Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Game Publishers Using Stealth P2P Clients

Posted by Soulskill on from the eula-doesn't-count dept.

An anonymous reader writes "TorrentFreak has shed some light on the dark practice of installing stealth-mode P2P clients during game downloads and using unsuspecting gamers' PCs as 'bandwidth slaves.' The clients operate in the background and largely go unnoticed until problems arise that are caused by overactive uploading/seeding. While the Akamai NetSession Interface and Pando Media Booster are specifically called out, there appear to be other offenders as indicated in the comments left by TorrentFreak readers. A publisher called Solid State Networks is putting out a call for an industry-wide 'best practices' effort to promote transparency, control and privacy on behalf of gamers who are otherwise being abused for their bandwidth without their consent."

7 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. I can haz? by KillaGouge · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hai, I'm in your services stealing your bandwidths?

    --
    GENERATION 25: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social exper
  2. FAKE! by spun · · Score: 5, Funny

    Despite the clever use of the misspelling "Hai", your grammar is obviously much too polished. You, sir, are no LOLcat. Buy your own damned cheeseburger.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    1. Re:FAKE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yehbutt he has 720 times more feedback points than you, so he wins. Sorry newbie.

    2. Re:FAKE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I don't think those numbers mean what you think they mean...

  3. Re:Don't you dare steal our games... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    You mean that wall of text that you tried to write to my temp directory? The one that has a "read only" file named EULA.txt that says "While under normal circumstances installing this software would require all your base to belong to us, under these circumstances we're happy to say that all OUR base are belong to YOU"?

  4. Thank you, Well Known Hero. by spun · · Score: 2, Funny

    Pando Media Booster = slows down your internet connection
    Norton Antivirus = makes your computer vulnerable to hacking
    Trusted Computing = you can't be sure if you have control of your computer
    etc.

    Your contribution to this discussion is sort of depressing.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  5. Re:Theft of service by dissy · · Score: 4, Funny

    >>Because you agreed to it in the TOS...

    I did no such thing.

    As I recall I might have clicked a checkbox and hit next, but that was just one of Many screens I had to correctly configure to get the game to install. I made no agreements after the exchange for the sale was finished.

    If that is actually binding, then there is the additional problem for them that my bandwidth TOS is clearly posted on my website.

    The first clause is I can change this "agreement" at any time without sending notification, and the second clause is they agree to my TOS by providing in their software a button with the text "I agree", which I can click on to confirm they indeed agree to my TOS.

    The charges for my bandwidth are spelled out there, and I will be sending the bill in the mail now.
    If they don't pay it by 90 days, I guess I will just have to submit the invoice to a collections agency or something...