So I'm perusing the spam in the Empire Poker chat box and...

Wyers · #1 08-10-2005, 02:15 AM

...and come across this one.

partypokerhacksyou.com

Nothing special really - just a banner farm focusing on concerns about how Party and skins violate your privacy by taking screenshots of your desktop.

But click the "Revealing Party Letter" on the left hand side. While the letter itself may be totally bogus, what could a disgruntled employee making a nickel an hour do with the info from your screenshots? Is there an opportunity for him to exploit your info in order to make a buck?

I guess I'm particularily curious because I play about 75% of my games on Empire.

Is there anything to be concerned about? I know there are serious ethical implications regarding Party's T&Cs and your right to privacy - but we are all aware of these risks and and make our decisions about whether or not to play on their sites in an informed manner. I'm focusing on the employee operating outside of what Party would condone.

Oh yeah. Here is the standard "I have no affiliation with this site nor am I encouraging you to click any of the banners" disclaimer.

Synergistic Explosions · #2 08-10-2005, 02:28 AM

Kind of like Homeland Security.

smartalecc5 · #3 08-10-2005, 02:31 AM

At first I said I didn't care about that stuff, but after reading that website- f^$% yeah. Partypoker beter get the hell outta my ports before some serious ass-kicking is done.

Robby Box · #4 08-10-2005, 03:24 AM

So looking at the site, what the pissed off Poker Prophecy guy is saying is, play on Paradise against bots and colluders at your leisure.

Wyers · #5 08-10-2005, 03:41 AM

[ QUOTE ]
So looking at the site, what the pissed off Poker Prophecy guy is saying is, play on Paradise against bots and colluders at your leisure.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't get me wrong. I fully understand what the self-serving owner of the site is attempting to accomplish. However I think interesting questions are raised in regards to what actually happens with this data Party collects on their users - and not necessarily by "Party Poker" itself but by some their employees.

Sort of akin to a shady luggage handler at the airport rifling through your possessions. Certainly airport management would not approve of their actions, yet...

otctrader · #6 08-10-2005, 08:54 AM

I think most of the fear surrounding Party's policy is the ambiguity over what they monitor and how it's processed. Mishandling of the data by a corrupt employee is obviously a concern, but no more so than we encounter in everyday life. I probably trust the Indian 5 cent/hr worker more than the $10/hr bank teller here in the US anyway, since if the former is implicated in abusing data he'll probably wind up with his head cut off floating in the Ganges river.

I'm glad Party has the balls to step over the gray line and institute this policy, and I've told them this. The biggest threats to Party and online poker are the compromise of integrity in games and the politics of online gaming here in the US. The two are not mutually exclusive, but the latter is a whole different topic.

I would argue if the entire online poker universe outside of Party (Stars, Prima, et al) merged into "botfarm.com" tomorrow and instituted a free-for-all privacy guaranteed policy, it would rot away in heads up competition with Party.

ds914 · #7 08-10-2005, 08:57 AM

[ QUOTE ]

While the letter itself may be totally bogus...

[/ QUOTE ]

Structured? Full sentences? Easily comprehendible? From a Party employee?

Obviously a fake.