Privacy questions about addons what share data between players

[quickc]

There are a few addons what people require you to use in end game content (hodor, LibDataShare ect)

These addons say they send small pieces of data between players, im wondering how safe this is and what information can be collected?
is this p2p? so IP addresses could be obtained? or is the information send and received from the ZOS server you are connected to?

[Sharlikran]

Originally Posted by quickc is this p2p?

No.

Originally Posted by quickc so IP addresses could be obtained?

No.

Originally Posted by quickc or is the information send and received from the ZOS server you are connected to

No.

ZOS Does not allow real time sharing.

Take the notification at face value. It's not a shock or scare tactic. The information is small and just what the mods need to function.

[quickc]

Originally Posted by Sharlikran Take the notification at face value. It's not a shock or scare tactic. The information is small and just what the mods need to function.

im not sure what this means, can you elaborate?

[Sharlikran]

To tell someone to take the notification at face value means what it means. It is simple English and does not require elaboration so, respectfully no. I'm trying to be polite.

Everyone in the world has different opinions. Just because something can be asked and just because it is a reasonable question, doesn't mean it needs to be asked.

This kind of question is no different then from the Nexus where you frequently find mods for single player games like Skyrim. Sometimes people ask about viruses. Does the question need to be asked, no. Some of the reports are false positives. Meaning no real threat detected. Does it help people feel better to ask, sure. Does it need to be asked, no.

[wookiefriseur]

Originally Posted by quickc im not sure what this means, can you elaborate?

As long as the AddOn does not have any additional .exe files it is technically not possible to expose you just through the ESO API.

Those AddOns probably share info through map pinging which cannot share anything the ESO API does not allow. So no worries there.

Only a few AddOns require external interaction. Like weblinks to send a prefilled form or an additional executable/binary to share lua data. This is used for instance with online databases that change often but that you want to have access to in the game (price list addons, character databases, housing community portals and so on).

Sure, there exists a danger with those (for instance if an author went rogue), but it is highly unlikely.

Also

1. you have to start the file yourself or allow it to autostart
2. an attack would only be worth it if it reaches as many people as possible, but the more people use it the less likely it is to go unnoticed and it can be only done once

If you use an AddOn with executables check their documentation to see what it is used for. And when in doubt you can ask in the comment section of a specific AddOn instead of here.

Originally Posted by Sharlikran To tell someone to take the notification at face value means what it means. It is simple English and does not require elaboration so, respectfully no. I'm trying to be polite. Everyone in the world has different opinions. Just because something can be asked and just because it is a reasonable question, doesn't mean it needs to be asked. This kind of question is no different then from the Nexus where you frequently find mods for single player games like Skyrim. Sometimes people ask about viruses. Does the question need to be asked, no. Some of the reports are false positives. Meaning no real threat detected. Does it help people feel better to ask, sure. Does it need to be asked, no.

You must have quite the burnout from privacy and virus questions.

We can't expect everyone to know the technical limitations of AddOns.

You could just write an explanation once and link to it every time someone asks. Protect your sanity

[Sharlikran]

Originally Posted by wookiefriseur You must have quite the burnout from privacy and virus questions.

Since 2012 either here or on the Nexus. To add to that though, I am old. When I was in school if you failed a test you got an F. These days schools give people stickers and tell them nice try. When a High School student can't graduate they just lower the amount of credits so they aren't in school in their 20s.

I am sorry but I am a big Lewis Black and George Carlin fan because I'm old. Older people like myself just feel the younger generation should know better or at least put a little more thought into it. Critical thinking should be encouraged.

Originally Posted by wookiefriseur We can't expect everyone to know the technical limitations of AddOns.

It is hard for me to be disrespectful in this case because I feel your point and the OP's question are both reasonable. However, I feel it's a disservice to not beat people over the head with some soft foam object like a pool noodle or a nerf toy, metaphorically... to jog the ole brain cells once and a while.

It is also reasonable that people use some common sense. It isn't really just ESO addons. WOW uses Lua for their mods also. Single player games use .esp, .esm, and .dds or .nif files. So for the last 10 years at least people have known that games from Bethesda/Zenimax use mods and the files used by mods are harmless and can't access most of what the OP is concerned about.

The games do not allow access to personal or confidential information that anyone should be concerned about. Like IP address, passwords, saved credit card information, and so on. The original poster specifically stated p2p and Ip Address. So for those reasons my response was intended to be as polite as possible but my post can not be void of some sarcasm or cynicism because of the context.

Trust me it's not burn out. Why do people think that?

In this context it's the same as someone that gets paranoid about when they see someone is in their car parked by the sidewalk on their phone or tablet being a responsible driver and not driving and texting. Yet, the person feels they are hacking their Wifi.

Originally Posted by wookiefriseur You could just write an explanation once and link to it every time someone asks. Protect your sanity

People don't read sticky posts. How many times has someone asked about the Out of Date notification and Baertram refers them to my post. As an example, the OP should have asked the author. Another thing Baertram tells people to do quite often.

However, your explanation is good and it is not in the What addons cannot do post so maybe it can be paraphrased and added.

[quickc]

ty @wookiefriseur

i did search this forum and read the what addons cant do post before posting this but it doesnt cover any of this and i wasnt sure what was possible to send through the map ping manipulation without doing it myself

also the author for hodor/libdatashare has been MIA for some time so i asked here.

[Baertram]

Since 2012 either here or on the Nexus. To add to that though, I am old. When I was in school if you failed a test you got an F. These days schools give people stickers and tell them nice try. When a High School student can't graduate they just lower the amount of credits so they aren't in school in their 20s. I am sorry but I am a big Lewis Black and George Carlin fan because I'm old. Older people like myself just feel the younger generation should know better or at least put a little more thought into it. Critical thinking should be encouraged.

To add to this: imo it's not only the younger generation but all kinds of humans acting like this. Some are polite and even do their homework before (but do not tell us), others don't (and unfortunately it's like "most don't" from personal experience, as it is easier to ask and let others do their work...).
Instead of reading up in advance it will be asked the same again and again, which really can get frustrating for the fews trying to help.

People don't read sticky posts

Yeah and often they do not even try to... You wouldn't believe how many just register at a forum to post their question.

There should not be the need to link prewritten posts by 3rds again and again.
There should be the need to inform yourself in advance and tell the ones you ask WHAT you had read WHERE already, so the 3rds trying to help know you did that already!
And if they do they keep that secret for themselves so you ask them to do, and will get an angry answer that they did that already (sorry, our mind reading skills lack experience).


This would be the best way to start and to ease the communication. If done, there woulnd't be so many annoyed answers anymore
*dreaming of a world...*



Back to topic:
The map ping feature within ESO can only send small amount of data, like your position, your ultimate value.
If it would like to it could also collect your current currency information, your mail info (if the mail panel was opened before at least once), your chat text, and other data and send it to others. Depends on what the author in the addon wants to achieve
But as described before: Only small amount of data can be shared, no whole text history, just like 1 very short sentence...

So it's not totally save if you do not read the code and see what is done. Using addons is always your own responsibility, there is noone who checks all addons' code for you!

If you fear some data within ESO would be shared to others, please do not us those addons which share data.
But the ones I know do not share any currencies etc. so this was just an example. They share what they write in their description: Ultimate values, positions in group, dmg and heal values for statistics.