Bainz [2101476] —
Original article
Chedburn, Poptop and Kate confirm the status of IP Tracking software after a spate of recent removals from player profiles.
Over the past month, various members of the Torn community have begun to receive warnings from staff about the presence of IP tracking maps on their profile. One main example is Revolver Maps' External, which tracks visitors using their ISP back to the city from which they are visiting.
IP Trackers have always been forbidden, but there has never been a specific rule on the site covering them. Some staff have approved the use of map based apps in the past, but according to Chedburn, these programs were never supposed to be permitted at all.
"Software that displays a map like that is effectively scraping our user's IP addresses, so they are not allowed. There was some confusion initially, as some staff did not know that."
Further clarification by Officer 787thWarDog stated that "[From] now on all and any ip tracker/tracer is illegal do not use them if you got them delete them. Fixes the issue". Still, this sudden wave of enforcement is interesting in itself. We were unable to confirm whether this crackdown was prompted by a change to these apps, or if an unknown incident sparked concern over the data being collected by users.
What we do know is that several players have had these widgets removed from their profiles without being contacted, whereas most received a notification when their page was modified. Poptop confirmed that staff should, as a minimum, give verbal warnings to players which inform them of any action taken. Chedburn backed this up, and suggested that those who had not received a warning were likely the victim of human error.
"I expect it was an innocent mistake. There's no point removing something and not telling the user because they'd likely just put it back on their profile."
Moderator Kate requests that players self report the incident if their profile is modified without notice. To do this, you must put in a player report from your own profile page and follow the instruction in the link. Poptop says that this will allow you to get a direct response from staff regarding what has happened. She also explained that verbal warnings for infringements involving IP maps will not lead to a note being added to your citizen record.
So there you have it. If your profile contains an IP tracking widget, please remove it immediately. And if you're too lazy to do it yourself, you can expect a staffer to let you know when they've done it for you.
IP Trackers have always been forbidden, but there has never been a specific rule on the site covering them. Some staff have approved the use of map based apps in the past, but according to Chedburn, these programs were never supposed to be permitted at all.
"Software that displays a map like that is effectively scraping our user's IP addresses, so they are not allowed. There was some confusion initially, as some staff did not know that."
Further clarification by Officer 787thWarDog stated that "[From] now on all and any ip tracker/tracer is illegal do not use them if you got them delete them. Fixes the issue". Still, this sudden wave of enforcement is interesting in itself. We were unable to confirm whether this crackdown was prompted by a change to these apps, or if an unknown incident sparked concern over the data being collected by users.
What we do know is that several players have had these widgets removed from their profiles without being contacted, whereas most received a notification when their page was modified. Poptop confirmed that staff should, as a minimum, give verbal warnings to players which inform them of any action taken. Chedburn backed this up, and suggested that those who had not received a warning were likely the victim of human error.
"I expect it was an innocent mistake. There's no point removing something and not telling the user because they'd likely just put it back on their profile."
Moderator Kate requests that players self report the incident if their profile is modified without notice. To do this, you must put in a player report from your own profile page and follow the instruction in the link. Poptop says that this will allow you to get a direct response from staff regarding what has happened. She also explained that verbal warnings for infringements involving IP maps will not lead to a note being added to your citizen record.
So there you have it. If your profile contains an IP tracking widget, please remove it immediately. And if you're too lazy to do it yourself, you can expect a staffer to let you know when they've done it for you.
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