NSA works with Microsoft, Google, Facebook, etc. to collect all your data

[6souls]

Epic Games (Unreal Engine/Tournament) is blocking players based on US Gov Blacklist

Spoiler: show

Epic Games has apologised after mistakenly barring an American professor from playing its online game Paragon because someone who has the same name as him was on a US government blacklist.

Muhammad Zakir Khan, an assistant professor at Florida’s Broward College, had tried to sign up for the beta of first-person shooter Paragon, a multiplayer game inspired by esports hits such as Dota2. But instead of being given an account for the game, Khan was hit with an unusual error message.

“Your account creation has been blocked as a result of a match against the Specially Designated Nationals list maintained by the United States of America’s Office of Foreign Assets Control,” the message read, before advising Khan to email Epic’s customer service.

Khan tweeted his issue to Epic Games, with the hashtag #iamnotaterrorist. In a reply, Tim Sweeney, the founder of the company, apologised, and said that the ban was a result of errors on top of errors. Not only should Khan’s name not have matched against the list at all, a simple name match shouldn’t have been enough to spark a block.

Khan tweeted that he was thankful for Sweeney’s apology, but added that despite it, he was still concerned by the issues it raised.

“First, the fact that the problem existed in the first place frustrates me. Someone designed Epic’s system without thinking of its impacts. Second, someone overseeing said system being put into place didn’t provide oversight of said system. Thus, they were careless and sloppy. Third, if they had just taken a moment to think about what they had done they could realise how hurtful it could be for someone.

“It’s not a good feeling for someone to feel like their freedoms are being limited because of their religion, race, or even their name. Incidents of discrimination lead to trauma even if you do not understand them as an outsider. That pain is real and hard to cope with.”

http://www.theguardian.com/technolog...e-us-blacklist
https://twitter.com/Muzzakh/status/6...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

This has happened before to a GAF member

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...3&postcount=31

[Salodin]

Holy shit I took a microbiology class with that professor. He's such a wonderful guy, one of the most talented educators I ever had the pleasure of learning from. Can't believe epic did that to him lmfao.

I have to email him and laugh it up. Poor guy, he doesn't deserve that.

[Blubbartron]

Tell him to nut up or shut up when you email him. His last couple sentences quoted above make him sound like a whiny bitch. His "freedoms" are being limited because he can't play a game? He suffered "trauma" from this occurrence? Fucking please. Sounds like an SJW.

[dasva]

Wait why would a video game even be checking such a list in the first place? Oh you want to beta test a game let me make sure you aren't a terrorist first...

[Blubbartron]

Wait why would a video game even be checking such a list in the first place? Oh you want to beta test a game let me make sure you aren't a terrorist first...

I imagine it's for the same reason that this was posted in the NSA thread. It's because the government has been working in concert with (read: strong-arming) tech companies because "the terrorists are using technology to circumvent our monitoring" and they've listed games as an example of how terrorists pass messages. Shooting bullet hole messages into walls and such.

[dasva]

Perhaps I meant to say why would they agree to that? Like did they just ask and Epic was like oh yeah stop those damn terrorist or were various threats/promises made?

[fantasticdan]

Wouldn't it make more sense to monitor users on the watch list and log their data rather than just block them? I remember hearing about something like that in games like world of warcraft some time ago.

Blocking out of the gate just lets suspects know their names are flagged and encourages them to use fake ones, be more discrete, use more niche software from lesser known developers/publishers to communicate , etc.

[Blubbartron]

Perhaps I meant to say why would they agree to that? Like did they just ask and Epic was like oh yeah stop those damn terrorist or were various threats/promises made?

If I had to wager a guess, I'd say it was likely a small meeting where the government wanted Epic to hook them up with the ability to decrypt/monitor the conversations easier in order to scan for terrorist activity, and Epic was like "nah dawg" and they compromised by using this bullshit security to say there weren't any terrorists playing, so there's no need to allow monitoring of all their players. It's unlikely we'll ever find out the real reason a decision like this was made.

[notorious bum]

Terrorists don't need to use videogames to communicate, they do it via superior encryption software or none at all. Because our surveillance state is an absolute joke and will continue to be with headlines like these.

[Salodin]

Tell him to nut up or shut up when you email him. His last couple sentences quoted above make him sound like a whiny bitch. His "freedoms" are being limited because he can't play a game? He suffered "trauma" from this occurrence? Fucking please. Sounds like an SJW.

What? A whiney bitch because his name and ethnicity are being used to assume he's a terrorist? That's bullshit and you'd be upset if it happened to you too. He isn't campaigning, he isn't writing books on the event, he literally wrote a few sentences on it and moved on after the mistake was rectified.

What else do you expect? For him to just "nut up" and take his ban like a man? I don't see how you make the sjw connection from an article that took you maybe a minute top to read.

[Blubbartron]

What? A whiney bitch because his name and ethnicity are being used to assume he's a terrorist? That's bullshit and you'd be upset if it happened to you too. He isn't campaigning, he isn't writing books on the event, he literally wrote a few sentences on it and moved on after the mistake was rectified.

What else do you expect? For him to just "nut up" and take his ban like a man? I don't see how you make the sjw connection from an article that took you maybe a minute top to read.

A situation like this calls for righteous anger, not crying and moaning about how much his feelings have been hurt. His weakness is pathetic. The name matching thing is, indeed, bullshit, but if anyone tries to claim it's infringing on their freedoms or that they've suffered trauma as a result is a infantile moron.

[Thunder]

What? A whiney bitch because his name and ethnicity are being used to assume he's a terrorist? That's bullshit and you'd be upset if it happened to you too. He isn't campaigning, he isn't writing books on the event, he literally wrote a few sentences on it and moved on after the mistake was rectified.

What else do you expect? For him to just "nut up" and take his ban like a man? I don't see how you make the sjw connection from an article that took you maybe a minute top to read.

I got the same vibe blubb did due to,

Khan tweeted that he was thankful for Sweeney’s apology, but added that despite it, he was still concerned by the issues it raised.

What issues?
The guy said,

Tim Sweeney, the founder of the company, apologised, and said that the ban was a result of errors on top of errors. Not only should Khan’s name not have matched against the list at all, a simple name match shouldn’t have been enough to spark a block.

I don't see how this is an apt opportunity for the professor to get all up in arms about something.. especially race, religion, etc. That's not what happened here at all, as far as I can see

[Salodin]

Um, trying to casually play a game only to find out you're banned from doing so because your name is of middle eastern descent is limiting your freedoms. Just because the consequences aren't as far reaching as say, banning you from voting based on your ethnicity, doesn't mean it isn't what it is.

If you read the second to last paragraph quoted, he even says it's not just what happened that bothers him, it's how such a system had to be programmed, and no one spoke up. Then it had to be put in place, and still no one spoke up. It went from conception to release and not a single person said " you know, maybe we should take another look at this...", THATS what's wrong here.

It helps to have reading comprehension skills. It also helps to not use words with larger connotations then what the person you're referring to used.

[Thunder]

Um, trying to casually play a game only to find out you're banned from doing so because your name is of middle eastern descent is limiting your freedoms. Just because the consequences aren't as far reaching as say, banning you from voting based on your ethnicity, doesn't mean it isn't what it is.

If you read the second to last paragraph quoted, he even says it's not just what happened that bothers him, it's how such a system had to be programmed, and no one spoke up. Then it had to be put in place, and still no one spoke up. It went from conception to release and not a single person said " you know, maybe we should take another look at this...", THATS what's wrong here.

It helps to have reading comprehension skills. It also helps to not use words with larger connotations then what the person you're referring to used.

But it was errors on top of errors that lead to the limiting of freedom. Those errors were apologized for and, presumably, being worked on? Name match shouldn't lead to ban, and his name shouldn't have been a match in the first place

That's at least two degrees of reaching by tying this to racial/religious bigotry

Edit: this would only make sense if you're on board with people being liable for unintended emotional trauma.

[Salodin]

Maybe you aren't familiar with programming, but errors on top of errors? C'mon, the system was working as intended, the only error is he had the same name, or maybe a very similar one, to a person who is legitimately on that list. It happening to the professor is a forgivable mistake, for sure, but for it to get to that point plenty of people had to look at the work being done and say "yup, working as intended".

And even if that didn't happen the way I explained, the fact that their system made such an error is ludicrous. Again, he isn't going to court over this, and if you Google his name this article doesn't even pop up. You guys are making this into a bigger deal than the professor did, and he was the one who couldn't get into the beta lol.

[Blubbartron]

Um, trying to casually play a game only to find out you're banned from doing so because your name is of middle eastern descent is limiting your freedoms. Just because the consequences aren't as far reaching as say, banning you from voting based on your ethnicity, doesn't mean it isn't what it is.

If you read the second to last paragraph quoted, he even says it's not just what happened that bothers him, it's how such a system had to be programmed, and no one spoke up. Then it had to be put in place, and still no one spoke up. It went from conception to release and not a single person said " you know, maybe we should take another look at this...", THATS what's wrong here.

It helps to have reading comprehension skills. It also helps to not use words with larger connotations then what the person you're referring to used.

You realize it's not that his name is of middle eastern descent, but that his name specifically matches the name of someone on the terrorist blacklist, yes? There's a pretty big goddamn difference there, even with me agreeing that the concept of name blacklists in general is retarded. I would be more willing to allow his crying about "muh freedoms" and "trauma" (which are his words, not mine) if he were being banned from flights for name matching. Travel is way more important than someone's "freedom" to play a goddamn video game. Not being able to play a video game for any stupid reason is not serious enough to get this upset over. Vent your frustration and move on.

Also you might want to re-read what I was saying above. This was very likely a decision from management to appease government officials (most likely NSA). It doesn't matter if the lowly programmer or quality assurance person thinks "maybe this is wrong and we shouldn't do it." You do it, or you don't have a job anymore. Believe me, I've been in a situation where I refused to just gloss over what I knew to be right in order to meet the ridiculous metrics of a tech company. Your moral high ground doesn't keep you from getting fired.

[Thunder]

I guess I kind of see the point of making a stink out this. It'd suck real bad if a kid had to go through that so I see why there should be a bit of outrage at the system being so poorly designed. And even more outrage if the guy is lying and it was working as intended (but that's a bit of a conspiracy theory ya?)

I do still have just about 0 sympathies for an educated adult having to deal with it though, so when he said the pain is real and hard to cope with I hope he meant for kids and/or emotionally disturbed people. He has to have dealt with worse throughout his years on campus

[Salodin]

You realize it's not that his name is of middle eastern descent, but that his name specifically matches the name of someone on the terrorist blacklist, yes? There's a pretty big goddamn difference there, even with me agreeing that the concept of name blacklists in general is retarded. I would be more willing to allow his crying about "muh freedoms" and "trauma" (which are his words, not mine) if he were being banned from flights for name matching. Travel is way more important than someone's "freedom" to play a goddamn video game. Not being able to play a video game for any stupid reason is not serious enough to get this upset over. Vent your frustration and move on.

Also you might want to re-read what I was saying above. This was very likely a decision from management to appease government officials (most likely NSA). It doesn't matter if the lowly programmer or quality assurance person thinks "maybe this is wrong and we shouldn't do it." You do it, or you don't have a job anymore. Believe me, I've been in a situation where I refused to just gloss over what I knew to be right in order to meet the ridiculous metrics of a tech company. Your moral high ground doesn't keep you from getting fired.

All I see is you making assumptions about EPICs motives or actions, with no evidence to back it up other than the company itself saying "oh our bad"; compared to what has actually happened to a person. The damage done is insignificant compared to other things that happen based on Islamophobia or its ilk, but its real and there. To add, like I already said before, he isn't seeking additional compensation other then being allowed to sign up for the beta like every one else. You're the one taking it way farther than he did, complaining that the freedoms limited that day aren't important enough to bother writing a tweet and news article quote over. The problem here is you, buddy.

Like he said,

Incidents of discrimination lead to trauma even if you do not understand them as an outsider. That pain is real and hard to cope with.

[Blubbartron]

Yeah, sorry, I can't take anyone who uses the term "Islamophobia" in a serious fashion very seriously. You go have fun with your SJW professor. "The pain is real and hard to cope with." Fucking lol. He's a half-step away from "listen and believe."

[Salodin]

If you say so. Lol.