They have been doing this for a while now. It's not every time, but it has been going on for at least a year off and on. I know we had a keylogger scare a while back on Shadow Council and some thought it was Blizzards way of preventing stuff like that.

Either way, it should be told I think.

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My 2c:

If everything goes smoothly, all parts of the login process show up for a fraction of a second.

If Blizzard wants to non-personally know that my computer is a marginally upgraded piece of junk office computer, they're more than welcome. I've got nothing to hide :d

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They have been doing this for a while now. It's not every time, but it has been going on for at least a year off and on. I know we had a keylogger scare a while back on Shadow Council and some thought it was Blizzards way of preventing stuff like that.

Either way, it should be told I think.

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Not a big deal. If Blizzard wants to grab my system specs let them. It will help them know what kind of systems people are playing on and maybe help them fix the graphic bugs I've been getting. Last night i was getting my normal 30-55 FPS while running around but when I tried the bombing run on the forge camps, I was down at 1-6FPS. If I wanted that kind of FPS i would go play vangaurd.

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http://www.wow-europe.com/en/legal/termsofuse.html


16. Acknowledgements. You hereby acknowledge that:

D. Blizzard Entertainment has the right to obtain "non-personal" data from your connection to World of Warcraft in order to make certain demographic assumptions regarding the users of World of Warcraft without any further notice to you.

C. and E. aswell

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And while you're up to it, you might be interested in tthis one too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Warden_%28software%29

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"...if it's so non-personal, why did they throw up a warning we could just barely see?"

"Warning" is a pretty loaded word to use here, Mike.

FadedReality is exactly right. The notification is displayed quickly because it's a quick process. The way I see it, Blizzard's options are:

* Don't collect system information. (Blizzard can't tell what systems people are running WoW on, so they can't make judgments about future content as effectively.)
* Collect system information, but allow users to opt out before the game starts. (Blizzard's information is no longer necessarily representative of the game-playing population, so again, they can't make judgments as effectively.)
* Collect system information, and don't allow users to opt out, but make a big deal out of it. (Blizzard annoys users who are sensitive about any information about them being transmitted, and annoys everyone else by delaying their ability to play the game.)
* Collect system information, and show a notification while the information is being sent, which is a brief process. (Blizzard annoys players who are sensitive about any information about them being transmitted, and nobody else notices.)
* Collect system information, and don't show a notification at all. (Blizzard's players get up in arms when they find out.)

In other words, there really isn't a good solution; I personally think Blizzard's hit on the best of the available solutions, but YMMV.

-Chris Anthony
http://www.etherjammer.com/blog/

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then why did they feel the need to tell us they were doing it? I would guess they did it to let us know that we were submitting non-personal information to them. Compare to windows you don't know what's starting up, all you see is a logo, on linux you see a logo and exactly what is happening, on some linux versions you can see the code running through =O it's much as much in the end.

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Personally, I think its an outrage. The TOS (or the EULA, not sure which) say that Blizzard is allowed to monitor the running processes on your computer. This is so that Blizzard can make sure you are not running any botting programs or trying to reverse engineer WoW. The downside of this is that Blizzard is being sent a snapshot of what you are doing on your computer, which I for one am against. The fact that a EULA can protect spyware seems like a gross misapplication of the DMCA.
Interestingly enough, one of the "fair" uses of monitoring your processes, ie to make reverse engineering not possible, is a muddy legal issue. From the EFF web page on EULAs (http://www.eff.org/wp/eula.php):
"Some EULA terms harm people who want to customize their technology, as well as inventors who want to create new products that work with the technology they've bought. "Reverse-engineering," which is often forbidden in EULAs, is a term for taking a machine or piece of software apart in order to see how it works. This kind of tinkering is explicitly permitted by federal law – it is considered a "fair use" of a copyrighted item. Courts have held that the fair use provisions of the US Copyright Act allow for reverse-engineering of software when the purpose is to create a non-infringing inter operable program".
Personally, I am disgusted with the way that Blizzard, and more importantly Vivendi, handle the legal rights of their customers.

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This has definately been going on for a long time; I remember seeing it ages ago. people get far too excitable over it.

Isn't it in fact mentioned in the updated EULA?

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The only people that this bothers are people like Suska here. Overly touchy privacy advocate cry babies. If Blizz wants to collect random info from my system for the betterment of my gaming experience...then by all means go for it. I have nothing to hide.

My theory has always been, those who get upset about things like this have something to hide. Things like surveillance camaras, red light cameras, criminal profiling, random security searches at airports. etc.

It is Blizzards product, everything is fully enclosed in the LUA and TOS. If you read it and don't like what you see.....I have an easy fix for you.

1. Got o control panel

2. Select add/remove programs

3. Find World of Warcraft and click it

4. Select remove program

5. Cancel your account

6. Go to the hardware store

7. By bulk amounts of duct tape and plastic sheeting

8. Go home and use said duct tape and sheeting on all windows and doors

9. Disconnect any device that may be able to access the internet, radio airwaves, or television airwaves

10. Live the rest of your miserable life in a bubble

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You can't win with some people like skuska. Luckily most of us will 'put up with the spyware program' bundled with wow to enjoy a (mostly) bot and cheat free enviroment. Playing almost any other game you are almost guaranteed to run into bots and cheats.

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Funny how this post caught my attention. Perhaps it's because I'm stuck at the "Handshaking" step(whoops-not able to connect). :-( Staying on topic... I've seen the non-personal blurb for the past few months when my computer was slow enough to lag during login. It's really hard to see on any "decent" machine.

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Blizz can have whatever they want. I've already sold my soul to them...why not my system specs too?

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Theres just no arguing with some people.

I, for one, would rather that my programs NOT be riddled with spyware. Given the two alternatives, how can you argue otherwise? Anyone who has installed Kazaa knows that the same EULA that allows you to download things for free also allows Kazaa to install literal spyware onto your computer. We aren't talking about the tame im-gonna-let-blizzard-know-my-processor type of spyware, but rather the heres-some-ads-on-startup-imma-log-your-keystrokes-sorry-cant-uninstall-me type of spyware. The fact that they are completely "protected" by their EULA is disgusting.

I'm not saying that Blizzard is the worst offender out there, thats far from the truth (although who knows what information they are REALLY getting?), I just don't think that ANY form of spying that I cannot opt out of and that is only legally possible because of a clause in the EULA is wrong.

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