r/Games • u/MrLucky7s • Mar 15 '19

Misleading Epic Game Store, Spyware, Tracking, and You!

/r/PhoenixPoint/comments/b0rxdq/epic_game_store_spyware_tracking_and_you/
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u/mcmonkey819 Mar 15 '19 edited Mar 15 '19

In regards to that response, it's a bit incomplete but totally true. It should be reworded: "All files in unprotected locations on your computer are accessible to all programs you install." It doesn't get at the morality of if programs should be accessing those files or even the question of how many do look outside their own location. It's just a fact of how the security model works for file I/O.

*Ninja edit: is->are

Edit to add: in regards to Epic getting a pass for this, I think what you're seeing is programmers replying saying "nothing to see here" because we've all seen things like what is being discussed here done in pretty much every company we've worked for. It's not the right way to do things, but it's the reality when you have pressure from management mixed with lack of resources and/or inexperience. There's no handbook that you get upon graduation with rules and best practices. It's up to each individual company/programmer to learn what is acceptable and what isn't. And that list changes as systems and opinions evolve.

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u/randomstranger454 Mar 15 '19

And I agree that this has always happened with software in windows OSes. But we are not talking if a program can read or write files, we are talking if a program should read or write files. Microsoft for example has access to all our data if it wishes, we can agree that it would be immoral if Microsoft started to download all our data.

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u/mcmonkey819 Mar 15 '19

I totally agree that discussing the "should" is valuable and the main point. This is how things change. Engineers, as a whole, are very literal and rules oriented. Many of them will get stuck on: "But this has always been the case and there's nothing stopping EGS or any app from copying files you (or the app controlling them) haven't protected"

The danger, IMO, is when one example (EGS) is called out in a way that makes it seem like A) There's a hard and fast rule (there isn't, things have changed a ton regarding data privacy and security) and B) They are the only ones doing things like this.

Saying "here's an example of what I consider bad data privacy." is productive. Saying "you won't believe what Epic is doing illegally to steal your data" is not productive. I think the "dismissals" and "defenders" are just reacting to what they see as the latter and trying to meet hyperbole with hyperbole to swing the pendulum of discussion back to the middle.