Very serious Privacy Issues with the Unity Web Player

Unity Engine
1

Ok here is what happened.

The other night I was playing online and suddenly I got banned from the game. Not sure about the reasons, but that’s not the point here.

I say well let’s create another account on that game, when I try to create another account I get the message that I was banned for some days…

I say well, the dude banned me by IP?.. I change the IP, and still the message shows up.

Ok, lets login from a Virtual Machine, that way everything changes computer name, username, (even MAC ADDRESS) but guess what… same message… WTF? :-?

Ok, let’s clean the cache completely from everything, internet, UNITY WEB PLAYER CACHE… I did this like 10 times… But same message… I even un-installed and re-installed the UNITY WEB PLAYER over and over, but same message… I even clean the registry via REGEDIT… But same message… WTF ???..

Obviously at this point, I CAN ONLY UNDERSTAND that UNITY WEB PLAYER gives the developers tools to DEVELOP A VERY INTRUSIVE BAN, going over PRIVACY INTRUSIVE DATA in the computer. Otherwise it would be impossible for that BAN TO STILL SHOW UP…

So, UNITY WEB PLAYER developers; I expect a very reasonable explanation, because this is very serious. :rage:

Either, or you are breaking the law by not providing enough information in your PRIVACY Statement, or this FRENCH DEVELOPER and CODER of the game is abusing the system BADLY and should be reported.

2

There is no feature in the Unity webplayer that implements this kind of security.

3

giggles

4

I guess they could use the SystemInfo calss to gather some information that they store and check if a user starts the game. Some other games does that too (Hardware ban).

5

Well he claimed he used a virtual machine, so this wouldn’t work.

But yea, my best guess is he didn’t actually change his IP, maybe he changed just the LAN IP.

6

That’s my guess as well. This thread though, it makes me chuckle :smile:

7

Maybe the developer/publisher took a decision to block people who have signed up with credentials that cannot be verified? Maybe people who connect from anonymous proxies, or from IP addresses that cannot be related to geographical regions, or email hosting companies known to be “dodgy” are banned? (Not for a moment suggestion that the OP has anything to hide.) I can imagine that publishers need to have rules that mean they can map users to real people. I’m not a lawyer, but I am thinking of things like “Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act”, Safe Harbor such as TRUSTe. If the OP wants to tell us what game he/she is playing, perhaps we can figure out what kind of things would cause the ban. As I said before, it’s nothing that the webplayer can or does do. I’ve give what to me seems a reasonable explanation, so now let’s have the OP explain more about their issue. (And yes the OP signed up from an anonymous proxy.)

8

Bingo…

They banned me by Video Card Info. Probably using the Graphics Card Driver and Version.

I could find this out by changing the video Card.

He probably banned me also by IP, MAC, etc, everything I listed before. But changing all that didn’t do the trick, probably because there was the Video Card still holding the ban.

This is very serious. The Unity Web Player is a pandora BOX, we don’t know what’s inside it. And I’m not becoming a programmer of games to find out. We are not supposed to do that to find out the truth.

Unfortunately, Unity Web Player doesn’t disclose all their info and ITS BRUTAL that they allow this kind of ILLEGAL INTRUSION… WTF?? Ban by hardware?? Is it not a bit too much?? What’s next?

Now I understand why their links for PRIVACY and LEGAL are down:

http://webplayer.unity3d.com/company/legal
http://webplayer.unity3d.com/company/legal/privacy-policy

SOURCE: http://webplayer.unity3d.com/setup/

Graham Dunnett, you should THANK ME for telling you that those links are down (And don’t say its a mistake, thousands of individuals access that site every day), and those links have been down for weeks… Anyone being DILIGENT could SUE the whole company for this and take them down completely, and report them in every single site or regulator entity online.

Instead of looking what my IP is, or where I connect from, you should THANK ME for telling you this… So you can move now and ask your guy to correct those links, or maybe you could do it yourself…

United Kingdom GUY… The land of Pirates looking to ATTACK the FREEDOM of Julian Assange, huh… Now I understand why you are like a POLICE from RIGHT WING looking at the IP of people. Just wondering why? How will that help you at all, “Graham Dunnett” ?

Bye, Graham Dunnett… Heh.

9

Why not just ASK why you were banned. Creating Sock puppets are a pain in the butt for Admin/Mods to handle. Most creators of a Site/Forum will, if possible ban an IP address to stop exactly what you did. If I ban someone, its for reason and I don’t want to deal with them after its done. It could be it was a mistake, and all the trouble you went to was for not. Something is missing in the story of the Banning. Any way I THINK, please kindly, respectfully correct me if I’m wrong. Doesn’t Country of origin dictates the Laws for the program?

Anyways Good Luck with all you do to resolve your conflict. But still contacting the Admin/Mod might faster and you will have your answers! <3

wo

10

Probably they updated the link not jet to the new one.

http://unity3d.com/company/legal/webplayer-eula

The problem is more likely the Web side / service that did ban you , because the probably have have made some agreement with you (by using the website / service), that they can use / collect this kind of personal information to handle unwanted users / protect and mange there service.

So its your personal problem that you agreed to this therms and did not read them.

PS: Ban by hardware is a normal way in Game development , even by big company like Electronic arts using it.

Edit:
Just a little block of the privacy policy by unity, so you can have a more clear look at the world of on line services.