I made a program to detect people hacking on Starcraft, by taking screenshots of their computer and sending them to my server. Is there any laws against this if i don’t tell them? because sometimes people tab out while playing and i see some dodgy shit…
This is an invasion of privacy.
You HAVE to let them know. It’s in the law (US and Canada and probably other countries). You just can’t do that without their approval.
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not sure if trolling…
But this begs the question on how you get your little anti-cheater program installed in the first place… That sounds dodgy too…
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ok so if i put it in the terms and conditions (no one reads them) it will be an ok solution? They install it themselves btw, its required for a starcraft league i help run, which is full of hackers.
If you don’t want dodgy desktop pictures you can check if the game is in the foreground. If not don’t take screenshot. Use the Windows API for that.
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didn’t know i could do that, but this is supposed to be cross-platform. I’m not bothered about the desktop pictures as i can filter a lot of them out, i just don’t wanna get sued, would saying it in the terms and conditions suffice?
Well… Lots of companies got heavy flak from doing just that. If I were to do an app like that I would make it clear what the application does. Maybe a FAQ item as I imagine you have a forums where those players get the app from. Make a post and fully explain what it does. That, in itself, could be a deterrent for cheaters as they would immediately feel watched. Those that don’t cheat wouldn’t worry…
In the terms and condition of the EULA you don’t have to bold it… Just make sure it’s in there. I’m no lawyer though, but I would think that would suffice.
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ok thanks madjack, u save the day once again, i will do 
If someone is able to hack starcraft what stops them hacking your program? (Ok, yes I know lots of them are using hacks other people wrote but still…)
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@zarch
The program could self-authenticate by calling home and getting the original CRC or a sturdier checksum. But I guess that’s something @wezrule2 should worry about.
@zarch said:
If someone is able to hack starcraft what stops them hacking your program? (Ok, yes I know lots of them are using hacks other people wrote but still...)
I don't think so, they are just using hacks from 5+ years ago that they got from somewhere, but thats a good thought
@madjack said:
@zarch
The program could self-authenticate by calling home and getting the original CRC or a sturdier checksum. But I guess that's something @wezrule2 should worry about.
Nice idea :)
For something this potentially damaging, after you get legal advice from JME developers perhaps you can consult an attorney on the best way to write your GLSL shader for performance on the widest variety of graphics cards…
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@shirkit said:
If developers aren't competent enough to make games anti-cheat wihout invading user's privacy and banning innocent people, just don't do it at all.
So what you're saying is that no developer is competent?
Valve's MP games has cheaters.
MW3 has cheaters.
BF3 has cheaters.
id's RAGE, Q3, Q4... has cheaters.
Blizzard games (WoW, StarCraft) has cheaters.
In fact, given time and interest any game can be "cheated". SP or MP.
What you're forgetting here is that some cheaters will do the utmost extreme things to get away with it. The reasons are multiple but mostly it's because they're idiots that can't play and are sore losers.
Point is, whatever you do someone will find a way to circumvent whatever you put there as a protection. It's as simple as that. It has nothing to do with competence.
jME community know their stuff <33 + they’re awesome, would rather ask here
Even if you put it in an EULA it can still be against the law. Especially in Canada in terms of privacy. They have strict privacy laws.
I can’t get you to sign an EULA and then murder you and avoid the law.
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@Sploreg said:
Even if you put it in an EULA it can still be against the law. Especially in Canada in terms of privacy. They have strict privacy laws.
I can't get you to sign an EULA and then murder you and avoid the law.
Then explain to me how PunkBuster gets away with it as it does that exactly? Curious to know.
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It depends on what you do with the data. And who knows, maybe punkbuster is dancing on the line.
I’m just saying it is a sketchy area. And I would listen to Paul’s advice.
@wezrule2 said:
jME community know they're stuff <33 + they're awesome, would rather ask here ^_^
About Java and OpenGL? Yes.
About international privacy laws? No.
If this is something you really want to pursue then you'd be well suited to think out precisely what you plan to do and start talking to lawyers. Understand exactly what you're getting into and understand the arguments for and against.
Do tread carefully :)
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