About BattlEye and Privacy

[[BattlEye] $able]

(For those who are not aware, I'm the BE dev - feel free to check my post history to confirm.)


Hey ARK community,

After reading your feedback about BattlEye in general and its EULA for over a week I decided to clarify a few things here.

First of all, BattlEye by design is very invasive and it has to be so that it's able to fully do its job. This is reflected in its EULA, which is intentionally formulated in a very direct, unambiguous and non-misleading way, so the user can quickly understand what's going on and isn't lost in pages of text. Ultimately it's just trying to be very honest.

Yes, BattlEye has to be able to scan all memory (RAM) and all game- and system-related files on disk. However, this does not mean that BE is looking through your personal files, credit card details or other such information and sends them to our servers. I want to clearly emphasize that we don't do this. Everything that BE does is aimed at blocking and detecting hacks and reporting your personal information or otherwise spying on you clearly serves no purpose in that context. If you are worried I would still suggest that you don't have any programs/processes containing sensitive information open while playing on BE servers, simply because BE "might" accidentally touch it during its scans (remember that all active processes are part of the memory). That includes things like process and window names.

Yes, BattlEye absolutely can identify hack code patterns in memory and report information about them to our servers. It can also theoretically send executable files (e.g. .exe or .dll files) to our servers which were previously identified by other scans. But this is very rarely done if ever. It has happened in the past, which is what this reddit post (created by a well-known hacker) that many of you have seen was all about. It succeeded in creating lots of drama, but the bottom line is that BE never reported any sensitive information but only hack-related executable code/files. In fact, generally any halfway effective anti-cheat solution has the capability to do the same. So if you are running suspicious code while playing online games expect it to be reported in some way. I'm not saying that this is or good or bad, but it can be necessary from time to time for an anti-cheat to properly do its job.

There was also another post created by the same hacker talking about BE supposedly permanently banning players for false positives or poor detections. While I can't go into too many details without revealing too much to the bad guys, the problem with these claims is that they simply aren't true. Yes, false positives can happen and did happen in the past, but usually they were identified and corrected very quickly as all bans are regularly checked. But no, we definitely never banned for legitimate software like Mumble or memory patterns in your web browser. I could talk more about what we are doing and why, but it would probably slightly spoil the "fun" those people constantly have when being forced to deal with BE. :)

That being said, I admit that there should be more clarifications in the EULA and/or the BE Launcher and this is something that will be added in the future. We want people to trust BE because we believe that it is a trustable system that is working in the interest of honest players. We will also add an uninstall option as well as a way to make BE not annoy you every single time (when using the default launch option) in case you don't want to install it. :) The BE Launcher in general should become more user-friendly.

We hear your concerns and are really sorry about this bumpy release.

Thanks for reading! :)


Addendum:
BattlEye is neither like a virus, rootkit or gets into your system without noticing. These are false claims that are mostly coming from hackers trying to give BE a bad name (like those reddit posts which contain more exaggerations and lies than truth). BE explicitly asks you before installing. It also only runs while the game is running (with BE enabled), so technically there isn't any need to really uninstall it, although we will provide that in the future. Currently you can uninstall it simply by running "sc delete BEService" in a command prompt with administrative privileges.


Update - March 5:
As promised, the BE Launcher and EULA have now been updated and an uninstall option has been added to Steam.

[GameKitten]

Spyware..nice.. Does not bother me since I have not played Ark in a good while. Makes weary of any game that implements this and has an ooops clause attached. Privacy is becoming almost exstinct these days. And there is always false positives if you look up programs like these..Hope the devs do indeed read their emails and check each ban throughly..Reassuring honest players is almost obsolete when comes to any program that spies on users.. This is a bad tactic .. there should be GMs in game.. And there are MANY online games that do not use such aggrevise tactics..

[Strider]

Originally posted by thegamekitten:

Spyware..nice.. Does not bother me since I have not played Ark in a good while. Makes weary of any game that implements this and has an ooops clause attached. Privacy is becoming almost exstinct these days. And there is always false positives if you look up programs like these..Hope the devs do indeed read their emails and check each ban throughly..Reassuring honest players is almost obsolete when comes to any program that spies on users.. This is a bad tactic .. there should be GMs in game.. And there are MANY online games that do not use such aggrevise tactics..

I have been a Mod/Admin of many game servers and sites. There is only so much you can do without real tools to combat hacks. Aimbots are really difficult to catch without AntiCheats as the player may just be good. ESP are even worse!

All anti-cheats scan your active memory otherwise there is no way they could catch anything... How do you think they worked? Magic?

Certain sub hack devs started implementing their hacks in kernel space which is a layer that most anti-cheats could not touch... hence the sub hacks ran rampant without detection. Now go check on such sites and see which hacks are down... ARK... Arma... Dayz etc... Pattern? < All BE protected.

I welcome BE.

[Gandy]

I dont see why people have such a grudge against the software. As it is clearly repeated, the software only aims to target hacking or cheating releated data in terms of the game and, any bugs are being aggresivly ironed out. The devs have been working hard and are only trying to make the game fairer for every player. Its just a matter of time people, be patient.

[Dillpickle1]

Originally posted by GandyEnt.Ink Gandalf The Gay:

I dont see why people have such a grudge against the software. As it is clearly repeated, the software only aims to target hacking or cheating releated data in terms of the game and, any bugs are being aggresivly ironed out. The devs have been working hard and are only trying to make the game fairer for every player. Its just a matter of time people, be patient.

It also targes people like me who have yet to cheat on said game

[Sistermatic™]

Originally posted by ミ★ ckc | Dillpickle1 ★彡:

It also targes people like me who have yet to cheat on said game

Notwithstanding that you're still playing Ark successfully, probably right now is a good time to state your case as to what previously happened and get it sorted.

Maybe try an email to WC if Ark is the problem for you. If it's something from BE specifically, what, 2 years ago, well... gonna be hard for anyone to sort you out isn't it? Maybe email BE direct?

[Dillpickle1]

Originally posted by Sista:

Originally posted by ミ★ ckc | Dillpickle1 ★彡:

It also targes people like me who have yet to cheat on said game

Notwithstanding that you're still playing Ark successfully, probably right now is a good time to state your case as to what previously happened and get it sorted.

Maybe try an email to WC if Ark is the problem for you. If it's something from BE specifically, what, 2 years ago, well... gonna be hard for anyone to sort you out isn't it? Maybe email BE direct?

It has not much to do with ARK. More with Arma II. I sent two emails to BE which I STATED.

[Razor]

Originally posted by GandyEnt.Ink Gandalf The Gay:

I dont see why people have such a grudge against the software. As it is clearly repeated, the software only aims to target hacking or cheating releated data in terms of the game and, any bugs are being aggresivly ironed out. The devs have been working hard and are only trying to make the game fairer for every player. Its just a matter of time people, be patient.

People dislike BE because it reads on all the information in your computer's memory and all the processes you have running, then sends that information back to the company that owns it. It' supposed to sort through that information and only report hacks, but as OP admits himself it can sometimes report things that aren't hacks.

Are you secretly gay and watch adult movies or browse dating websites that could reveal your orientation? Or do you have a blog/website you don't want people to know you're the admin of? Did you just purchase something online with your credit card? Did you type any passwords online/are you logged in to any sessions/do you run an e-mail browser like Outlook or Thunderbird that knows your passwords? Do you have an encrypted drive that you usually leave decrypted while your computer runs?

If you answered yes to any of the things above, you better hope the BE software on your machine doesn't report the wrong information to company's servers.

Sure you can close your web browser and terminate any processes you don't want BE to see, but you better not forget.

Honestly, this post did nothing to reassure me. Quite the contrary actually. BattleEye spies on everything going on your computer while it is running. We have no idea what information it is reporting back home, and we are just asked to trust that it won't make too many mistakes. You can't even login to the BE website and see what information has been collected from your computer, to be sure your privacy hasn't been violated or to request that some of it be deleted.

It's not very different from having a surveillance camera watching over your shoulder while you're using your computer. If anyone thinks this is hyperbole, then they're not aware of how much private information is stored on a PC, even if we're just talking about the RAM.

[Flogitto]

I was a victim of theft Key in arma and nimand want it replaced me dont Battleye and dont Bohemia Interactive :( My Blackliest Battleye and Bohemia Interactive!

[Itsr2ghgaming]

Ever since i got BE ive been getting little fps hiccups

[Strider]

Originally posted by GoD TheFlorigamer:

I was a victim of theft Key in arma and nimand want it replaced me dont Battleye and dont Bohemia Interactive :( My Blackliest Battleye and Bohemia Interactive!

Run an FPS booster by any chance?

[Crumplecorn]

Originally posted by TheEye:

Hey ARK community,

Originally posted by TheRightHand:

We're also in contact with him every single day

Any hope of Battleye ever playing nicely with a sandboxie'd ark instance?

[[BattlEye] $able]

Originally posted by Razor:

Originally posted by GandyEnt.Ink Gandalf The Gay:

I dont see why people have such a grudge against the software. As it is clearly repeated, the software only aims to target hacking or cheating releated data in terms of the game and, any bugs are being aggresivly ironed out. The devs have been working hard and are only trying to make the game fairer for every player. Its just a matter of time people, be patient.

People dislike BE because it reads on all the information in your computer's memory and all the processes you have running, then sends that information back to the company that owns it. It' supposed to sort through that information and only report hacks, but as OP admits himself it can sometimes report things that aren't hacks.

Are you secretly gay and watch adult movies or browse dating websites that could reveal your orientation? Or do you have a blog/website you don't want people to know you're the admin of? Did you just purchase something online with your credit card? Did you type any passwords online/are you logged in to any sessions/do you run an e-mail browser like Outlook or Thunderbird that knows your passwords? Do you have an encrypted drive that you usually leave decrypted while your computer runs?

If you answered yes to any of the things above, you better hope the BE software on your machine doesn't report the wrong information to company's servers.

Sure you can close your web browser and terminate any processes you don't want BE to see, but you better not forget.

Honestly, this post did nothing to reassure me. Quite the contrary actually. BattleEye spies on everything going on your computer while it is running. We have no idea what information it is reporting back home, and we are just asked to trust that it won't make too many mistakes. You can't even login to the BE website and see what information has been collected from your computer, to be sure your privacy hasn't been violated or to request that some of it be deleted.

It's not very different from having a surveillance camera watching over your shoulder while you're using your computer. If anyone thinks this is hyperbole, then they're not aware of how much private information is stored on a PC, even if we're just talking about the RAM.

The point of my post was to clarify that this is not happening. BE is not reporting random data from any processes. I specifically talked about executable code. We aren't interested in anything else.

Besides, this is not common practice and only done very rarely, so if you think that BE is constantly reporting such data from all player's systems you are mistaken.

I assume you are aware that VAC has the same capabilities?

[_D_]

it's a simple choice guys, either play the game without an anti-cheat and trust players not to cheat....which we all know how that goes.

Or you use an anti-cheat and let them frisk you before you're allowed on the field to play ball.

You can't have it both ways. Wake the hell up and stop acting like their attacking your civil rights for trying to provide a solution to the problem. If the hackers were not hell-bent on screwing over other players for their own amusement this wouldn't be necessary.

[CK_Mike]

I welcome our new overlords. All hail.

[Razor]

Originally posted by TheEye:

Originally posted by Razor:

People dislike BE because it reads on all the information in your computer's memory and all the processes you have running, then sends that information back to the company that owns it. It' supposed to sort through that information and only report hacks, but as OP admits himself it can sometimes report things that aren't hacks.

Are you secretly gay and watch adult movies or browse dating websites that could reveal your orientation? Or do you have a blog/website you don't want people to know you're the admin of? Did you just purchase something online with your credit card? Did you type any passwords online/are you logged in to any sessions/do you run an e-mail browser like Outlook or Thunderbird that knows your passwords? Do you have an encrypted drive that you usually leave decrypted while your computer runs?

If you answered yes to any of the things above, you better hope the BE software on your machine doesn't report the wrong information to company's servers.

Sure you can close your web browser and terminate any processes you don't want BE to see, but you better not forget.

Honestly, this post did nothing to reassure me. Quite the contrary actually. BattleEye spies on everything going on your computer while it is running. We have no idea what information it is reporting back home, and we are just asked to trust that it won't make too many mistakes. You can't even login to the BE website and see what information has been collected from your computer, to be sure your privacy hasn't been violated or to request that some of it be deleted.

It's not very different from having a surveillance camera watching over your shoulder while you're using your computer. If anyone thinks this is hyperbole, then they're not aware of how much private information is stored on a PC, even if we're just talking about the RAM.

The point of my post was to clarify that this is not happening. BE is not reporting random data from any processes. I specifically talked about executable code. We aren't interested in anything else.

Besides, this is not common practice and only done very rarely, so if you think that BE is constantly reporting such data from all player's systems you are mistaken.

I assume you are aware that VAC has the same capabilities?

Thanks for your response.

Let me just start by saying that I'm not a tech expert, and while I realize I should be careful not to get ahead of myself and speculate too much on things I don't know much about, I hope you also understand that this lack of knowledge gives me even more reason to be wary of software like BattleEye.

You said yourself that BE can look through RAM and system files (quoted below for convenience):

"Yes, BattlEye has to be able to scan all memory (RAM) and all game- and system-related files on disk. However, this does not mean that BE is looking through your personal files, credit card details or other such information and sends them to our servers. I want to clearly emphasize that we don't do this."

I don't know much about software and all that, but how can it scan RAM for hacks if it doesn't read all of it? Isn't my recent browsing history in the RAM? What about the information I've recently sent to websites, such as my credit card number or passwords? Doesn't that mean BattleEye can read it?

Now if the BE software installed on my PC just ran the data on my computer against a checklist of hacks and reported none of this back to the company's servers I wouldn't be worried since no personal information could leave my computer. But you also mentioned that some information is sometimes reported back, including .dll or .exe files.

I know you said so far it has only ever reported hacks and nothing else, but are we just supposed to believe the company when it tells us their software doesn't make mistakes and could never report sensitive information? I apologize but a company's word isn't good enough for me. We've seen even tech giants endure serious data breaches because of lax security (the Sony hack a few years ago comes to mind, to cite just one example).

Personally this is why I have a separate computer I only play games on and don't do anything else with. But many people can't afford that, and many more aren't even aware of the risks they're putting their privacy at when using software like BattleEye or VAC.

I'm wondering if more can be done to let users see what information BattleEye reports 'back home'. Does BattleEye write a log on the user's machine of all the things it scanned and reported back? If so, users should be informed about it and it should be made easy for them to find and read it. If not, could that be implemented?

Also, a big red disclaimer about the data BattleEye reads should be one of the first things people see when installing the software, or when launching a game that runs BattleEye. Most people don't read EULAs (you might say they're wrong for doing that, but I'd reply that there was a quite famous study that showed the average person would need a 100 days to read all the EULAs they agree to in one year), and there's also the issue of a child installed BattleEye on a parent's computer, without the parent knowing.

I see the usefulness of BattleEye, I just don't like how we're asked to trust a company at their word that everything will be alright (especially for us who aren't tech experts and have only surface knowledge of those things). Privacy is really hard to protect these days, especially on any electronic device connected to the Internet. I'm not happy about having to risk mine like that for video games. So if there's anything BattleEye can do to help users ensure their personal info isn't compromised in any way, that would be very appreciated.