Fighting Back: Privacy issues arising from the ban

[eigoteacher]

So...what can be done about this? Nothing?

If you're willing to put in the time to write a letter to the government, go ahead. Just don't expect to get any useful information or a ban reversal.

Hey, I could be wrong, but if I can make a case like this, imagine what their legal team can do.

 

[Demondog70]

You are soo misled.

Money exchanged for a service rendered. It's like renting a movie...well back in the days. If you took the movie home and the dvd is broken, you can still claim back your money.

The guy who posted before you already put it in the most layman term.

Blizzard sells you entertainment. Just like watching HBO, you do not own the movie, but you got entertained... or not.
Thus, if you already paid for the entertainment (a service,) and it was terminated before the agreed duration as per contract (the contract you enter when the transaction is made,) then you are entitled for an explanation. Unless they refund your money. And even then, I believe you are still entitled to an explanation.

Most botters who were banned got an explanation but no evidence to support the accusation. If the person who got banned, disagree and tells Blizzard that they in fact did not bot, and without evidence can we not consider Blizzard lying?

If Blizzard hands over evidence to support their accusations, which MAY reveal that they have intrude upon your privacy (snooping around your comp,) then it is an infringement on the EU anti-snooping law. So they might get into another mess. But these are 2 separate issues. You will remained denied for further Blizzard's entertainment services (unless you buy a new license,) but that does not stop anti privacy suits against them.

Like it or not, when you make a game, put it in the public domain, accept payment from people who pays for your service, you must still play within the laws. Your contract will be superseded by the basic laws.

For an example, we don't need to see so far, take the most recent court case that some claimed may have caused this ban-wave.

Kaesler & Kollegen | Blizzard Entertainment S.A.S. withdraws the application for an injunction at the court of appeal that was an attempt to ban sale of “Gold” for Diablo III.

Won't you agree that ingame gold belongs to blizzard? How is it then someone or some other entity can claim anti-competition? lol Think about it, how laws work. Then come back with a better argument.

I am not sour at all. Matter of fact, I intend to play after the suspension is lifted.


- -

Thanks. Was trying to be bare bones about it.

 

[Aion]

Let's talk about the law.



"Personal data." What does that mean? Your account is not you. Blizzard's only personal information they have on you is the information that you entered when you registered the account. Everything else is not considered personal data. The reason for them banning you is not personal data. They suspended your account, not you. They don't have any more information about you. So, if you ask them for more information, they will just tell you what you already know.

If they are collecting your personal data, like your age, location, location of birth, family members, medical history, school records, then yeah, you can ask for that information.

But everything regarding your account is not your personal data. You don't even own the account. Basically, they weren't collecting information about you, it wasn't connected to you, it was only connected to the account. They suspended the account. They weren't invading your privacy because they aren't collecting data about you. Therefore, if you try to argue in court that they violated your privacy, they will just say they were going after the accounts and not the individuals.

They aren't collecting information on you. They don't have your personal information. These laws don't apply. Everything you ask for is related to the account. Think of it this way. Any data they did collect was about your account, not necessarily you. After all, it wasn't even you playing the account, it was a bot. Say they do scan, but anonymize the information. They can then suspend the account because they suspect whoever was playing the account was cheating. Blizzard doesn't care who is playing the account because you are responsible for what happens to it, even if someone else played it. They can do all of this without collecting personal identifying information. They don't need it.

You dodged to get the essence of this topic?

Anything Blizzard do store in their servers under your account, excluding your ingame account data, is or could be Personally identifiable information - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

So if they have scanned anything outside Blizzard's software namespace (Which is their own) in your computer, they are obliged to store it under your account.

That is what the people were after in this thread.

 

[eigoteacher]

You dodged to get the essence of this topic?

Anything Blizzard do store in their servers under your account, excluding your ingame account data, is or could be Personally identifiable information - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

So if they have scanned anything outside Blizzard's software namespace (Which is their own) in your computer, they are obliged to store it under your account.

That is what the people were after in this thread.

Anything they store is not your personal information.

A term similar to PII, "personal data" is defined in EU directive 95/46/EC, for the purposes of the directive:[16]
Article 2a: 'personal data' shall mean any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person ('data subject'); an identifiable person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identification number or to one or more factors specific to his physical, physiological, mental, economic, cultural or social identity;
However, in the EU rules, there has been a clearer notion that the data subject can potentially be identified through additional processing of other attributes--quasi- or pseudo-identifiers. In the proposed EU General Data Protection Regulation, this has been formalized in Article 4: a "data subject" is one "who can be identified, directly or indirectly, by means reasonably likely to be used by the controller or by any other natural or legal person". [17]

As I said, this only applies to information about you. It only applies to them having information that identifies you. Your account is a separate entity. They can gather all the information they want, remove any trace that it has to do with you, and still take action against the account because their terms state that you are responsible for the account no matter who or what plays it. The only personal information they store is the information you need to give to register the account. Scanning your computer for traces of botting and linking it to an account is not breaching your privacy because your personal information is not compromised. The processes running on your computer are not your personal information because in no way does it identify you.

 

[EpOX]

Is there an mail adress for the german legal department of blizzard?

Gibt es eine email für die Rechtsabteilung von Blizzard?

 

[Aion]

Anything they store is not your personal information.



As I said, this only applies to information about you. It only applies to them having information that identifies you. Your account is a separate entity. They can gather all the information they want, remove any trace that it has to do with you, and still take action against the account because their terms state that you are responsible for the account no matter who or what plays it. The only personal information they store is the information you need to give to register the account. Scanning your computer for traces of botting and linking it to an account is not breaching your privacy because your personal information is not compromised. The processes running on your computer are not your personal information because in no way does it identify you.

Yea, the above only proves, how some persons on the forum reject to comprehend the fundamentals of civil law and the invasion of privacy. I am out of the discussion.

P.S. Share the above to any civil rights attorney and wait for the rage

 

[Darkdog72]

Blizzard will never discuss how they caught you. They will never hand out info as this is fuel for bot makers to
avoid detection.

Although i respect your point and effort made, i think this is useless. U honestly think, blizzard will risk a scandal
about privacy issues? Bossland is in court with blizzard for years. You think info like this hasnt been asked before?

I do hate em for banning me, but i dont believe they did something that invaded my privacy to stop me.

all these white knights all of a sudden... jezus

Ignorance is bliss (or in this case blizz!). If noone bothered with such things, you can be pretty sure that you as a consumer would be screwed all over the place. It doesn't matter that it's only a video game. It's a matter of principle and as a responsible citizen, you pursue your legal rights out of principle to set example. Next time it's something worse.

 

[Darkdog72]

Yea, the above only proves, how some persons on the forum reject to comprehend the fundamentals of civil law and the invasion of privacy. I am out of the discussion.

P.S. Share the above to any civil rights attorney and wait for the rage

The world is full of ignorant and submissive people like that. That's why corporates are trying their luck every single day, and succeed.

The Yolo generation doesn't even know they have rights, because daddy used to fix their problems.

 

[Demondog70]

This is how they win. They know 2 things, 1, we will fight amongst each other trying to shoot the other down and when that does not work their legal team will clean up the rest. I am of the opinion that:
1) Any information they store about you and your account you have a right to.
2) If cash exchanges hands YOU have a right to answers and they CAN NOT SIMPLY SAY YOU ARE AT FAULT.

The problem in all of this is this. Even though they are compelled by law they would much rather fight you in court to get the information than give it to you. They are of the opinion you will not spend 1,000's to get $90 worth of info. To them the value is much higher because it reveals how the detection took place and as such we can use this information in one of two ways. 1) We could use it to solve the detection and they most certainly do not want that and 2) We could find that they stepped outside the law to acquire this data and have a valid case for a suit that all botters who lost their account could jump on, again they do not want that.

So even if we win we lose. And that's the game.

 

[agt5000]

http://www.armaedfoundation.org/pdfs/Requirements_for_Personal_Information_US_States.pdf
found this documenting specific privacy laws from US states

 

[Nociceptor]

Did someone get successfully UNBANNED ? you talk too much shiat about laws no one takes care off

 

[pontius001]

Honestly, the thing is, most people here would rather accept the ban from Blizzard than to buck the system that is in place no matter if Blizzard broke the law in their attempt to detect Honorbuddy because they lost their lawsuit.

I would love to see articles questioning Blizzard's possible legality about detecting the bots in the news media outlets which are all reporting how Blizzard took a hard stand in banning all of the 100k+ cheaters of the game. If this truly is the case and Bossland can determine that Blizzard did utilize information outside the game environment to determine this, then he may have a case to sue Blizzard. Just saying...

 

[Thecamel]

Got a letter in the post today, acknowledgement of my request, informing me it will be followed up with in 7 working days.

 

[eigoteacher]

Yea, the above only proves, how some persons on the forum reject to comprehend the fundamentals of civil law and the invasion of privacy. I am out of the discussion.

P.S. Share the above to any civil rights attorney and wait for the rage

I repeat, they did not take any personal information, therefore they did not breach any personal information laws.

The following data, often used for the express purpose of distinguishing individual identity, clearly classify as PII under the definition used by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (described in detail below):[8]

Full name (if not common)
Home address
Email address (if private from an association/club membership, etc.)
National identification number
Passport number
IP address (in some cases)
Vehicle registration plate number
Driver's license number
Face, fingerprints, or handwriting
Credit card numbers
Digital identity
Date of birth
Birthplace
Genetic information
Telephone number
Login name, screen name, nickname, or handle
The following are less often used to distinguish individual identity, because they are traits shared by many people. However, they are potentially PII, because they may be combined with other personal information to identify an individual.

First or last name, if common
Country, state, postcode or city of residence
Age, especially if non-specific
Gender or race
Name of the school they attend or workplace
Grades, salary, or job position
Criminal record
Web cookie[9]
When a person wishes to remain anonymous, descriptions of them will often employ several of the above, such as "a 34-year-old white male who works at Target". Note that information can still be private, in the sense that a person may not wish for it to become publicly known, without being personally identifiable. Moreover, sometimes multiple pieces of information, none sufficient by itself to uniquely identify an individual, may uniquely identify a person when combined; this is one reason that multiple pieces of evidence are usually presented at criminal trials. It has been shown that, in 1990, 87% of the population of the United States could be uniquely identified by gender, ZIP code, and full date of birth.[10]

In hacker and Internet slang, the practice of finding and releasing such information is called "doxing."[11][12] It is sometimes used to deter collaboration with law enforcement.[13] On occasion, the doxing can trigger an arrest, particularly if law enforcement agencies suspect that the "doxed" individual may panic and disappear.[14]

The one who doesn't understand the fundamentals of civil law is you. All of this is to request personal information, and by the legal definitions of personal information, the processes scanned on your computer that were potentially used to determine whether whoever was controlling the account was botting are not considered to be personal information. Therefore, you are not able to request the information that you seek.

From the OP:

What are my rights?

If you live in the EU you have the right to be confident that organisations handle your personal information responsibly and in line with good practice.

You will have a legitimate concern about the way an organisation is handling your information if it:

Is not keeping your information secure
Holds inaccurate information about you
Has disclosed information about you
Is keeping information about you for longer than is necessary, or
Has collected information for one reason and is using it for something else.


Can I access my personal information?

You have the right to get a copy of the information that is held about you. This is known as a subject access request. This right of subject access means that you can make a request under your country's data protection law(s) to any organisation processing your personal data. You can ask the organisation you think is holding, using or sharing the personal information you want, to supply you with copies of both paper and computer records and related information.

Note the heavy use of the phrase personal information then look up the legal definition of personal information. Sure, you can request it, but you are only going to get the information that is legally considered personal information. It's not a catch-all term for every single fact they gathered about you.

 

[Darkdog72]

Note the heavy use of the phrase personal information then look up the legal definition of personal information. Sure, you can request it, but you are only going to get the information that is legally considered personal information. It's not a catch-all term for every single fact they gathered about you.

Dude. You are full of shit. You have the right to have all information they have stored about you handed over, without limitations. You are mixing two issues.

You have the right to know HOW they store and and handle personal/id information or any information that can be linked to such information, but it doesn't limit your right to receive everything they have stored on/about you. If they have information that indicates you have broken the EULA, they will have to hand that over as well. If they do not hand that over, you have not broken the EULA from an objective point of view, because no such information exist. In that case they would have to either give up their case, or go forward and face massive fines for breaking the law. As long as money is exchanged for a service, it's a fundamental right to receive due documentation and evidence if the other party claim you are in breach of contract.

(In before IT"S IN THE EULA, BLIZZARD SAYS IT!)

What purpose would it have to request that Blizzard provides you with your name and email address? Do you think they are some backup company in case you suffer acute amnesia?

What is it you're trying to achieve? Give people bad legal advice, or are you trying to convince people to not exercise their legal rights vs. Blizzard? I don't understand your motivation.

 

[eigoteacher]

Dude. You are full of shit. You have the right to have all information they have stored about you handed over, without limitations. You are mixing two issues.

You have the right to know HOW they store and and handle personal/id information or any information that can be linked to such information, but it doesn't limit your right to receive everything they have stored on/about you. If they have information that indicates you have broken the EULA, they will have to hand that over as well. If they do not hand that over, you have not broken the EULA from an objective point of view, because no such information exist. In that case they would have to either give up their case, or go forward and face massive fines for breaking the law. As long as money is exchanged for a service, it's a fundamental right to receive due documentation and evidence if the other party claim you are in breach of contract.

(In before IT"S IN THE EULA, BLIZZARD SAYS IT!)

What purpose would it have to request that Blizzard provides you with your name and email address? Do you think they are some backup company in case you suffer acute amnesia?

What is it you're trying to achieve? Give people bad legal advice, or are you trying to convince people to not exercise their legal rights vs. Blizzard? I don't understand your motivation.

My motivation? I hate people spreading false information. I hate people giving false hope. That's all this is.

You've given consent for them to scan your computer. Within the law, they are able to scan your computer. If you didn't give them consent, they wouldn't be able to scan. This applies to US law and EU law.

Under legal definition of personal data, the information they scanned to check if bots were running is not considered personal data or personal information. This is the LEGAL definition. If the information you request is not covered by what is known as personal data, you cannot request it. That is the LAW in the US and the EU. The information they scanned for is NOT about you, therefore you cannot ask for it.

 

[Aion]

My motivation? I hate people spreading false information. I hate people giving false hope. That's all this is.

You've given consent for them to scan your computer. Within the law, they are able to scan your computer. If you didn't give them consent, they wouldn't be able to scan. This applies to US law and EU law.

Under legal definition of personal data, the information they scanned to check if bots were running is not considered personal data or personal information. This is the LEGAL definition. If the information you request is not covered by what is known as personal data, you cannot request it. That is the LAW in the US and the EU. The information they scanned for is NOT about you, therefore you cannot ask for it.

Here your logic have lost!

Anything but the Namespace, dedicated to Blizzard, in RAM, Hard drive and Windows Registry is personal information, from Blizzard's point of view. So it is Your Right, as Customer to insist and verify how this private information is stored and handled by Blizzard. The other concerns about that private informations are already answered by Darkdog72 above.

Just like your home is private territory, your private computer's HDD/RAM is private territory too. And even after you have generally allowed Blizzard to scan it with the EULA, they cannot scan outside their dedicated "territory" and cannot obtain certain facts, which could incriminate you.

It is just like you allow the Police to intrude you home 24/7 in the future, to the eternity, in case they decide to check your home for evidences if they suspect you for something....it is not even silly

 

[eigoteacher]

Here your logic have lost!

Anything but the Namespace, dedicated to Blizzard, in RAM, Hard drive and Windows Registry is personal information, from Blizzard's point of view. So it is Your Right, as Customer to insist and verify how this private information is stored and handled by Blizzard. The other concerns about that private informations are already answered by Darkdog72 above.

Just like your home is private territory, your private computer's HDD/RAM is private territory too. And even after you have generally allowed Blizzard to scan it with the EULA, they cannot scan outside their dedicated "territory" and cannot obtain certain facts, which could incriminate you.

It is just like you allow the Police to intrude you home 24/7 in the future, to the eternity, in case they decide to check your home for evidences if they suspect you for something....it is not even silly

You gave them valid consent to scan your computer. Everything they will scan on your computer is defined in the terms that you agreed to.

Acknowledgments.

You hereby acknowledge and agree that:

A. WHEN RUNNING, THE GAME MAY MONITOR YOUR COMPUTER'S RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM) AND/OR CPU PROCESSES FOR UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAMS RUNNING CONCURRENTLY WITH WORLD OF WARCRAFT. AN “UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM” AS USED HEREIN SHALL BE DEFINED AS ANY THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE THAT, WHEN USED SIMULTANEOUSLY OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE GAME, WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF SECTIONS 1, 2 OR 7. IN THE EVENT THAT THE GAME DETECTS AN UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM, BLIZZARD MAY (a) COMMUNICATE INFORMATION BACK TO BLIZZARD, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE ACCOUNT NAME, DETAILS ABOUT THE UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM DETECTED, AND THE TIME AND DATE THE UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM WAS DETECTED; AND/OR (b) EXERCISE ANY OR ALL OF ITS RIGHTS UNDER ANY BLIZZARD AGREEMENT, WITH OR WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE TO THE USER.

B. WHEN THE GAME IS RUNNING, BLIZZARD MAY OBTAIN CERTAIN IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR COMPUTER, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION YOUR HARD DRIVES, CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT, IP ADDRESS(ES) AND OPERATING SYSTEM(S), FOR PURPOSES OF IMPROVING THE GAME AND/OR THE SERVICE, AND TO POLICE AND ENFORCE THE PROVISIONS OF ANY BLIZZARD AGREEMENT.

C. Blizzard may, with or without notice to you, disclose your Internet Protocol (IP) address(es), personal information, chat logs, and other information about you and your activities: (a) in response to a request by law enforcement, a court order or other legal process; or (b) if Blizzard believes that doing so may protect your safety or the safety of others.

D. BLIZZARD MAY MONITOR, RECORD, REVIEW, MODIFY AND/OR DISCLOSE YOUR CHAT SESSIONS, WHETHER VOICE OR TEXT, WITHOUT NOTICE TO YOU, AND YOU HEREBY CONSENT TO SUCH MONITORING, RECORDING, REVIEW, MODIFICATION AND/OR DISCLOSURE. Additionally, you acknowledge that Blizzard is under no obligation to monitor your electronic communications, and you engage in those communications at your own risk.

E. You are wholly responsible for the cost of all telephone and Internet access charges along with all necessary equipment, servicing, repair or correction incurred in maintaining connectivity to the Servers.

 

[Res03]

They banned 100k accounts because they are feeling the pressure from the community to show some caring about their game. Just the banning alone shows that they are feeling the general attitude towards their game that could be or will affect revenue in the future. Even if none of these appeals do anything they are still feeling the sway of popular opinion. You want to help your cause? Make botting less important problem by going to the wow forums and reminding people of real concerns. Shift their concerns back to bigger problems and botting will look like a smaller victory and less of a concern in the future. The way they handled their banwave is about politics and weighted risk vs reward. Reward outweighed the risk because of present and future abilty to draw upon this event as a history of customer satification. You can limit this and make botting a very small concern in the future by manipulating their focus.

God damn auto-correct

 

[thebuddybrother]

Unless i'm stupid can someone tell me how having the information they gathered about you can get you unbanned ?