Are the Chinese watching us

[Sauron]

On 4/28/2019 at 4:41 AM, aezakmi said:

Don't want this to sound like a conspiracy but could the Chinese government be spying on us? (rest of the countries) 

 

You know Epic Games and the Epic launcher are part of Tencent which is a Chinese company that collaborates with their government. Now how do we know if Tencent watches our game stats (I don't have an account there or any of their games btw), chats if it has a chat feature and outgoing clicks and use that to create a profile of us just like Facebook does via the applet present on most websites, it's said it creates a profile of you even if you don't have an account there.

 

From time to time news about Chinese hackers stealing data from websites or countries come up, but what are they using that data for?

Of course the Chinese government is spying on other countries (and their own citizens). The US government is doing that too. This isn't a conspiracy theory, it's well documented fact. Whether they do it through the Epic launcher or not is guessing territory but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

How can you tell? It's simple, you can't. It's proprietary software and you can't know exactly what data it collects; they own the servers so you can't know what they do with it either. This isn't exclusive to the Epic launcher, it applies to all proprietary software and some free software (you can't know what they do with the data they collect even if you know what they collect).

 

What they might use it for is a bunch of different things. Usually data harvesting is done to spot trends or to target ad campaigns but in theory nothing prevents them from using that data against an individual.

1 hour ago, aezakmi said:

I do most except for the VPN since there are no truly free VPNs out there.

Use Tor if you're worried. As far as privacy goes it's as good as any VPN, often better. Best of all, it's free.

Install the canvas defender extension on your browser to prevent browser fingerprinting and never log in to anything. Disable javascript and bam, it's almost impossible to trace you without being really hellbent on doing it.

 

Of course, this doesn't protect you from software you install on your machine, starting with Windows - and did I mention every CPU comes with a proprietary backdoor that you can't access and can give someone full control of your PC remotely?

[wasab]

8 minutes ago, aezakmi said:

yeah thing is even if I can afford the VPN I don't have a credit card to pay for it and since most VPNs are from the US or Europe they don't give a fuck about payment methods outside said regions. Yes there's pay pal but besides the ToS I don't agree with it's not like you can simply use cash to fill your account.

Huh? What you are talking about. VPN accepts payment from any credit card as long as it is visa or MasterCard. 

 

If you have no credit, go to the bank and get one. You just need some government issued photo ID

[aezakmi]

2 minutes ago, wasab said:

Huh? What you are talking about. VPN accepts payment from any credit card as long as it is visa or MasterCard. 

 

If you have no credit, go to the bank and get one. You just need some government issued photo ID

not gonna pay 150% interest rates and extra taxes for international payments. credit is a scam where I live. cash only

good thing about cash is that it isn't as traceable as cards, I could go and get almost anything (pc parts to name something) without even giving my name

[wasab]

7 hours ago, aezakmi said:

not gonna pay 150% interest rates and extra taxes for international payments. credit is a scam where I live. cash only

good thing about cash is that it isn't as traceable as cards, I could go and get almost anything (pc parts to name something) without even giving my name

There is no international charge. Just open a checking account. You don't need to use credit. 150% is riddiculous and doesn't exist unless your country's currency is suffering hyperinflation. 

 

Actually, just use Linux and configure to route your entire internet traffic through Tor. That works too. Don't trust windows. That thing sends your usage data to microsoft and crotana will always bee watching you behind your back. 

[wasab]

12 hours ago, Sauron said:

 and did I mention every CPU comes with a proprietary backdoor that you can't access and can give someone full control of your PC remotely?

No wonder why so many governments are also developing their in house proccesors for their military and government computers instead of relying on Intel or AMD. VIA has an exclusive contract with a Chinese state own company excatly for this purpose. 

[TetraSky]

Of course they are, just like every other developed countries out there.

 

They might not be spying on you specifically though.

[duncannah]

Everyone is evil

[aezakmi]

20 hours ago, Real_PhillBert said:

Not us, you. The Chinese are watching you.

they're gonna find my dank meme collection, fuck

[Imbellis]

Everybody spies on everybody else - that's just a fact of life now.

Hell, the United States and Russia legalized spying on each other in order to regulate the safety of each country. I think it is the Open Skies Treaty.

 

Broad data collection of users (ex. Facebook, google, etc) is well documented. They keep data of you as a person and as a group, but you've signed up for that so that's expected.

 

As for companies that you're not aware - yeah, they're collecting data too; however, it's not *specifically* about you. Although it definitely could be, that data isn't as useful for them.

[Murasaki]

if they're spying on us for sure they dont understand what the hell are we saying

[Tog Driver]

I play World of Tanks, so Russians are spying on me. . .

[aezakmi]

3 hours ago, Tog Driver said:

I play World of Tanks, so Russians are spying on me. . .

tell them your dad owns the server and that he'll get them banned in no time

[Shreyas1]

I hope not, for their own sake

[aezakmi]

7 minutes ago, Shreyas1 said:

I hope not, for their own sake

that pfp 

[Tech_Dreamer]

there's literally a monumental leak on US govt branch monitoring worlds internet traffic & having backdoors on social media ,on hardware & software level for the things you use right now . you're asking if Chinese are the biggest threat to anyone's privacy.

[XR6]

To be honest, I could care less if yet another government is watching me. The GCHQ & UK government are already spying on me, so what difference does it make if the Chinese government do it as well?

[Giganthrax]

The Chinese are gathering diagnostics and other types of statistical data, sure. Everybody does.

 

As to whether there's a guy or gal in Hong Kong who watches you through your web camera while you masturbate and runs everything you write on LTT forums through Google translate, I'm afraid the answer is no, you're all alone.

 

We all are.

[TehPlayer14]

On 4/28/2019 at 4:53 AM, Princess Luna said:

Everything spies on you, knowing or not won't change how you live, this is all above you... so I say lets just enjoy while we can~

Correct, Epic games cough