this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago (2 children)

And these days people just install the rootkit, only it's allegedly to prevent game cheating.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And, when called out, everyone tells you you're a paranoid, tinfoil hat wearing, organ trafficking criminal

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That's because you guys throw around the word "rootkit" like my parents call everything "woke" or "communist."

You probably couldn't even define what a rootkit is yet you're scared shitless of a thing you can't properly define.

So yeah, anyone who's afraid of something they don't even understand fully is absolutely paranoid.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Most people are not fully cognizant of the rights they sign away in a click through. There is paranoid and there is prudent.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Read the EULA, if you don't want an anticheat that requires those permissions then don't install the game.

Something having kernel access doesn't make it a rootkit, it makes it high-risk for misuse by a threat actor. Only if the software was exploited by a bad actor to acquire root/hardware permissions would this issue actually become something.

That, or if the anticheat wasn't uninstallable and/or dodged scans intended to locate it, etc.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Putting the responsibility to understand legalese (and advanced concepts like rootkits) to such an extent on the end user is just straight gaslighting. Nobody has the required expertise to determine what an EULA actually says outside of the lawyer who wrote it, and even then, I wouldn't guarantee it.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Damn now we are misusing gaslighting as well to just mean "hiding something."

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Ugh. As in blaming someone, casting aspersions on them for something that isn't their fault or responsibility. Words broaden in meaning. If you're going to quibble about semantics, I got nothing to say to you.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

well the game installs a kernel module without my consent. Isn't that the definition of a rootkit?

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Did you install a game with anticheat? Did that anticheat require kernel level access? Can you read?

I'm just curious what part is them sneaking something onto your machine that you're unaware of?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have no idea if the gamers installing it are "unaware" (I never played such a game), however it's still a shitty practice. The average Joe has no idea what the hell a rootkit is and it's predatory to exploit this. Also, no game should install rootkits. For the love of god, it's a videogame.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

most anticheats run in the kernel, even the most popular ones like battleye and vanguard.
also they are often installed automatically while launching games for the first time, without any prompts

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

yeah maybe just design proper authoritative servers instead?
anticheats are kinda a band-aid solution.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Or maybe bring back self hosted servers so you can roll your own

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

slef hosted servers don't solve cheating on their own either.
proper authoritive server shouldn't send or accept any information that isn't strictly necessary, like positions of players that are in a completely different part of the map

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Viva la Gamespy!