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.

[Whiteshark01]

Originally posted by dragonking_9:

Originally posted by Illiaz:

Only saw it because someone else necrod it. Do you also blame people who get their credit cards stolen and used? Or people who get their cars stolen and used for crimes? The fact that you are such a retarded piece of ♥♥♥♥ really makes me think steam should vet people before allowing them to post retarded stuff. Just something simple like an IQ test, or the simple ability to read more than 1 post before basing wild assumptions. You know stuff that people with more than 2 brain cells to rub together can do. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ degenerate.

although I don't particularly agree with how Illiaz put his point across, if you have legitimate proof that someone stole your details and got banned, how is that your fault? would you blame someone who had their car stolen and the thieves ran over a dozen people? I doubt it, but then... this is the internet, and I don't have all my faculties... so I dunno at this point

[Darth Magnum45]

Originally posted by whiteshark01:

Originally posted by dragonking_9:

Oh my god shut up you whining little ♥♥♥♥♥. And don't go talking about IQ testing or Veting because then they wouldn't let you sorry ass post on here. Especially when you got the IQ of dirt.

although I don't particularly agree with how Illiaz put his point across, if you have legitimate proof that someone stole your details and got banned, how is that your fault? would you blame someone who had their car stolen and the thieves ran over a dozen people? I doubt it, but then... this is the internet, and I don't have all my faculties... so I dunno at this point

Well if a person has proof they will just have to take it up with their legal department or something. And I deleted my post because I am not taking my argument with him any further. It's bad enough he got it started back up after a month has passed since my last post.

[Whiteshark01]

Originally posted by dragonking_9:

Originally posted by whiteshark01:

although I don't particularly agree with how Illiaz put his point across, if you have legitimate proof that someone stole your details and got banned, how is that your fault? would you blame someone who had their car stolen and the thieves ran over a dozen people? I doubt it, but then... this is the internet, and I don't have all my faculties... so I dunno at this point

Well if a person has proof they will just have to take it up with their legal department or something. And I deleted my post because I am not taking my argument with him any further. It's bad enough he got it started back up after a month has passed since my last post.

hehe, I remember when this thing blew up.

[Spectre]

I'm not downloading a virus, to avoid downloading a virus. Nice try.

[Desertworld]

Originally posted by Spectre:

I'm not downloading a virus, to avoid downloading a virus. Nice try.

wut?

[WonderGamer]

So I bought this game during the sale & noticed it had an anti-hacking secondary process that needs to be installed to play on "protected" servers. I don't have a problem with anti-hacking measures, but one thing that does bother me is it states it can grab information from your system & invasion of privacy is a matter I take VERY seriously & have avoided games that force this in the past (one game in particular in the Lords of the Rings series, which I did a system restore to before I installed it after uninstalling it).

The question is, what exactly does it scan?

• I know it hits your RAM, but is this only while you're on a BattlEye protected server?
  
• Does it snoop through your hard drive?
  
• Can the process be disabled except when it's needed (or more accurately, is it even active when not on a protected server)?
  
• Is it going to look for cheats in other games; by this I mean cheats or mods in single player games?
  
• What else is it going to pry through my computer for?
  
• What other games is it going to look at? Will it only go through games that are protected by BattlEye.

It is because of this invasion of privacy concern that I have not installed it yet (haven't needed to since I haven't played ARK online yet) & don't intend on installing it if it's going to do anything but monitor for hacks; I have no intentions in hacking in any game (cheats in single player games aside), but I have personal information on my computer that I will not install BattlEye on if it's going to dig through it. I am perfectly happy playing the game only with friends on my own server if that's what I have to do (I can take care of troublemakers myself in this case). As far as if it becomes forced on installation of the game, I won't be playing it anymore & will be writing a rather irate review about the game as a result of it if I can't disable it; I already intend on writing a review on the game, which so far I like what I see with the game itself (other than optimization isn't very good, but it's playable), but the anti-hacking measures are a privacy concern that I don't think I can tolerate & will find it fully acceptable to play it in single player only if needs be (provided the privacy invasion doesn't become forced even if not playing online, otherwise I'll end up boycotting companies involved in this game).

NOTE: The understanding I have so far about BattlEye is from their own EULA as I read through it before installing, which I have backed out of a few times already after reading about what it goes through & decided to start reading up on it online, but have only read official statements, not some of the statements that the BattlEye rep has stated. So right now I'm attempting to get the truth before I install it & intend on using a process monitor to find out what it is going through if that's the method I need to take.

[tanek]

Originally posted by WonderGamer:

1. I know it hits your RAM, but is this only while you're on a BattlEye protected server?
   
2. Does it snoop through your hard drive?
   
3. Can the process be disabled except when it's needed (or more accurately, is it even active when not on a protected server)?
   
4. Is it going to look for cheats in other games; by this I mean cheats or mods in single player games?
   
5. What else is it going to pry through my computer for?
   
6. What other games is it going to look at? Will it only go through games that are protected by BattlEye.

This is just from my own testing with Battleye on my own computers.

1. It is only while the BattlEye service is started. When you install BattlEye, it installs a service that you can monitor if you want. In my experience, that service starts when you play on a BE protected ARK server and, once started, stops when you close ARK. If you want to be sure, you can check the service state before running any other programs.
   
2. "snoop" implies that it is looking around randomly for whatever. I have had no issues with it monitoring anywhere that was not accessed during gameplay, but due to the nature of anti-cheat programs, I can't be 100% sure it never will. I personally don't think any malicious snooping will go on on my computer while I run ARK, but that said, if you really have highly sensitive information on your computer, it it probably best that it not be a gaming computer anyway.
   
3. Yes to the first question, no to the second. See above references to the service it runs.
   
4. As far as I can tell, not unless they are running at the time you have the BE service running. Based on stories, people have accidentally left something like cheat engine running from other games while launching ARK and BE did probably catch it.
   
5. Not sure what you mean.
   
6. As far as I can tell, it only cares about what is running and accessed at the time you are playing ARK. There are other games that are protected with BE, though, so if you run those, it will be running there as well. (Example: H1Z1)

Again, this is just based on my own experience testing this on two different computers. So far, it does nothing more invasive than any other anti-cheat system I have run with games (including VAC). I understand the concern, though, so, if you can, I encourage you to do your own testing on a computer where you think it will be safe.

One thing to keep in mind. Even if you never launch ARK on a BE protected server, you will see that there is a BattlEye folder along with the ARK download. Those are the files it would use to install BattlEye if needed, but unless it has installed the service, they do nothing.

Good luck. And I hope you enjoy ARK, whether you play on official, unofficial, singlelayer, etc. :)

[WonderGamer]

Originally posted by tanek:

This is just from my own testing with Battleye on my own computers.

1. It is only while the BattlEye service is started. When you install BattlEye, it installs a service that you can monitor if you want. In my experience, that service starts when you play on a BE protected ARK server and, once started, stops when you close ARK. If you want to be sure, you can check the service state before running any other programs.
   
2. "snoop" implies that it is looking around randomly for whatever. I have had no issues with it monitoring anywhere that was not accessed during gameplay, but due to the nature of anti-cheat programs, I can't be 100% sure it never will. I personally don't think any malicious snooping will go on on my computer while I run ARK, but that said, if you really have highly sensitive information on your computer, it it probably best that it not be a gaming computer anyway.
   
3. Yes to the first question, no to the second. See above references to the service it runs.
   
4. As far as I can tell, not unless they are running at the time you have the BE service running. Based on stories, people have accidentally left something like cheat engine running from other games while launching ARK and BE did probably catch it.
   
5. Not sure what you mean.
   
6. As far as I can tell, it only cares about what is running and accessed at the time you are playing ARK. There are other games that are protected with BE, though, so if you run those, it will be running there as well. (Example: H1Z1)

Again, this is just based on my own experience testing this on two different computers. So far, it does nothing more invasive than any other anti-cheat system I have run with games (including VAC). I understand the concern, though, so, if you can, I encourage you to do your own testing on a computer where you think it will be safe.

One thing to keep in mind. Even if you never launch ARK on a BE protected server, you will see that there is a BattlEye folder along with the ARK download. Those are the files it would use to install BattlEye if needed, but unless it has installed the service, they do nothing.

Good luck. And I hope you enjoy ARK, whether you play on official, unofficial, singlelayer, etc. :)

Personally I'd prefer to host my own server (as I do in Killing Floor) & make it available to friends-only (not sure this will be possible unless I leave the server as unlisted & there is a list where friends are playing). In this case I don't think BattlEye would even be needed.

In any case, I appreciated the replies, as that sets my mind a bit more at ease & I might install it to see if I can disable it when I'm not playing the game & re-enable it when I am. I know it will scan anything in memory, but mainly I'm more concerned about what it could be accessing from my hard drive; if it only scans the memory, then perhaps my concern of privacy invasion is unfounded. Really this needs to be answered by the OP, however I'm not sure how active he is with responding to concerns at this point.

Also if you're interested in what games use BattlEye, they're actually listed on their official site[www.battleye.com]:

• ARK
  
• ARMA II
  
• ARMA II: Operation Arrowhead
  
• ARMA III
  
• DAYZ
  
• H1Z1: Just Survive
  
• H1Z1: King of the Kill
  
• The Isle
  
• Planetside 2

[tanek]

Originally posted by WonderGamer:

Personally I'd prefer to host my own server (as I do in Killing Floor) & make it available to friends-only (not sure this will be possible unless I leave the server as unlisted & there is a list where friends are playing). In this case I don't think BattlEye would even be needed.

In any case, I appreciated the replies, as that sets my mind a bit more at ease & I might install it to see if I can disable it when I'm not playing the game & re-enable it when I am. I know it will scan anything in memory, but mainly I'm more concerned about what it could be accessing from my hard drive; if it only scans the memory, then perhaps my concern of privacy invasion is unfounded. Really this needs to be answered by the OP, however I'm not sure how active he is with responding to concerns at this point.

If you host your own server and want it to be friends-only, you can add a password for joining. (I think there might also be a way to make a whitelist, but that might be for admin access, not general server access.) Your friends can manually add your server as a favorite in Steam to find it more easily.

I think there had been something mentioned about hard drive access in one of the OP's posts a while back, but I am not sure how detailed it was. Can't hurt to go right to the source and try asking them, though. I got a response pretty quickly when I had an issue.
https://www.battleye.com/contact/

[Firebaall]

Plain and simple:

Battleye works.

It's one of the only anti-cheat measures that stops paid hacks cold. Don't believe me? Go check for yourselves. ALL major cheat providers give up shortly after BE is introduced to a game. Invasive? Yes. Does it work? Yes.

[WonderGamer]

Originally posted by tanek:

If you host your own server and want it to be friends-only, you can add a password for joining. (I think there might also be a way to make a whitelist, but that might be for admin access, not general server access.) Your friends can manually add your server as a favorite in Steam to find it more easily.

Kind of hard to use favorites (based on IP address) when you have a dynamic IP address unless I rent a server on a static IP address, but joining directly via IP (something I considered when I previously mentioned this) or using a password is a good idea. First thing I need to determine is what ports I need to double-forward (having two routers in my network) to my primary computer before I attempt to host a server.

Originally posted by tanek:

I think there had been something mentioned about hard drive access in one of the OP's posts a while back, but I am not sure how detailed it was. Can't hurt to go right to the source and try asking them, though. I got a response pretty quickly when I had an issue.
https://www.battleye.com/contact/

Originally posted by Firebaall:

Invasive? Yes. Does it work? Yes.

One reason why I would rather not use it if it's going to access sensitive personal information when it shouldn't. How invasive it gets & how that information is used is going to be the standard between acceptable & whether BattlEye gets a lawsuit against them, whether by myself or somebody else who has had sensitive personal information stolen... If you consider the seriousness of identity & account thefts over digital media, you're understand why I take even the possibility of it so serious (I can only imagine what might be on BattlEye servers already). Tracking BattlEye with a process monitor will tell me which folders & registry keys it's accessing, but I don't believe it monitors memory access.

[WonderGamer]

Originally posted by AtlasBlu45:

Well, considering Steam, VAC, Apple, any social media app, Android, Blackberry, etc, already have your information, what's so wrong with BE?

Especially in the case of Andyroid, I wrote a review about this recently. Andyroid is only a step behind being a virus (which I was forced to use after Steam made the authenticator a requirement not to be penalized with trade holds, not having a cell phone to run it on), force-downloading & running various apps, which automatically gives them your personal information without your consent. The only thing that doesn't fully make Andyroid a virus is it's not malicious, but it's still technically theft of information seeing as consent of access to that information is being given by Andyroid, not by you. Once I have enough money to get an Android phone I can connect through my wifi, I'm uninstalling that trash...

[Desensitized]

I won't load BE onto my system. How can I know who BE really is, what data they're really looking at or copying out of my system? I only ran into this with ARMA 3 and I wish I would have known sooner - I asked STEAM for a refund on the game and they won't give me one, but I refuse to load BE on my system so now I have a game just sitting there I can't even play online the way it's intended to be played. Really angry about it actually. At the very least there should be a way to still play the game without using BE or some other software that you must completely open your system up to in order to play. If there are people who feel strongly about having BE or something like it to stop "cheating" or supposed hackers, that's fine - but frankly I am a really good gamer and don't care if someone needs to cheat to score - I will still beat them down and feel great about doing it with a totally stock game. If there are people with no honor who can only play with bots or whatever - then they know their experience is fake and has no honor - but why should that mean I can't play the game I paid for??

[tanek]

Originally posted by Desensitized:

I won't load BE onto my system. How can I know who BE really is, what data they're really looking at or copying out of my system?

How can you know who Steam really is or what they are doing on your computer? There is some degree of transitive trust that has to happen. Cautios trust, sure, but if you look at everything this way, you can't ever use any software.

Originally posted by Desensitized:

At the very least there should be a way to still play the game without using BE or some other software that you must completely open your system up to in order to play.

You can play without BE online. Lots of unofficial servers don't run it or you can start your own server. That said, you will still probably be running VAC just like on many other Steam games. But you still use steam, so I am guessing you are ok with that.

Good luck!

[Desensitized]

Originally posted by tanek:

Originally posted by Desensitized:

I won't load BE onto my system. How can I know who BE really is, what data they're really looking at or copying out of my system?

How can you know who Steam really is or what they are doing on your computer? There is some degree of transitive trust that has to happen. Cautios trust, sure, but if you look at everything this way, you can't ever use any software.

Originally posted by Desensitized:

At the very least there should be a way to still play the game without using BE or some other software that you must completely open your system up to in order to play.

You can play without BE online. Lots of unofficial servers don't run it or you can start your own server. That said, you will still probably be running VAC just like on many other Steam games. But you still use steam, so I am guessing you are ok with that.

Good luck!

Do you know where I'm able to find instructions or a server list that will let me play without BE? This is really great news! I've tried to play several times online and I can't figure out how to get around the BE startup screen. I am not totally comfortable with running VAC but because Steam is a massively used platform and is based in Washington state I feel as though there are some legal protections should it ever come to light that they were violating my trust.