Looking inside your screenshots

http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/0...warcraft-users

Disclosure: Slashdot article has a link to site with potential ToS Violating content. Visit at your own risk. I'm only posting this here due to the implication of the fact you may be distributing your account info every time you share a screenshot.

TL;DR: Activision Blizzard Secretly Watermarking World of Warcraft Users Screenshots

From TFA:

"A few days ago I noticed some weird artifacts covering the screenshots I captured using the WoW game client application. I sharpened the images and found a repeating pattern secretly embedded inside. I posted this information on the OwnedCore forum and after an amazing three-day cooperation marathon, we managed to prove that all our WoW screenshots, since at least 2008, contain a custom watermark. This watermark includes our user IDs, the time the screenshot was captured and the IP address of the server we were on at the time. It can be used to track down activities which are against Blizzard's Terms of Service, like hacking the game or running a private server. The users were never notified by the ToS that this watermarking was going on so, for four years now, we have all been publicly sharing our account and realm information for hackers to decode and exploit. You can find more information on how to access the watermark in the aforementioned forum post which is still quite active."

yep cool anit it :)

use fraps to be fair not a big deal. unless you doing darkstuff

Yes.. cool...

Now let's say someone posts a WoW screenshot and it has chat in it. Maybe with censored names. Maybe it's discussion about politics in a country that isn't particularly friendly to that particular discussion. They thought they could keep their identity private and still share a screenshot with interesting discussion, and yet it's possible to trace to someone because the screenshot is digitally watermarked. They wouldn't think it's so cool.

Thank god authenticators exist. I mean without them and this shit existing if they could trace the account information (not sure PW info is stored in the watermark, but e-mails at least)

A decoder could compile an immense e-mail list for phishing sites or other means of sale with a simple internet crawl and save for any wow screenshots with automatic decoding after it is saved and such.

Who knows the real implications.

I agree with LAX though... that shit could lead to all sorts of bad things happening.

glad i don't post screenshots. Been hacked before as it is.

I can sum up Blizzard's response to this... "it's not your account, it's ours, you are just renting it"

This watermarking, if true, doesn't surprise me.