2mo ago

Nintendo warns Switch 2 GameChat users: “Your chat is recorded”

arstechnica.com

21 comments

does anyone truly believe there exists a chat that is NOT recorded?
- The first time some coworkers told me the personal things they discussed with other work friends over the internal chat service, I was in shock over the stupidity. Also internal shit talk to other people in the company. Shocked
  
  I once shit talked to coworkers about another coworker/supervisor. Except, by accident, I sent it to the coworker/supervisor.
  Good times.
- The only chat not recorded is the one that happens in person with no electronic devices nearby.
  
  I joked to my wife "hey I got a joke I got to tell you about the government away from microphones" and my phone's flashlight turned on across the room. My nsa agent is working overtime.
  
  Hell, I feel like that's even up for debate
- In this context? No. But what's more interesting is precisely what is recorded.
- Roger Wilco, lol.
This is standard in most platforms with social features, companies record chats in case someone gets reported for negative behavior. It's also temporarily stored so they're not just listening in and hoarding your chats.
The terms also lay out that "these recordings are available only if the report is submitted within 24 hours," suggesting that recordings are deleted from local storage after a full day.
- Yeah I'm not sure why that's news. At least Nintendo is being somewhat transparent about it
I'm surprised they added voice/video chat. One report of a pedo talking to kids on their switch and no parent is gonna buy any Nintendo products for their kids
- Right... As if parents don't give their kids cellphones or completely unsupervised access to the internet...
  You're giving Joe and Jane Doe way too much credit here.
  I'm sure parents actually supervising the internet usage of their kids are a very small percentage.
- So does that count for Sony, Microsoft and Valve too or just Nintendo?
That reporting feature lets a user "review a recording of the last three minutes of the latest three GameChat sessions" to highlight a particular section for review, suggesting that chat sessions are not being captured and stored in full. The terms also lay out that "these recordings are available only if the report is submitted within 24 hours," suggesting that recordings are deleted from local storage after a full day.
That won't matter. Discus comments are tied to people's real identities in most cases and that didn't stop them from posting unhinged bullshit underneath every story.
The good news is that the mic is a piece of cake (relatively speaking, as someone who has tinkered with electronics before) to disconnect. Will it throw any errors/refuse to boot? Dunno, haven't seen that attempted yet.
- Or you just don't use voice chat? It's no use anyways if you disconnect your microphone...

21 comments