to your machine. This is part of the
joys of not having to worry about setUID and permissions and groups and all
that lot. There's no special 'privilege' to StarCraft.
What's illegal?? When you install a program on your hard disk, you click an
"I agree" button. If you don't agree with this invasion, then click the "I
don't agree" button, and return it forthwith to the store. By the way, I'm
not sure that you can classify your name or e-mail as sensitive information.
Or else "Hi, what's your name?" would generate a whole lot more slaps.

> According to beowulf this are the keys beign accessed
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MS Setup (ACME)\User Info\DefName
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Mail and News\Mail\Sender
> Name
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Netscape Navigator\User\User_Name
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Mail and News\Mail\Sender
> EMail
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Netscape\Netscape Navigator\User\User_Addr
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Kali\Kali95\User Info\email
>
> I did a registry check and it contained my real name.
> If u try to connect to battlenet without a valid key either cause u have
> the warez
> version or you made a mistake,your information is logged onto their
> system.

I believe they extract this information for 'tracking purposes' i.e.: to
find out how much time people spend on battle.net on average, and other
similar statistics. There was an article in a newspaper on this concept,
related to a web site which stole e-mail addresses. (I think: this is not
100% reliable info)

Incidentally, If you do use the wrong CD key, and Blizzard try and sue you,
you have a great defence. Anyone can modify the registry. Anyone could
pretend to be you. TCP/IP addresses can be faked, and are generally dynamic
anyway. Since your details are being sent across the ultra secure web,
anyone can intercept them. Just feign total innocence, and then postulate
your random hacker theory.

> I feel that this practice is unacceptable and If we dont make a stand
> against it
> now,every company and every individual can start to violate our privacy
> for his own
> personal reasons.

Hey, heard of junk mail? Data protection acts? Corporate Databases? Loyalty
cards?
Give it up. You already have no privacy. Read magazines: a private
detective, and a bit of cash will find you almost any information you want
on a person. The war against privacy has already been fought and won. All
that's changed is that companies are being a bit more blatant about it.

> Note that the registry contains passwords and every
> concernign
> u and ur pc..and even though the passwords are encoded, I am sure there
> will be a
> way to crack them.
>

Looking at mine: Netscape and ICQ encrypt passwords. All my cookies are
safe, except www.playsite.com. Tweak UI's auto login is unencrypted.
I believe that the level of encryption is fairly low...

>
> Finally I enclose the proof, as presented again by beowulf which I thank
> for his
> discovery. I feel I can never trust my pc anymore,and how cna we know
> that microsoft hasnt
> been doing that for years.

Well, they haven't to me, cos I only just got on the web. :-)
Well, apart from the registration form I filled in. And that foolish attempt
to contact their helpdesk.
I suspect people like you would have complained loudly if it had happened
earlier. I'm more concerned about Caledos Wallpaper Changer than Windows, as
it is a smaller freeware program, less widely used, and less extensively
checked for security flaws.

> BigBadWolf
>
> I have since verified this for myself..and it is true..
> they even extracted my local settings i.e country etc...
> this is sooo lame and i am soo pissed off please make sure the word is
> out on how
> lame they are..if they dont get a response they will jsut keep on doing
> it

As noted above, if they get a response they will keep going anyway.

Regardless: I'm not sure I care about Blizzard invading my privacy. If
they've got enough time on there hands to start snooping around on my hard
disk looking for blackmailable material then they've got too much times on
their hands, and should use it to release Brood War early. :-)

MyRedDice