Some online games to shut down or limit access because of new EU privacy laws
48 replies, posted
Very small doesn't properly describe SMNC's player count, the story I heard about them closing down mentioned there were only 24 people playing it. I wouldn't be surprised if they're just using the GDPR as an easy out.
I ended up giving a nice thought exercise to the data protection officer at the university where I work, about how to make Git GDPR compliant.
Still waiting to hear back on what the correct plan for that is, as every commit is normally signed with personal information, and can't really be modified after having been inserted into the git tree.
https://www.facebook.com/loadout/posts/2364898936857201
Seems like Loadout is shutting down too. GDPR is one of the reasons why.
GDPR is like taking a shotgun out back to put numerous old yellers out of their misery.
Part of the massive reaction to GDPR is due to uncertainty as to how it will be applied, caused by how fuzzy some of the definitions are.
Many companies are preparing for a situation where the new legislation means lawsuits will start flying left and right and a single misplaced email could spell the end of a huge company.
The more likely scenario is that the end of May will pass by unnoticed and everything will carry on as usual until a major predatory practice involving personal data is uncovered.
There have been many loose terms that companies have been able to change the definitions of. Like how "unlimited internet" is not unlimited in US.
However, EU have provided a helpful list of terms here: Art. 4 GDPR Definitions.
What classifies as “personal data”, “profiling”,” pseudonymisation”, “third party” and even “consent” (since companies seems to forget that one).
blockchain is also in violation of GDPR
the EU's really thinking smart overall with this and i commend them for doing this, but the implementation is pants on head retarded imo
As somebody who actually owns and operates services that deal with personal user info, these things (sans requiring affirmative consent for data collection, which we already do) are not nearly as easy as you think.
Just because the data is in a database doesn't mean that you can just dump all the data and send a binary blob to the user. Not all database rows that contain user information should be revealed wholesale to the user. For example, you might have a transaction between two users, which stores information that neither user should have access to. So you have to create an entirely custom process through which you scan through all of your data, extract user-specific data, and ignore sensitive non-user-specific data.
For a game with 24 concurrent players, this is not worth it.
Allowing users to be forgotten is also very difficult, because deleting users is an extremely messy process. For example, you can't just delete orders from your database; those orders represent not only an action made by that user but also is extremely important for record-keeping, accounting, and anti-fraud. There are numerous examples of user data that users might expect to be deleted but there's no reasonable way to go about deleting all their data. Sure, you can delete personal information like their name, address, phone number, SSN (which you probably shouldn't have anyways), etc. But just deleting those details isn't really "deleting your data".
Additionally there are other laws placed on customer information; for example, KYC laws require that if you act as a financial processor then you need to collect certain information on customers and hold it for a certain time. This contradicts the right to be forgotten.
Ultimately what we end up with is that nobody has any "right" to be forgotten whatsoever as there is a huge amount of user data that must be retained so that other users are able to continue to use your service.
Its all on you if you where collecting additional information that you didn't require and shoved them into your database.
You don't need to know my hobbies, lifestyle and haircolor when shopping on a website. You only need the basics.
And you still forget that you're not required to delete information if they're necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or
otherwise processed. As long they got a purpose like book-keeping. You don't HAVE to delete orders.
Stop with this scare-mongering and read some of the papers.
Found this handy thing:
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/107119/87e8ec4e-d5db-4b68-873b-ec5492ae021c/billede.png
And redesigning a database is not an easy or reasonable task for a game with 24 concurrent players, so SMNC shut down.
I was responding to the idea that SMNC must have been shutting down because they were selling off user information, as opposed to the fact that GDPR compliance is difficult and requires man-hours that maybe aren't worth it for a game with a non-existent playerbase.
Obviously being GDPR-compliant is possible; my point is that it's more work that can't be justified for these sorts of old services.
Ah .. I agree that re-arranging such a big database for 24 players with next to no data to sell. Might have been the cause for them to shutdown as well.
Small companies are hardly the target of the GDPR, it's not like they're going to inspect every single small business to check that you're complying, aside from obtaining consent it's pretty much carry on as normal.
I decided to take a look at SMNC again, since I really enjoyed it way back when.
I was literally the only person online.
Interestingly enough, I ditched Tunngle about half year ago, because it wouldn't work with my internet. Switched to ZeroTier, worked like a charm so far and does not need port forwarding.
Why would a VPN ever need port forwarding (unless they're actually selling access to your connection)??
Well, according to their wiki(which is now only available on archive.org):
Although Tunngle works without the need to port forward on most systems, there are some advantages if you set up a port forward. An open port state maximizes the possibility to establish connections with other players. This means that you will be able to connect to players that cannot receive inbound connections. In other words, if your friend hasn't access to his router, setting a forward on your side can help him connect to you.
I remember when I sat down after 3 or so yers after the release and just grinding the FUCK out of SMNC for the tf2 hats.
The holdout community was legitimately so toxic, and the wait times so bad, it doesn't surprise me they haven't pulled it sooner. The worst part is even back in the initial release I still remember how bad the "OGs V Newbies" was.
Although I hope to god someone rips the champ models before the game dies completely.
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