Vanguard, the controversial anti-cheat software initially attached to Valorant, is now also coming to League of Legends.
Summary:
The article discusses Riot Games’ requirement for players to install their Vanguard anti-cheat software, which runs at the kernel level, in order to play their games such as League of Legends and Valorant. The software aims to combat cheating by scanning for known vulnerabilities and blocking them, as well as monitoring for suspicious activity while the game is being played. However, the use of kernel-level software raises concerns about privacy and security, as it grants the company complete access to users’ devices.
The article highlights that Riot Games is owned by Tencent, a Chinese tech giant that has been involved in censorship and surveillance activities in China. This raises concerns that Vanguard could potentially be used for similar purposes, such as monitoring players’ activity and restricting free speech in-game.
Ultimately, the decision to install Vanguard rests with players, but the article urges caution and encourages players to consider the potential risks and implications before doing so.
So, you read “we already have these surveillance capability” and you’re fine with it? Interesting.
The whole point of “user mode” is that it is possible to separate things. Even on Windows, assuming proper handling of your storage and settings, one account can be barred from accessing another account data it should not have access to. Granted, most people won’t care, but you can do it, and run separate windows accounts for games and personal stuff for example. You can even do it without constantly switching between them.
Not only kernel mode “anticheat” will allow snooping on the current account, but on others too, that’s the key difference here. As a user/customer, it removes the possibility of having private stuff on your computer at all.
That’s kind of a big deal.
As someone who has previously argued that user/kernel-level distinction is pretty pointless (along the lines of this XKCD), the multi-user aspect is something I haven’t considered before and actually quite important.
You could drop the flamebait, but all good.
Can’t this already be achieved by elevation? Why would a kernel driver be necessary?
Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed it seems 🙄
I could point out the ad hominem, but even worse, emojis?! You have zero credibility, scram.
You could drop the flame bait