I must be an idoit, where are the privacy controls for chat logs?

[fawkernot]

I pride myself on finding my own answers, but this has got me stumped. I can't find out how to clear the steam chat logs, or disable it entirely.

[Val]

What do you mean by privacy controls for chat logs?

[fawkernot]

Gestapo lähetti viestin:

What do you mean by privacy controls for chat logs?

My chat histories with my friends on the steam messenger. I am trying to disable / clear those.

[Val]

Steam does not have any chat history; some of the new messages can still be seen, but it doesn't have a record of the old ones.
So if you wanted to clear the messages that are still shown, the only thing you can do is by sending more messages.

[Satoru]

Any "chat" system by its nature has no privacy at all

[fawkernot]

You know as well as I do that I mispoke. It is an instant messenger, more akin to email.

[Chimera]

Would wish for steam to have a "chat-record"

[Laptop]

There's no way to clear them. They just disappear overtime.

[Satoru]

fawker lähetti viestin:

You know as well as I do that I mispoke. It is an instant messenger, more akin to email.

But again privacy over chat is entirely a misnomer.
1) You don't control the centralized server
2) Your intended recipeint always has access to take that message and do what they want with it
3) the centralized server of almost all chat protocols stores messages for offline delivery

"I want privacy" is dandy and all, but you really need to actually think about what you want said privacy for. Especially when the system itself is totally insecure and there's no inherent privacy even implicit in the system itself. Any more than there is no privacy implicit in an email once you click "SEND"

[Felix]

To add to what Satoru said, I don't think any messages sent over Steam IM are encrypted.

[fawkernot]

Satoru lähetti viestin:

Any more than there is no privacy implicit in an email once you click "SEND"

I'm troubled people find this acceptable.

[Satoru]

fawker lähetti viestin:

Satoru lähetti viestin:

Any more than there is no privacy implicit in an email once you click "SEND"

I'm troubled people find this acceptable.

You seem to not actually understand what 'privacy' means. It does not mean HOARD MY INFORMATION ITS MINE ALL MINE!!! It means "can I control what data is or is not visible to other users".

The second you click SEND on an email or a IM, that information is 'in the wild'. There is NO privacy available to whatever you put into that. YOU made that information available to other usres by clicking send. After that, there is no privacy. If you expect any privacy in a communication once you click "SEND" on anything you're entirely delusional and don't actually understand what 'privacy' means.

It's extremely annoying to have people scream about privacy without actually knowing what they're doing.

[Forcen]

With all the scamming and account stealing and other possibilities such as as death threats or worse that could be happening with a online community with 5 million users at once they are smart to log stuff like this.

If you want total privacy when chatting about private stuff stop using Steam for it and check this out: http://prism-break.org/#instant-messaging

[Satoru]

Forcen lähetti viestin:

With all the scamming and account stealing and other possibilities such as as death threats or worse that could be happening with a online community with 5 million users at once they are smart to log stuff like this.

If you want total privacy when chatting about private stuff stop using Steam for it and check this out: http://prism-break.org/#instant-messaging

Those only address encryption between endpoints.

At the end fo the day, once you press "SEND" on an email or IM, it's in the wild. You implicity trust the other user to not abuse whatever you put in there. But that's different than the 'expectation of privacy from the system'. The best most system can do is "I can deliver your message in a way such that only the intended recepient gets it". That's it. The message is still entirely vulnerable at the target endpoint. You have zero control over any content after you press SEND, and thus any expectation of privacy after that action is an illusion.

[fawkernot]

Satoru lähetti viestin:

It's extremely annoying to have people scream about privacy without actually knowing what they're doing.

It's amazing that wanting secure communication on the internet is annoying to you. It's not an outlandish expectation. I suppose wanting privacy on my cellphone is annoying to you as well.

[Menicus ®]

Expectation of privacy over the internet is next to none.