"Avatar History" can be consulted from third-party sites.

[BOBTOMAS]

Howdy

reading in the forum I discovered that there is the "Avatar History": this "History" can be consulted from sites outside the valve.

My question is this: if I can consult the "Avatar History" from a site external to steam; am I violating the privacy of another user?

I ask this because if a user changes Avator it may be because he doesn't want to show the previous one.
If a site outside of Steam displays the "Avatar History" it violates the privacy rights of the users.

I expect more care to be taken of the data of customers who use steam.

If a third-party site can penetrate customer data so deeply, I don't feel confident using steam

[まりさ]

Previous avatars been public, what privacy rights would be broken on 3rd party sites?

[BJWyler]

There is no privacy issue since there is no personal data associated with avatars, and they are publicly viewable when the active avatar.

There is no deep penatration here any more than there is when looking at a profile name history or a post history.

[BOBTOMAS]

Originally posted by まりさ:

Previous avatars been public, what privacy rights would be broken on 3rd party sites?

Explain to me how to go from inside steam to see your previous avatar?

[Wolfpig]

Originally posted by EFFE:

If a third-party site can penetrate customer data so deeply, I don't feel confident using steam

Those sites only do a "snapshot" of what everyone can see either way.
Would be the same if you would go out on the street and make every day a picture of a tree.

[BOBTOMAS]

Originally posted by Wolfpig:

Originally posted by EFFE:

If a third-party site can penetrate customer data so deeply, I don't feel confident using steam

Those sites only do a "snapshot" of what everyone can see either way.
Would be the same if you would go out on the street and make every day a picture of a tree.

Without the permission of the person photographed on the street, you can be sued for invasion of privacy. That's how it works in Italy.

Obviously, if the tree is in a private garden, you risk the same thing

[Crazy Tiger]

The avatar you select is always publicly visible even if you set everything to private, there is no privacy regarding that. It's also not deep penetration of data. I mean, your avatar is visible on every post you make, for example.

Originally posted by EFFE:

Without the permission of the person photographed on the street, you can be sued for invasion of privacy. That's how it works in Italy.

Because your body and face are actually personally identifiable. An avatar on a forum is not.

[nullable]

Originally posted by EFFE:

Originally posted by Wolfpig:

Those sites only do a "snapshot" of what everyone can see either way.
Would be the same if you would go out on the street and make every day a picture of a tree.

Without the permission of the person photographed on the street, you can be sued for invasion of privacy. That's how it works in Italy.

Obviously, if the tree is in a private garden, you risk the same thing

Then your issue is with the site scraping the avatars. Otherwise if you don't want people seeing things, don't make them public. No one is forcing you to put any information in your profile.

Complaining that you let the genie out of the bottle and expecting Valve to do something about it is naive AF. Complete lack of understanding about how the Internet operates. And you should probably educate yourself before you do anything else.

[BOBTOMAS]

Originally posted by nullable:

Originally posted by EFFE:

Without the permission of the person photographed on the street, you can be sued for invasion of privacy. That's how it works in Italy.

Obviously, if the tree is in a private garden, you risk the same thing

Then your issue is with the site scraping the avatars. Otherwise if you don't want people seeing things, don't make them public. No one is forcing you to put any information in your profile.

Complaining that you let the genie out of the bottle and expecting Valve to do something about it is naive AF. Complete lack of understanding about how the Internet operates. And you should probably educate yourself before you do anything else.

You're getting the wrong idea about my post, and you're squeezing your neurons too much.

I just asked the community if they think there is any privacy violation.

Just a point of view.

This is how the Internet works today, let's let it go in a stormy sea.

[Nx Machina]

How exactly is it violating privacy when you are EFFE, a profile name, and no one viewing your avatar has access to your real name, address, telephone number etc which identifies you in the real world.

[BOBTOMAS]

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

How exactly is it violating privacy when you are EFFE, a profile name, and no one viewing your avatar has access to your real name, address, telephone number etc which identifies you in the real world.

Glad to hear it.

[nullable]

Originally posted by EFFE:

Originally posted by nullable:

Then your issue is with the site scraping the avatars. Otherwise if you don't want people seeing things, don't make them public. No one is forcing you to put any information in your profile.

Complaining that you let the genie out of the bottle and expecting Valve to do something about it is naive AF. Complete lack of understanding about how the Internet operates. And you should probably educate yourself before you do anything else.

You're getting the wrong idea about my post, and you're squeezing your neurons too much.

I just asked the community if they think there is any privacy violation.

Just a point of view.

This is how the Internet works today, let's let it go in a stormy sea.

Not quite.

Let's review your OP. And see not only what you were "just asking" but the statements where you've made it clear you don't understand what you're talking about otherwise you wouldn't have made them.

Originally posted by EFFE:

Howdy

reading in the forum I discovered that there is the "Avatar History": this "History" can be consulted from sites outside the valve.

My question is this: if I can consult the "Avatar History" from a site external to steam; am I violating the privacy of another user?

As mentioned publicly viewable information is public. If you don't want it to be public don't make it available publicly. Steam profiles aren't a secret and how they work isn't a secret. Any assumption avatars are private is based on what uninformed assumption?

Originally posted by EFFE:

I ask this because if a user changes Avator it may be because he doesn't want to show the previous one.
If a site outside of Steam displays the "Avatar History" it violates the privacy rights of the users.

This isn't a question, it's a statement. A poor and incorrect statement. Because you either don't understand what's publicly viewable, or you're under the false belief that changing your profile erases its existence from history and memory.

Originally posted by EFFE:

I expect more care to be taken of the data of customers who use steam.

Also not a question. A mismanaged expectation that Steam ought to insulate you from your reckless and careless behavior if you have some issue with your previous avatars.

Originally posted by EFFE:

If a third-party site can penetrate customer data so deeply, I don't feel confident using steam

Also not a question, but another bogus statement. You seem to believe that public viewable information is "deep data" that Valve has left insecure as opposed to it being deliberately public.

You can't avoid your uninformed beliefs and the laundry list of faulty assumptions based on those beliefs you've generated into uninformed statements.

Learn how things work and your ideas won't be so shoddy.

[[N]ebsun]

Originally posted by Steam Web API Terms of Use:

2. License to Steam Web API & Steam Data. Subject to these Terms of Use, you may access the Steam Web API, implement the Steam Web API in your Application, and distribute Steam Data to end users for their personal use via your Application, all in accordance with the Steam Web API documentation. This license is subject to the following restrictions:

You will post a privacy policy regarding the use of nonpublic end user data (including such Steam Data), and you will treat the Steam Data consistent with that policy. You will only retrieve Steam Data about a Steam end user as requested by the end user. You will inform the end user about any Steam Data you will store, and you will store the Steam Data in a country (or countries) identified in your privacy policy.

Yes - it appears to be ok to do this, since the profile avatar is not covered by the "nonpublic" clause - it is publicly accessible

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

You can have those sites remove your profile but you have to ask them to do it.

[Shaggin'Wagon]

Originally posted by EFFE:

My question is this: if I can consult the "Avatar History" from a site external to steam; am I violating the privacy of another user?

I ask this because if a user changes Avator it may be because he doesn't want to show the previous one.
If a site outside of Steam displays the "Avatar History" it violates the privacy rights of the users.

I expect more care to be taken of the data of customers who use steam.

If a third-party site can penetrate customer data so deeply, I don't feel confident using steam

All information on any person's steam profile (including their avatar) is published as public information direct to the public on steam's website. Anyone can view our profiles, or even take a screenshot of our profile and save it if they want to. That's basically what these websites are doing: Viewing our public steam profile and just saving a snapshot of every bit of public information displayed on it.

This is not a violation of anyone's privacy because everyone agreed to this via steam's SSA agreement when they created a steam account. You can set your profile private to hide most of it from view if you want but you can never hide your avatar image.

[Mailer]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

You can have those sites remove your profile but you have to ask them to do it.

:winterbunny2023:

Yep! SteamID.UK is a notable site that does this if prompted to:
https://steamid.uk/data-removal/

As they also clarify further, this is possible through the Steam Web API already in place so having your previous profile details clocked is not unusual; it's also not a violation, or you wouldn't have consented to use Steam as a service:
https://steamcommunity.com/dev