[ANSWERED] [S&D/PC] TruckersMP Privacy Policy & Ban Evade

[Idn360]

Hello TruckersMP Staff, thanks for held a Q&A session to give a chance a player asking something to TMP staffs 

I think I need to ask a question that I probably still didn't understand correctly.

Per 2.2.1 of TruckersMP Privacy Policy [https://truckersmp.com/policy]

Quote

2.2.1 Information from gameplay

Each time you connect to our servers, we collect technical data such as your device and network details and store them in log files.

• Device details: hashed version of HWID, MAC, volume serial number and computer name
• Network details: IP, geographical information based on the IP, the server you are joining, your player tag and player name

 

What do we use this data for?
This technical data is used to determine if a user is using methods or tools to work around rules, server settings, or game physics. This information is stored in logs with limited access.

 

How long do we store this data?
We store technical data for 3 months.

 

From above, we can know if TruckersMP keep the technical data of players for 3 months. So, in-case if there are banned player trying to ban evade under 3 months since they deleting their account, and then I guess TruckersMP staff can catch them easily.

 

But how about if in-case there are banned player deleting their banned TruckersMP account and then they creating account again with new Steam profile (try to ban evade) over 3 months after they deleting their account? I guess TruckersMP staff still can catch them. But in this point I still didn't understand since per TruckersMP privacy policy, TruckersMP keep technical data related with device details, IP, etc. is only for 3 months, after that TruckersMP should didn't have these technical data anymore.

 

I hope TruckersMP staff can give me more explanation and correct my confusion on this.

Again, thank you and have a nice day ^^

[Luna]

Hello Idn,

 

Thank you for your question.

I am not able to give you the full legal talk, but here is how we currently deal with game logs and ban evaders:

As explained in your quote from our Privacy Policy, we gather (technical) data from each player connecting to our game servers. By registering and agreeing to our privacy policy and rules, you gave your permission to let us collect this data. However, due to European privacy laws (GDPR), we are not allowed to store the data longer than necessary, and we have determined 3 months as necessary time.

 

Currently, we do not have an automatic system to check if a new user is evading a ban of another account. It is totally fine to have multiple accounts or have your sibling play on your computer. If we suspect a user to be ban evading, we can compare this data to data from other accounts and see if there are any matches around the time of the ban. Only a few people like our Game Moderation Managers can perform these checks to keep your data safe.

 

After three months, we delete this data automatically - that's correct. Assuming that a player gets permanently banned, waits 3 months, and then creates a new Steam and TruckersMP, we indeed can no longer connect both accounts using our tools.
However, we can find ban evaders using other ways not connected to game logs. It does not happen often, but an example would be if a Twitch streamer gets banned and streams TruckersMP the next day. Ban evading bans may not always be based on results from our tools but can also be based on simple research.

 

Unfortunately, this process takes a lot of time, and we spent too much time spotting hackers who have 30+ accounts and just trying to ruin everybody's day. We are looking into ways how we can automate parts of our ban evading lookup process. However, there are plenty of variables we need to consider when reviewing game logs, and therefore, this will stay a task for humans for the sake of only banning people when we are absolutely sure.

 

I hope this answers your question. If you have more questions regarding this or would like to get more information about something I said, please DM me, and I will edit my reply if needed.

Have a nice day!

 

Luna
TruckersMP Project Coordinator