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[XANDER CAGE]

Seems to be operating much like the war on terrorism, whether Gabe realizes it yet or not.

That's certainly a melodramatic and confusing thing to take away from this.

 

[TheD]

Gabe Newell don't care about virtual women. he got real ones

That is one hell of a pic.

Edit: It is also better than that turd "punkbuster" and it taking screenshots, possibly outside the game (and not telling you in some of the earlier games that came with it, thus making it a flat out crime).

 

[Gannd]

HA

HAHA

is he serious? I actually believed the story up until that point. Should have stuck to that policy of not talking about VAC.

This is GAF, so most people won't care. Valve and Sony are untouchable on this site and can do no wrong..

Why? It's true.

 

[The Technomancer]

That's certainly a melodramatic and confusing thing to take away from this.

So basically every single discussion on the internet about security and privacy?

 

[Valnen]

Fuck Valve

Fuck cheaters. They're the ones responsible for software like this needing to be made in the first place.

 

[Marjar]

Fuck Valve

I certainly would if I could.

 

[Tesseract]

that's a damn good answer, lol. you gotta love valve.

 

[Gbraga]

They should, I go to some pretty rad places.

Fuck cheaters. They're the ones responsible for software like this needing to be made in the first place.

It's either Valve's reponsibility or both of them. Saying only cheaters are to blame is bs.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Fuck Valve

Given that you clearly fetishise men who run game companies, I can only assume that you want some sweet Gaben sexytime.

 

[RK9039]

*deletes browser history*

*uninstalls Mozilla Firefox*

I don't even use the internet Valve.

 

[The Silver]

You're gonna care about my porn and you're gonna like like it Gabe.

 

[thunder_snail]

I figured if I visited lots of hentai sites they will bring more Japanese games to Steam. Oh well.

 

[terrisus]

Did you even read the OP? There is no monitoring of internet usage, according to gaben at least.

Learn to read.

He explicitly said that they are not tracking your internet usage.

Some excellent reading skills in this thread!

VAC checked for the presence of these cheats. If they were detected VAC then checked to see which cheat DRM server was being contacted. This second check was done by looking for a partial match to those (non-web) cheat DRM servers in the DNS cache.

Sounds like it's checking out what you're doing to me.

 

[Omega]

Why? It's true.

what's true? certainly not the first part. VAC isn't good. In fact, it's pretty shit. I know they're swimming in that DOTA/TF2 money so they don't really care, but they should boot up their other game Counter Strike sometime.

second part sounds like some bad propaganda.

 

[Hellsing321]

Sounds like it's checking out what you're doing to me.

No its checking to see if the cheats you have installed are phoning home to a server.

 

[terrisus]

No its checking to see if the cheats you have are phoning home to a server.

And how does it know what you're doing if it's not checking out what you're doing?

 

[Felix Lighter]

Sounds like it's checking out what you're doing to me.

It checks locally for non web DNS records linked directly to cheating software and only returns the result when a match is found. That is very far from general tracking of users internet usage.

 

[TemplaerDude]

What nonsense. People don't like all these secretive systems analysing private information on their PC. Implying that people bringing this sort of stuff to light are probably cheat developers is a shitty move, unless they have some data to prove this currently 100% unsubstantiated claim.

I think you might be over reacting a slight bit.

 

[Boogalogist]

They won't care what porn sites you visit...but they'll definitely add it to their own list of porn site.

 

[terrisus]

It checks locally for non web DNS records linked directly to cheating software and only returns the result when a match is found.

But by the fact that this malware is now on people's computers, they're able to define anything they want as "cheating software," and return whatever they want.

 

[Woo-Fu]

So I was half right about it being a check for auth servers. I was just wrong about which side of the fence the servers in question were on.

 

[Felix Lighter]

But by the fact that this malware being on people's computers, they're able to define anything they want as "cheating software," and return whatever they want.

Sure, that would mean he would be pretty much lying and Valve really is just tracking your internet usage. I personally don't think that is the case but like he said it's up to you to make that call.

 

[nephilimdj]

No its checking to see if the cheats you have installed are phoning home to a server.

but it confirms what was guessed, a few sites = ban.
system can create false negatives, think of net cafes

 

[kurbaan]

So basically "we are monitoring everything but don't worry we don't really "care" about the data" and if you are still worried you are a hacker.

 

[terrisus]

Sure, that would mean he would be pretty much lying and Valve really is just tracking your internet usage. I personally don't think that is the case but like he said it's up to you to make that call.

He said it "isn't" doing that.
It doesn't mean it can't do that or that it won't do that.

And that's another thing I'm definitely not willing to just leave up to trust and their goodwill.

 

[Coffee Dog]

He said it "isn't" doing that.
It doesn't mean it can't do that or that it won't do that.

And that's another thing I'm definitely not willing to just leave up to trust and their goodwill.

So you think Gabe is a liar, then?

Back that claim up.

 

[Ether_Snake]

So it's the same response as the NSA?

Cheating won't be possible when it's all cloud computing a la Onlive anyway.

 

[Monado Blade]

Do we care what porn sites you visit? Oh, dear god, no. My brain just melted.

You say that now, Gaben...

Spoiler

just kidding gaben! i don't care! just give me HL3 v_v

 

[Cronox]

If he's not looking through my history, how will he know where the good porn is?

 

[Woo-Fu]

but it confirms what was guessed, a few sites = ban.
system can create false negatives, think of net cafes

No it doesn't, read it again. Checking to see if the cheat is phoning home is *after* they've already determined that you are cheating. It is a secondary check that doesn't happen without a positive on the first one.

People playing in netcafes have bigger security problems to worry about, IMHO, but if they want to fix this one all they have to do is flush the dnscache before they fire up steam and start chea... err I mean playing.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

One thing to note, apparently the system is not active anymore due to cheaters working around it:

This specific VAC test for this specific round of cheats was effective for 13 days, which is fairly typical. It is now no longer active as the cheat providers have worked around it by manipulating the DNS cache of their customers' client machines.

 

[terrisus]

So you think Gabe is a liar, then?

Back that claim up.

Where did he say it "can't" do that or that it "will never" do that?

 

[Sibylus]

Seems to be operating much like the war on terrorism, whether Gabe realizes it yet or not.

There's a crucial difference between dragnet bulk surveillance and the targeted acquisition of information on self-incriminating individuals. I'll let you find it.

 

[Hellsing321]

but it confirms what was guessed, a few sites = ban.
system can create false negatives, think of net cafes

Its not looking for websites.

 

[maquiladora]

No Xhamster trading cards then?

 

[KHarvey16]

So basically "we are monitoring everything but don't worry we don't really "care" about the data" and if you are still worried you are a hacker.

What response did you read, if any?

 

[TemplaerDude]

Where did he say it "can't" do that or that it "will never" do that?

You know it's one thing to have no faith in humanity but I think at this point you're just being thick headed.

 

[Coffee Dog]

Where did he say it "can't" do that or that it "will never" do that?

So you think that suddenly valve will flip the switch and start violating people's privacy?

That's a leap of logic, you realize? You need evidence to believe a claim like that. I want to see yours.

 

[Louis Cyphre]

But by the fact that this malware is now on people's computers, they're able to define anything they want as "cheating software," and return whatever they want.

What exactly are you worried about? Give me your worse case scenario that is plausible this makes for you.

 

[J-Tier]

Where did he say it "can't" do that or that it "will never" do that?

Wow.

 

[jacksepticeye]

The great GabeN is displeased and a blood sacrifice is required to restore balance!

I think terrisus just voluntered for it with those posts

 

[Tenck]

Where did he say it "can't" do that or that it "will never" do that?

So that's your facts. Time to take everything you say seriously...Not.

 

[Effer]

That's certainly a melodramatic and confusing thing to take away from this.

What? That we all give up our privacy to catch a few bad guys?

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Where did he say it "can't" do that or that it "will never" do that?

Strictly speaking, the only thing you have is his word.

If you selectively choose to distrust the fact that Valve is only sending hashed cheat addresses, why not just claim Gabe's just outright lying and Valve actually is just reading your entire, unhashed browser history?

 

[Grinchy]

Everyone already knows that Portal fans go to Cakefarts.com

 

[Sibylus]

What? That we all give up our privacy to catch a few bad guys?

Again, you're not comparing apples to apples.

 

[Stumpokapow]

He said it "isn't" doing that.
It doesn't mean it can't do that or that it won't do that.

And that's another thing I'm definitely not willing to just leave up to trust and their goodwill.

Any program you run could be compromising your privacy. You prove that it isn't by either auditing source if it's open source, decompiling the code to poke around if not, sniffing using Wireshark to check for data transmission, if it's not a network service or software you can firewall it, or trust. How do you know your browser isn't currently submitting your data everywhere? How do you know your OS isn't? One of those four ways. Most people don't audit source, most people decompile most stuff, Steam is a network service so preventing it from sending any data would be like preventing a browser from sending any data, and most people don't Wireshark their own computer all the time 24/7. As a result, most people trust. It's entirely possible that Steam is currently reading all of your browser's saved credit card details and using it to buy stuff for Gabe's kids on Amazon. It's entirely possible any of the games you launch through Steam are as well. It's entirely possible literally any program could be doing that.

Has there been any evidence submitted, including by the source of this report, that contradicts what Gabe is saying here?

 

[Gbraga]

So you think Gabe is a liar, then?

Back that claim up.

What? So he gets to say "we're not doing that, take my word for it" but someone else can't say "I don't believe you"?

And I actually do believe him, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with calling bullshit on that.

So you think that suddenly valve will flip the switch and start violating people's privacy?

That's a leap of logic, you realize? You need evidence to believe a claim like that. I want to see yours.

Again, wtf? His point is weak, but he needs evidence not to trust Valve, but they don't need to show evidence so we trust them?

Gaben himself said "You decide whether or not to trust us", the guy is saying "well, I don't". Why do you have an issue with that?

Strictly speaking, the only thing you have is his word.

If you selectively choose to distrust the fact that Valve is only sending hashed cheat addresses, why not just claim Gabe's just outright lying and Valve actually is just reading your entire, unhashed browser history?

Exactly. I do trust his word, but there's nothing wrong with someone else saying they don't.

There's no evidence anywhere.

 

[Effer]

There's a crucial difference between dragnet bulk surveillance and the targeted acquisition of information on self-incriminating individuals. I'll let you find it.

Dragnet bulk surveillance? You mean like collecting every single steam user's DNS cache to catch a handful of cheaters?

 

[Effer]

Again, you're not comparing apples to apples.

Care to explain?