Privacy

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Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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What is the catch with Epic Games' free games? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 weeks ago by airikr@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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Like what the title says. There's always a catch unless it's FOSS. So, what is the catch with them giving games for free that you can keep forever? What will the developers of the games get as a thank you?

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[–] who@feddit.org 54 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (16 children)

One catch is that Epic's mystery code is allowed to execute on your computer.

Note that I don't mean just their launcher. Often, if not always, the games themselves are linked with Epic code, ostensibly for license checks and/or integration with Epic services. This gives them the ability to snoop on stored data, installed/executing processes, biometrics, etc.

Running those free games with an alternative launcher does not protect against this.

It's not just a theoretical concern, either. Epic has already been caught copying Steam files, collecting friends play history, and scanning running processes.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/developing-epic-games-launcher-appears-to-collect-your-steam-friends-play-history-up2-valve-responds-see-threadmarks.105385/

https://old.reddit.com/r/fuckepic/comments/wakewr/epic_games_spyware_vs_steam_vs_as_comparision_ea/

https://www.pcgamesn.com/epic-launcher-spyware

I don't trust them, their CEO, or Tencent (which owns a significant chunk of Epic), so I don't run games that come from them.

[–] airikr@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago

And there we have the catch! If not one of them. Many thanks :)

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