Would you like to be tracked? (Semi Offical Announcement)

[ryanteck]

Dear members of Innectis

As you may or may not know I own a mine craft server lists called Mc-Serverlist.co.uk

Soon if all goes well the lists will be able to track users, tracking what servers they go on and for how long.

I would like to know weather you agree that this is a good or an bad idea.

You can discuss it here and vote @ http://mc-serverlist.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8.0 (No signup needed)

Even if I do, do it there will be a way for you to Opt-Out from this system

Thanks - Ryan

[Sciamancer]

Sounds suspiciously Orwellian...

[gohkamikaze]

Sounds suspiciously Orwellian...

Big Brother is watching you. Big Brother is ALWAYS watching you.

In all honesty though, I'd support the idea if it was opt-in rather than opt-out.

[Lynxy]

Vanilla Minecraft servers return a full lit of online players, no mods needed. I would say anyone that plays the game is already opt-ed in; if they don't like it, complain to Mojang.

[StarScythe7]

I don't really mind it, but how would knowing this information be of any use?

[ryanteck]

The main point behind this idea is to build up a users history of servers.
One point is then freinds can find what server your on then come and play with you.

The main thing is that its gonna be another unique feature of my server lists.

The opt out system only takes 1 min which is the login. Otherwise pressing a button don't take long at all.

[zer0k]

I haven't encountered any situation in which I would not want to be tracked, so I say go for it.

[Sciamancer]

This feature could be used by griefers/trolls to easily track their targets across multiple servers, allowing them to harass certain people.

[zer0k]

Fair point, Sci. The thing is, since this facility is already provided by MC user lists, griefers and harrassers can already create a similar tool on their own. Perhaps an appropriate compromise would be to allow users to opt-out if they wish.

[Caaaaarrrrlll]

Vanilla Minecraft servers return a full lit of online players, no mods needed. I would say anyone that plays the game is already opt-ed in; if they don't like it, complain to Mojang.

Unfortunately unless the server uses RCON/Query, it's nearly impossible to track users easily. The 0xFE packet that the server sends to clients' server lists only generates a player count, not a list of players. Although, nothing is stopping going further and getting the 0xC9 packet from a server, it just takes a lot more work since you have to login to the server first which involves getting a token from minecraft.net which also means passing a username/password verification.

I'm just not sure which one is harder to do in terms of quick implementations. If ryanteck is interested, I can hand over my PHP document that shows player count and server description, but it's not much of use to him I'm sure.

[ryanteck]

Vanilla Minecraft servers return a full lit of online players, no mods needed. I would say anyone that plays the game is already opt-ed in; if they don't like it, complain to Mojang.

Unfortunately unless the server uses RCON/Query, it's nearly impossible to track users easily. The 0xFE packet that the server sends to clients' server lists only generates a player count, not a list of players. Although, nothing is stopping going further and getting the 0xC9 packet from a server, it just takes a lot more work since you have to login to the server first which involves getting a token from minecraft.net which also means passing a username/password verification.

I'm just not sure which one is harder to do in terms of quick implementations. If ryanteck is interested, I can hand over my PHP document that shows player count and server description, but it's not much of use to him I'm sure.

I already do use an packet that allows me to grab an list of users via the built in query system. I might soon implement the system which would get the number online as an last resort up time check. Although i'm not sure.

[TheJudged]

How would we exactly be tracked? Stalked? Cookies?

[ryanteck]

Using the servers tracked on mc-serverlist.co.uk I log what usernames I receive by the query packet / minequery and then add these to the database.

Thats it.

[Nosliw]

I'm not an expert on law, but have you checked that monitoring where people go and do on the internet is legal? Don't want you to get in any trouble xD

[TheJudged]

Oh....