Blizzard Facing Lawsuit Over Forceful Authenticator Purchases

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The last line is the key. This lawsuit is just a mechanism to force availability of the ability to play while offline.
 
Bell is asking the court to not only reward class damages, but seeks an injunction to bar the defendants from adding undisclosed costs after the initial software purchase.
Click to expand...

Now if only they could include cheap DLCs in that claim (for other games, granted, and not full blown expansion. You know what I mean...).
 
[citation][nom]mouse24[/nom]Uh, last I knew it was a 6 dollar once in a lifetime purchase. I doubt they are make a lot of money selling everyone a 6 dollar key fob once. Its much more likely they are making butt tons more money by charging you every month 15 dollars.I have played wow since TBC all the way through to cataclysm. I have NEVER had my account compromised. I have also NEVER had to change my password because of a blizzard related account hack.Cmon guys its 6 dollars for every account you own. Whats more money grubbing a one time 6 dollar purchase or the price of the game + expacs + 15 bucks a month.[/citation]
obviously you do not understand the legal basis for the lawsuit. there is a reason the activities relating to those particular charges are unlawful. look up those terms and educate yourself.
 
The Latest News column beside this Nov 11th article include "Report: Nvidia 650 gtx to launch October 9th", "Deals Sept 18th", "iPhone 5 gets double the pre-orfers of iPhone 4S on day 1" & more old stuff.

Your website needs its coding updated.
 
[citation][nom]manofchalk[/nom]Then we should sue every free-to-play game in existence because our internet connection isn't actually free, and therefore they are adding additional costs without our knowledge or consent.You realize that's a ridiculous argument right? It might be vaguely justifiable if Blizzard was an IP, but they aren't. You should be well aware that you downloading something will incur download costs, regardless if the data being downloaded cost anything initially.And whats to stop you connecting to a WiFi (Which is free at any McDonald's) and downloading the app through that?[/citation]

Blizzard's action is like a pay-to-park parking garage charging extra if you want the staff to stop stuff being stolen from your car, or the car itself.

It's on YOUR property, and the client is paying YOU, so YOU are required to protect the client.


And download cost? I would be slightly amused if Blizzard used a price-per-gigabyte connection instead of a guaranteed capacity.
 
[citation][nom]ben850[/nom]If you have a smart phone it's free.. this hardly sounds like AV/Blizz is trying to trick anyone.[/citation]Not everyone has a smartphone. Plus, there was no smartphone app when the authenticator first came out, it took a few years. If you pay $60 for the game, plus $40 per expansion, plus $15 per month, the LEAST they can do is include an authenticator in the game.
 
[citation][nom]therabiddeer[/nom]1) It is free to use if you have a smart phone2) Blizzard loses money on each sale because they sell it AT COST and ship for free3) Blizzard uses Vasco Digipass units, which at retail cost €12.99 (Blizzard most likely gets a big discount for their bulk purchases)http://shop.vasco.com/[/citation]Please cite your sources that show Blizzard selling these at cost. A website with a retail price doesn't show what Blizzard's cost is. Businesses don't usually do this sort of thing, especially Activision, who are obsessed with making a few bucks anywhere they can.
 
The information in question was stored on BLIZZARDS servers. Read your EULA and you will see they say your private information is kept secure. So for them to try to sell anyone something, to secure something that is supposed to be protected already is ludicrous. And THEN take into consideration they sold this game to people when it wasnt finished... we should all be paid for being beta testers.
 
[citation][nom]beayn[/nom]Please cite your sources that show Blizzard selling these at cost. A website with a retail price doesn't show what Blizzard's cost is. Businesses don't usually do this sort of thing, especially Activision, who are obsessed with making a few bucks anywhere they can.[/citation]
Businesses, such as Vasco, also are obsessed with making a few bucks. And if you think they are going to sell their devices to blizzard without a profit you are crazy. Shipping by itself is probably $1-$1.50 which means they are buying the fobs for $5 or less. If they are selling (retail) for $16.50 just how big of a markup do you think that vasco is doing?
 
I think most people are missing the point. It doesn't really matter if Blizzard is making money off the device or not, they are selling a device to add security to their own servers. They are saying, "Hey, you know your account we keep safe, well, we can't keep it safe unless you pay X amount of money. If you don't pay up you are at a greater risk of us not stopping people from breaching our servers"

If you look at it that way, which is what this lawsuit is doing, then Blizzard is extorting its customers. The claim is reasonable and they have a very good argument to make. If they don't settle, this case has a decent case of winning.
 
[citation][nom]therabiddeer[/nom]Businesses, such as Vasco, also are obsessed with making a few bucks. And if you think they are going to sell their devices to blizzard without a profit you are crazy. Shipping by itself is probably $1-$1.50 which means they are buying the fobs for $5 or less. If they are selling (retail) for $16.50 just how big of a markup do you think that vasco is doing?[/citation]Huh? I didn't say Vasco was selling them without a profit. You said Blizzard is losing money by selling them at cost, then you proceed to tell me businesses don't do that sort of thing after quoting me saying that businesses don't do this sort of thing...

There's no doubt in my mind that BOTH companies are making a profit, regardless of the "retail" pricing (which you listed at $12.99, then $16.50...)


 
I'm pretty sure Blizzard has as good security on their end as any other company, most account thefts are due to scam mails and keyloggers. Thus the dongle is a way to increase the security on your end. Do you have an Antivirus program? Why, shouldn't Windows be secure? It's the same argumentation and it actually sounds silly.
6$ is self price or a slight loss. Shipping, handling and ofcourse the item itself cant possibly be less than 6$. The gain is ofcourse less accounts hacked meaning alot less time spend reverting and tracking items and loss of goodwill due to "i got hacked because i'm stupid".
Sure, prople sue for most any reason trying to get some bucks, but this is just stupid.
 
As much as I hate to support them on this...

First you're not forced to buy the authenticator from Blizzard, you can have an account without one... Second, there are free alternatives to the physical authenticator. So in no way is Blizzard forcing its users to use one.

The security issues are not due to a lack of Blizzard trying to keep their systems secure, its due to the popularity of their game. You have to face the fact that they are a victim of their own success, blizzard has probably over 20 million active users (across all their titles) if not more, which makes them a great target for hackers and phishers. Their security isn't lesser than other companies, its just targeted more.

Its no different than the volume of viruses for Windows versus Apple or linux, people target the product that has the most consumer penetration because it will yield more results due to the fact that you have a greater target area.
 
[citation][nom]klavis[/nom]I think most people are missing the point. It doesn't really matter if Blizzard is making money off the device or not, they are selling a device to add security to their own servers. They are saying, "Hey, you know your account we keep safe, well, we can't keep it safe unless you pay X amount of money. If you don't pay up you are at a greater risk of us not stopping people from breaching our servers" If you look at it that way, which is what this lawsuit is doing, then Blizzard is extorting its customers. The claim is reasonable and they have a very good argument to make. If they don't settle, this case has a decent case of winning.[/citation]

Do you people even realize what the authenticator is about? Nothing about server-side security, it's about protecting those idiots that keep getting scammed out of their account info or keep getting their computer infected with keyloggers. It's an added security layer that Blizzard pays for so they don't have to deal with so many ignorant people all the time.

But then these same people sue them for it...
 
i'm going to take an objective network security standpoint.

if I was the ceo of Blizzard I'd fire the entire network security team.

on the topic of better security: (before you flame , remember no system is truly secure)
Blizzard (if they aren't already) should setup their client to use SSL/SSH and encrypted VPN tunnels along with RSA keys (at least 128-bit) set to reset every 60 seconds.

and before you people start flaming , I know this method is vulnerable to man in the middle attacks , but even if they broke the VPN encryption , unless the hacker had Blue/Gene (IBM supercomputer) at his/her disposal they probably could not crack a 128-bit key with 40-bit entropy in 60 seconds of acquiring the stream.
 
[citation][nom]gncd[/nom]SMS authenticator. it's free and you don't need a smart phone. what? you don't have phone? must be blizzard's fault.[/citation]You need a cell phone WITH texting, AND it has to be in Blizzard's database, which they are VERY lazy at keeping updated. Many Cell phone numbers in Canada are not in their database and it's a pain in the ass to fix. (I tried with a friend's phone). You also can't use a VOIP phone with texting, it *must* be a mobile phone. Ridiculous rules like this make it a big problem and I must say, that is most definitely Blizzard's fault.

On top of this, why should anyone have to get a phone and pay $60+ a month just so they can go buy an authenticator so they can abide by Blizzard's binding SMS rules? Perhaps they should have written "Cell phone with SMS texting" in the System Requirements section for their games.










 
i wish to edit my previous statement , i would not fire the network security team.

i would implement the security solution and in addition:

if your stupid enough to not have good antivirus software (like ones you pay for , not those lousy freeware ones) and don't know how to use it properly you can't complain to blizzard.

if your stupid enough to open scam emails and get suckered in , you can't complain.

if your stupid enough to use a weak password , (irleet is not secure) you can't complain.

Reasons: 1+ years as a network security college student
 
i work in IT security and deal with key fab alot.
the total cost of ownership is much higher then most people think.
the high end one cost around 130$ each, although i expect the 6.50 that blizzard sale would be extremely low end. but i dont think they would make any money out of it.
then there is license for each key, server that keep track of account usage plus the account linking process.
all those add up pretty quickly.
Yes, this will save blizzard $$$ by less hack and able to hire fewer GM. but thats what we call Win Win for both end.
there many layer of security, company need to secure their user data DB (which many fail) and user need "TRY" not to download stupid shit or just using single password for all website.
i would rather have a "option" to buy authenticator then no option at all.
 
[citation][nom]invlem[/nom]As much as I hate to support them on this...First you're not forced to buy the authenticator from Blizzard, you can have an account without one... Second, there are free alternatives to the physical authenticator. So in no way is Blizzard forcing its users to use one.The security issues are not due to a lack of Blizzard trying to keep their systems secure, its due to the popularity of their game. You have to face the fact that they are a victim of their own success, blizzard has probably over 20 million active users (across all their titles) if not more, which makes them a great target for hackers and phishers. Their security isn't lesser than other companies, its just targeted more.Its no different than the volume of viruses for Windows versus Apple or linux, people target the product that has the most consumer penetration because it will yield more results due to the fact that you have a greater target area.[/citation]
I think you are missing the point of the lawsuit. No one is saying account security is their sole responsibility, however, it is Blizzard's responsibility to keep their server's secure and they appear to be very lax on that.

Did you know when they first started putting advertisements on the web site and forums, that ads for gold sellers appeared on them, and these ads when clicked through would lead to malacious sites. Took about a week for Blizzard to admit it back then, but think about it, Blizzard didn't even take the time to get a reputable ad business to serve the ads on their site and make sure no gold seller ads appeared.

Not to mention, when the hack occured in May, many people with the smartphone authenticator on their accounts suddenly started having their accounts hacked. Well, these software based authenticators can be replicated with data stored on Blizzard's server where the physical one can not. Blizzard at first denied these hacks were occuring for days and then when the press started getting bad admitted to it. And let's not forget all the personal information stored in these databases.
 
Personally, I don't consider the Android / iOS argument valid. Even though it's hard to imagine for some people, there is still a large number using phones with different OSes (WP, Symbian, Blackberry, etc...)
 
You folks (by the millions) are paying $180.00 a year fo the privledge of playing a game you paid $60.00 for? And your issue is with the security of your account/after sale charges? its jst a matter of "how hard" for you? It seems you bentover and spread a long time ago.
 
Doesn't matter if it's available for free on a smartphone or not, Unless they include a smartphone (of the supported types) in the 'required hardware' information for the game BEFORE you join or buy it. If they require an authenticater to adequately protect their customers while using their game, it should be included with the game.
 
What most people seem to be missing is that most (almost all?) World of Warcraft accounts that have been compromised, have become so because of keyloggers on the consumer's PC. Not much they can do about that - other than providing a free mobile authenticator or a cost-price physical authenticator, of course...
 
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