Real ID comes to WoW

[Tarami]

Is there any way to get them to delete the account permanently? At this point, I'm starting to question whether I want Blizzard and Activision access to my personal information at all/

I don't think so, although you could just change your accessible information to something else nonsensical when you quit.

What do I do if I want to correct or delete my personal information?

If for any reason you are concerned with the way we are using your personal information, or would like to correct or request that we delete such personal information, please contact Blizzard Entertainment Privacy Policy, Attention: Privacy Policy Administrator, at 16215 Alton Pkwy. Irvine CA 92618-3616. You can also contact us by e-mailing us at privacy@blizzard.com.

Please note that the deletion of your data will lead to the termination of your account and applicable services.

[waffel]

Is there any way to get them to delete the account permanently? At this point, I'm starting to question whether I want Blizzard and Activision access to my personal information at all/

I don't think so, although you could just change your accessible information to something else nonsensical when you quit.

What do I do if I want to correct or delete my personal information?

If for any reason you are concerned with the way we are using your personal information, or would like to correct or request that we delete such personal information, please contact Blizzard Entertainment Privacy Policy, Attention: Privacy Policy Administrator, at 16215 Alton Pkwy. Irvine CA 92618-3616. You can also contact us by e-mailing us at privacy@blizzard.com.

Please note that the deletion of your data will lead to the termination of your account and applicable services.

I'd imagine it isn't automated in some way because, well, if you make someone jump through different hoops to do it they're less likely to do it.

[Tarami]

Uh, well, it would be kinda stupid with Blizzard's hacking rates if you just had to press a button to nuke your account from orbit.

[Ingmar]

Not to mention giving people a cool-off period while they wait for a reply after getting teabagged in STV or something probably is helpful.

[Draegan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PQtNRKZq04

[Rendakor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PQtNRKZq04

"Gearscore-RealID" confirmed to be fake.

[Draegan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PQtNRKZq04

"Gearscore-RealID" confirmed to be fake.

The gearscore author said it wasn't him, but I'm pretty sure he's not the only one that can add onto the code.

[AutomaticZen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PQtNRKZq04

"Gearscore-RealID" confirmed to be fake.

The gearscore author said it wasn't him, but I'm pretty sure he's not the only one that can add onto the code.

Sigh.  Let's try this again.

http://www.wow.com/2010/07/08/that-scary-gearscore-real-id-screenshot-is-fake-guys/

There's a screenshot circulating, which is cropped above, that shows a new "beta version" of the infamous GearScore mod that is able to see your Real ID name -- that is, your real name -- just by mousing over your character. It's not real. We reported on a possible security loophole in addons that could, with enough black magic, reveal your Real ID name -- but this isn't what's happening here.

The creator of the image has admitted that the screenshot isn't real. You can officially cease linking it around and freaking out. We know that the idea your real names being on the forum might be scary, but it's important to keep a level head and not let fear take hold of your behavior, no matter what side of the issue you're on.  

And the GearScore guy chimed in again.

http://gearscore.blogspot.com/2010/07/gearscore-realid.html

I have created a video to show how easy it is to fake the the previous video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO5zmuFTLtA

Here is the exact code I used to create the effect in the video:

SetNames = {}

function SomeFunctionName(arg1, arg2)
local FakeNames = { "Barack Obama", "Ronald Reagen", "Bill Clinton", "George Bush", "Ricard Nixon", "Andrew Jackson", "James Madison", "James Monroe", "John Tyler", "James Polk", "Franklin Pierce", "Gerald Ford", "John Kennedy" };
local realid = "";
if ( SetNames[UnitName("mouseover")] ) then
realid = SetNames[UnitName("mouseover")];
else
realid = FakeNames[random(1,13)];
SetNames[UnitName("mouseover")] = realid;
end
GameTooltip:AddLine("|cff00ffffRealID: |r"..realid, 1,1,1);
GameTooltip:AddLine("Hold SHIFT to view Alts");
end

GameTooltip:HookScript("OnTooltipSetUnit", SomeFunctionName);

[Pantastic]

That video is fake, but currently an add-on that you run can get your Real ID and send it to other users of the add-on if you haven't activated parental controls on your account. I don't think the wow.com author realizes this, since the way he responded sounds like he thinks that Real ID only exposes your name to forums and not to add-ons.

[AutomaticZen]

That video is fake, but currently an add-on that you run can get your Real ID and send it to other users of the add-on if you haven't activated parental controls on your account. I don't think the wow.com author realizes this, since the way he responded sounds like he thinks that Real ID only exposes your name to forums and not to add-ons.

Where?  The security flaw is listed, but I have yet to see an actual addon use it.

[Gunzwei]

I've been surprised at the lack of The Parlor references for Real-ID. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC1xFjGcZ7c&feature=related (NSFW)

[Nissl]

After reading many threads... I have to chalk this up to a stumble on Blizzard's part.  I simply don't understand what this implementation possibly accomplishes.

Want better forums?  I haven't seen a single constructive poster, across several forums, say they'll continue to post.  Virtually all of the good posters have jobs and lives.  They won't risk their job security or family over a game.  The obvious implementation, like others have said, is that everyone gets a single, permanent pseudonym and/or account-wide armory is available.  And swing the banhammer freely.  

Want to save money on the forums?  Replace general, where nothing useful is ever posted, with the blue tracker.  Keep the rating system that's being introduced so you only have to check a couple threads per subforum per day.  

Planned Facebook leveraging/integration?  No reason you can't have a fixed bnet pseudonym and still have an opt-in (or opt-out) that links the bnet and facebook accounts to do whatever achievement publishing, advertising tie-ins, and/or hooking up with secret nerd friends or whatever.  The player base probably wouldn't have flipped out at that, but they sure will now.

Also, I don't understand what not being able to turn off RealID in game gets Blizzard other than raiders being unable to take a night off to avoid burnout.

So yeah, someone explain it to me.

[Sheepherder]

The gearscore author said it wasn't him, but I'm pretty sure he's not the only one that can add onto the code.

Which takes more effort, a working exploit or a table of names and a print command?

Where?  The security flaw is listed, but I have yet to see an actual addon use it.

It's not strictly speaking a security flaw.  The API can access your real ID and those of your friends, it's meant to.  That being said, you are only exposed this way by downloading a malicious or ineptly coded mod that broadcasts your personal data to others for collection.

[Pantastic]

Where?  The security flaw is listed, but I have yet to see an actual addon use it.

I'm not sure what you mean by where, I did not say that I know of an addon that is currently sharing real id with other people currently. I said that it is possible for an addon to do that with the way the game functions currently unless you've enabled parental controls. If an room has phone and a file with personal info, it's clearly possible for a person in the room to read and share that information, even though there might not be a person in the room now.

DBM's released code displayed your Real ID in a debugging box for a while before they fixed it in the release version, and still accesses it internally to disable Real ID whispers during boss fights, that shows that an add-on can access your Real ID if you haven't turned on parental controls. You can also run one of the scripts that are posted various places to display your RealID (if a script can do it, an addon can do it). Addons can send information to other users, this is routinely used in lots of addons (including DBM) and is not anything new or obscure. Combine the two, and boom.

It's not strictly speaking a security flaw.  The API can access your real ID and those of your friends, it's meant to.  That being said, you are only exposed this way by downloading a malicious or ineptly coded mod that broadcasts your personal data to others for collection.

It's not a security bug since it is intentional, but it is a significant weakening of the protection on your private data, which would be considered a 'flaw' by people concerned about their private data. You have to trust add-ons with personal information now, where previously they could only access in-game information, which is a huge change in security.

Also, your 'only exposed' is just true if you're not using real id but haven't turned it off. If you have Real ID friends, then addons run by them or any of their friends can grab your name. That's a massively broader scope of things to trust, and it isn't really obvious in the interface that you're exposing as much as you are.

[LK]

Blizzard likely doesn't want to ban people as that would mean a potential lost customer. They are creating a disincentive to posting on the forums that is more likely to keep people subscribing and quiet, except for people willing to take that step and post their first / last online, and those that they'd lose to this decision anyway, which will be replaced by the next generation that won't give a shit and consider this a normal part of their lives.

There's so many different perspectives on this. Like, dozens. It's so damn fascinating because you can argue from so many standpoints, all of them valid, all of them unique.

[taolurker]

I don't even play WoW but had a discussion about RealID with a RL friend of mine today who does.

He kept insisting to me that this would not affect his game in any way because he doesn't use the forums or intend to purchase Starcraft 2.

I then continued to elaborate much of what I've read here, complete tales of privacy issues with Facebook, as well as numerous different cases where having this information readily available would be a bad thing. He was swayed by the following different bullet points (but the main reason I'm posting is I just had to post his response to one of them and the way he intends to remedy it).

• If someone is on your friends list, they will be able to see your real name, and if that person is hacked then your account and real information is at the mercy of whoever wants it.
• Information about anyone can easily be found online now, just using a real name, and this will make stalking someone or WoW grief revenge killings a possibility
• The information being available through the game will allow some form of exploit that allows people to access it who aren't even on your friend's list and maybe could even be used for identity theft
• Even if they allow a way to opt out of Real ID, it still doesn't prevent their being a link to your real information if your account is hacked, or a way to expose your friend's information if it is hacked (because the hacker can enable RealID).

My friend's response to both points about hackers was that he hoped it allowed the hacker's information to be leaked out as well, and then wondered "if the gold sellers will have actual names that can be tracked, or just bunches of gibberish characters". After that his proposal to fix the privacy leak was to create a new WoW account, that has completely phony information, pay to transfer his characters, and then let his original account close.

I almost said something to him about not letting WoW profit from this (and his) stupidity, but figured it wasn't worth it.

[Rendakor]

You can't transfer characters between accounts which don't have the same name.

[Sheepherder]

Tao, you need to stop supplying your friend with retarded arguments.

You can't perpetrate identity theft or track someone down solely with a name.  You need context which Real ID does not supply.

[waffel]

Tao, you need to stop supplying your friend with retarded arguments.

You can't perpetrate identity theft or track someone down solely with a name.  You need context which Real ID does not supply.

... you're trolling, right?

[Azazel]

Post your real name here and see how quickly someone can track you down? 

[Sheepherder]

You're retarded, right?

Real ID doesn't direct you to anything contextual.  Without that you can't winnow the data down to a usable set unless that person randomly appears at the top of the list on a Google search for their name, an improbability given the fact that names are often not unique.  More importantly, you cannot verify that the person you have found is the one you are seeking.  If you are just harvesting names en masse, the names mean jack and shit.  If you are acquainted with the person and have managed to get them to install a mod, then chances are you don't need their fucking name.

Post your real name here and see how quickly someone can track you down? 

I'm tempted.

[Rendakor]

The fact that they play WoW is at least some context.

[Stabs]

According to Blizzard's privacy policy:

We feel under a particular obligation to protect information obtained from young children. We would strongly urge parents to instruct their children never to disclose their real name, their address or their telephone number while they are on-line without prior permission. No information should be transmitted to Blizzard by minors aged 12 years or under. Blizzard commits to never knowingly processing data provided by minors aged 12 years or under.

I don't see how that can possibly be true now. Parental control is not mandatory for children playing is it? It's advisable sure, but they don't actually lock the account until parental control is used. And even if it is used parents won't necessarily check the RealID toggle.

[WindupAtheist]

Post your real name here and see how quickly someone can track you down? 

Yeah, how many times does this need to happen before people realize that it... uh... can happen? That one Blizz CM posting his name and then having the satellite view of his house posted 5 minutes later should have been enough.

[Tarami]

I'm the only one with my name on Google apparently. So... yeah.

[Tebonas]

You REALLY should learn how data is processed, Sheepherder.

In laymans terms, every bit of data about you is connectable to other bits of data out there. The only question is how much work is put into it. Bots are patient, they'll find everything over time.

An example (real person doing it, so that we don't get into search algorithms and such). You have a facebook account. You ommit your birthdate for whatever reason. You also have another account on another site, with your birthdate (common usage in age verification). Not linkable to you because you have an everyday name. Somebody congratulates you on your Facebook wall with "happy birthday, here's the picture of a cake with 30 candles".

So now your second account is with 99.99% accuracy linked to your Facebook account. All data on that site can now be incorporated into your Facebook info (and vice versa, which is the more dangerous direction). Since your mother has friended you, they know your likely place of birth and funny little tidbits about your life. Not because you can't hold your tongue, but because all the little pieces of the puzzle others provide. Enough info to social engineer the fuck out of your identity.

Search algorithms gather that data without fail. From all sites. If the size of data entries is large enough, every two infos about you can be traced back to you.

[Sheepherder]

A game character or two and a name won't direct people to your Facebook unless you're dumb enough to completely ignore it's privacy features while having the WoW integration shit enabled.  Knowing a name and a job at Blizzard is four highly significant data points alone.

Me?  I don't have a Facebook.  Fuck that noise.

[Mosesandstick]

What are you guys arguing about? And how will that stop somebody from googling your name? You don't need any context if you're the only person in the world with that name.

[UnSub]

So yeah, someone explain it to me.

Activision wants a social network to bring in the fat advertising cash.

Blizzard is Activision's fat cash maker for the online world. Blizzard also wants everyone tied to their system, which is Battle.net. Adding social network functionality doesn't, on the surface, throw up that many red flags.

Facebook is the leading social network, reputedly bringing in about US$900m in 2009. Blizzard copies the Facebook model because little thought and resources need to be involved in such a project - it's a social network, for fuck's sake, it's not like it is something important. A small team of 3 or 4 bang out the alpha in two weeks, saying amongst themselves they'd never use it personally.

End result: Real ID.

[waffel]

A game character or two and a name won't direct people to your Facebook unless you're dumb enough to completely ignore it's privacy features while having the WoW integration shit enabled.  Knowing a name and a job at Blizzard is four highly significant data points alone.

Me?  I don't have a Facebook.  Fuck that noise.

See I don't get this argument: "Well I don't have any information about me out on the internet, and I don't have a facebook. Therefore, everyone bitching about this RealID thing is wrong"

I dare say most people on this forum do a fairly decent job of keeping personal information personal. Most are adults 20+ that know better.

However, a majority of those playing WoW are kids who either don't know better, or don't realize what kind of trouble they can letting too much personal information about yourself onto the internet.

Yeah, if you search for John Smith on google you aren't going to find the person you're trying to. However, knowing the person's age, sex, state/city, company they work for, etc etc you can really narrow it down. Now, if you throw in the whole not-so-common name thing into the bag, combined with kids and teens not knowing any better (or not understanding the constant fucking around of facebook's privacy settings) and you can get into all kinds of shit.

Lastly, have you ever seen 4chan track someone down? If they really want to do it, they will. They could have some of the tiniest pieces of information available and yet they are still able to tap into the right vein and get tons of info.

edit: The argument of "well don't give out any information about yourself on the internet" is a great one. Too bad Blizzard feels the need to go ahead and give everyone your first and last name. Its a snowball of shit that should have never started rolling.

[Arthur_Parker]

You REALLY should learn how data is processed, Sheepherder.

In laymans terms, every bit of data about you is connectable to other bits of data out there. The only question is how much work is put into it. Bots are patient, they'll find everything over time.

An example (real person doing it, so that we don't get into search algorithms and such). You have a facebook account. You ommit your birthdate for whatever reason. You also have another account on another site, with your birthdate (common usage in age verification). Not linkable to you because you have an everyday name. Somebody congratulates you on your Facebook wall with "happy birthday, here's the picture of a cake with 30 candles".

That's a silly example, it's 8 days early to be wishing Sheepherder a happy birthday.

[Ratman_tf]

Lastly, have you ever seen 4chan track someone down? If they really want to do it, they will. They could have some of the tiniest pieces of information available and yet they are still able to tap into the right vein and get tons of info.

I once tracked down a person from my past. With two bits of info. First and last name, and hometown and state. (I call that two pieces of info, name and location) now, it did take a while, but the trail always got gradually warmer. Through Intellus I was able to get a married last name, (two actually) and through a process of elimination gathered parents and siblings names. Eventually I made contact with her brother and mother, and she got one of the letters I sent out to various addresses I turned up.
This was 5 years ago, and a trail that was about 13 years old. I'm sure it's only gotten easier, with linkedin and the social networking sites taking off.

[Vision]

So yeah, someone explain it to me.

Activision wants a social network to bring in the fat advertising cash.

Blizzard is Activision's fat cash maker for the online world. Blizzard also wants everyone tied to their system, which is Battle.net. Adding social network functionality doesn't, on the surface, throw up that many red flags.

Facebook is the leading social network, reputedly bringing in about US$900m in 2009. Blizzard copies the Facebook model because little thought and resources need to be involved in such a project - it's a social network, for fuck's sake, it's not like it is something important. A small team of 3 or 4 bang out the alpha in two weeks, saying amongst themselves they'd never use it personally.

End result: Real ID.

This about sums it up.

[Tebonas]

That's a silly example, it's 8 days early to be wishing Sheepherder a happy birthday.

Its the most common example because people like to throw around their birthday nilly-willy.

[patience]

I'm beginning to question how many unique snowflakes are really in this world. Just to check up on my exposure I googled my name and only came up with two hits. Then I used bing and came up with a lot more information including sources from other family members. The strange part is that I know for a fact that are a handful of people in the US with my name and none of them came up in the search. So unless they all suopressed their information from being available online there is a flaw here. I hope none of these guys play WoW.