Statements from Valve:
A Valve spokesperson responded to our request stating that the information stored within the localconfig.vdf Steam file is not intended to be used by other software:
We are looking into what information the Epic launcher collects from Steam.
The Steam Client locally saves data such as the list of games you own, your friends list and saved login tokens (similar to information stored in web browser cookies). This is private user data, stored on the user's home machine and is not intended to be used by other programs or uploaded to any 3rd party service.
Interested users can find localconfig.vdf and other Steam configuration files in their Steam Client’s installation directory and open them in a text editor to see what data is contained in these files. They can also view all data related to their Steam account at: https://help.steampowered.com/en/accountdata.
And Epic:
We also got a reply from Epic Games:
We've responded to in full here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PhoenixPoint/comments/b0rxdq/epic_game_store_spyware_tracking_and_you/eijlbge/
Specifically, on the Steam stuff, this is the relevant piece: "We only import your Steam friends with your explicit permission. The launcher makes an encrypted local copy of your localconfig.vdf Steam file. However information from this file is only sent to Epic if you choose to import your Steam friends, and then only hashed ids of your friends are sent and no other information from the file."
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Lol. Soooo the original steam file isn't encrypted?
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Doesn't seem any worse than copying my bookmarks from one browser to another, tbh. Even assuming for a second that the information gets transmitted to Epic and not just copied from the Steam directory so it can be imported, it's not like them knowing who's on my friends list or what Steam games I've played really means anything. Especially not when everyone here already has their profile set to public.
I wonder how much of the outrage over this is from Steam "fans" who have an emotional investment in seeing their favorite "team" "win", rather than any real issues with the friends list thing. Normally I'm the first to worry about privacy issues, but this seems like much ado about nothing from what I'm seeing so far.
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If after all the comments and the updates and the responses from the parties concerned (not just here.. Epic, Valve have responses, look them up if you care), you still don't see the issue at hand, then you haven't understood what "concern about privacy issues" really is..
It's not necessarily about the data itself, it's about wrong practices that if left uncriticised they escalate to the next level, until it's too late for worries or for control over what happened and what data..escaped.
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"Doesn't seem any worse than copying my bookmarks from one browser to another"
Remember when Firefox/chrome whatever, asked: "Do you want to transfer your bookmarks?" Good. then it's not illegal.
Remember when Epic asked "Do you want to transfer from Steam your friends, your activity, your friend's activity even if their profiles are private, all the games that you have ever bought, your wishlist, all the information about purchases, when, which, etc, etc?" No? then it's not OK. It's also illegal to transfer private data without your consent in the European Union.
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Tim Sweeney accepted they've stolen some data they needed, but admitted that happened by mistake
You guys are right that we ought to only access the localconfig.vdf file after the user chooses to import Steam friends. The current implementation is a remnant left over from our rush to implement social features in the early days of Fortnite. It's actually my fault for pushing the launcher team to support it super quickly and then identifying that we had to change it. Since this issue came to the forefront we're going to fix it.
We don't use the Steam API because we work to minimize the number of third-party libraries we include in our products due to security and privacy concerns (not from Valve specifically, but see e.g. https://www.macrumors.com/2019/02/22/ios-apps-sending-private-data-to-facebook/ for the general concern of APIs collecting more data than expected)
And another comment from him
That info may be stored in the Steam file, however we never parse it, and it's never sent to Epic. The only information that's sent to Epic are hashes of Steam friend ids, and only if you explicitly choose to import your Steam friends. We're working to update the implementation so that the Epic Games launcher only touches the Steam file at all if you choose to import friends.
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Yay for "competition". ¯_(ツ)_/¯
At this point, I personally find it hard to take anyone who don't see what's wrong with these kind of tactics seriously.
I don't care about third party retailers like GMG, Gamersgate, Humble, ect, since I am a consumer. I get my games where it's cheapest. Once in a while, if I like the devs enough, I'll buy it directly from them. In rare cases, I'd buy a few more from them like I did with Stardew Valley during the reddit gift threads were popping out. But buying exclusivity like this has never felt right, and I'm pretty sure the Epic Defender Brigades knows this deep down.
I honestly don't know what goes in people's mind though, when they try to defend EGS in these type of arguments.
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Some of the brigades may just be plain ol astroturfing.
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No, they aren't. I don't know why you really think that Epic's paying money to people to come on Steamgifts and argue for Epic. Going for such paranoid statements does nothing more than de-legitimize your argument.
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It's a better option then people being stupid enough to cheer Epic on.
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Why are we pretending like these are the only two options? Either a conspiracy theory on the level of improbability of anti-vaxxers or complete obedience to a massive corporation.
Use common sense and make up your mind yourself. Listen to different points and adjust your way of thinking if you think it's for the best. I mean, if your mind is made up that this is a widespread conspiracy, then fair enough. But it's pretty baffling to see that this is the most likely thing you think could be happening. That it's way less likely that people are just supporting Epic blindly because it's just any competition against Steam's monopoly.
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Yeah no I didn't meant it that way. Just that astroturfing is a more comforting thought then Epic having this many cheerleaders who don't even get anything out of it.
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Ah, fair enough. Astroturfing tends to be associated with extreme conspiracies to me. Like people who are flat earthers, who claim that anyone saying that the Earth is a globe is immediately paid off by NASA or whatever, a.k.a. astroturfed. :D
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starting tomorrow you can only buy potatoes at giant eagle, they will not be sold at any other store.
starting next week you can only buy carrots at the piggly wiggly. they will not be sold at any other store.
starting next month you can only buy apples at stop n shop. they will not be sold at any other store.
epic's version of competition.
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Well, no. You're generalizing the product too much. If it were Granny Smith's apples or Joe Blow's carrots, then I'd understand. But we're not talking about all games being sold on Epic. Only certain ones.
If the developer chooses to be exclusive to Epic, then they have the right to do it.
The issue is that Epic pays for their loyalty. So the DRM doesn't work based on merit, but instead it appeals through literal bribes.
That isn't competition. It's buying out the competition instead. The issue is that this isn't a long-term solution and it's obvious that Epic's wave of exclusives is drying out now. There's a reason that not many big-end games aren't being bought off to be exclusive to Epic. Epic's Store has either lost their capital or just decided that their approach isn't gaining enough money. Unsurprising.
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Thankfully I deleted my Epic account. They are making too much unpopular moves.
Cumspiracy Theory: Tencent forces Epic to be unpopular to weaken them. When Epic is about to bankrupt, Tencent buys Epic cheapilly (Ten cents). Epic turns into a 100% Chinese company. Everyone is happy.
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I'm strongly against Epic Fail, but... this... why is it bad? You literally synchronize saves from Steam. I can see that spying on friend list is not okay, but... generally isn't that good, that Epic does synchronize e.g. save files from cloud?
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They are importing private data without my knowledge and consent for example that is GDPR breach, I would want the EU to take 5% of their global revenue just to temper them a little.
That file, contains, list of games, wishlist etc that could be accessed through the API!
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What happen if you're friend dont want to be imported to your Epic account?
Who ask permission to them?
LOL
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This is why people choose to lock threads. You're linking and old news item which has been necroed from people who can't be bothered to even read the proper post and the "proper" post, which is the "Reviews Revisited" thread, isn't even remotely relevant to this one. Create your own and talk about that there. This is about the recent behaviour from Epic. It is NOT about competing which of the two is "better" at..anything..
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Among the countless Epic threads i think that this one is more pertinent to this news, so here's the necro: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/brgq8p/reddit_user_requested_all_the_personal_info_epic
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Braiiiiiiiins!
PS. That is some major F'd situation and all they sent is "sorry". They could at least sweeten the deal: All your games for the next 5 years free, or something. Apparently someone who "confirmed they deleted the data" (rrright) has ALL their personal information.. In theory they could impresonate that person/victim..
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Do you want a GDPR complaint? Because this is how you get a GDPR complaint.
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Name, address, purchase history, purchase info... You can't really screw up that much if you do it on purpose.
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Is Epic competing with Bethesda for most incompetent game company?
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Have we talked about this: Developing: Epic Games Launcher appears to collect your steam friends & play history (Epic responds, see OP) yet?
Obviously there would be a relevant reddit thread..
Havef Un..
UPDATE 1: Epic says it doesn't use Steam data without permission after Reddit accusations
UPDATE 2: Epic boss Tim Sweeney acknowledged that the Epic launcher should only access the localconfig.vdf from Steam after the user has opted to import their Steam friends list, not before.
UPDATE 3 - 2019.05: User asked for their personal data and Epic sent them to another person
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