LM title requirement and cheater situation.

This was the article I read http://www.out-law.com/page-8060

An IP is in isolation not personal data but if you couple it with other information about a user it becomes personal data requiring you to ask before you store it.

An IP address isn't very useful for these purposes as any site ends up with a lot of false positives over time with that method.

Additionally it is relatively simple to run through a proxy. IPv4 addresses are also reallocated every 24 hours or so.

I do wonder how the Data Protect Act would apply to a mathematically one-way hash.

From what I read, it seems to only apply if the processing of personal information was done server-side, by the service provider (lichess for example), if that were the case then they would become a data controller and be subject to the Act.

If the one-way hash is generated and processed by the user as a requirement to create a new account and the Terms of Use agreement has the proper sections, its unclear.

Additionally since a proper one-way hash of a suitable digest size is randomized data its also unclear whether it would still be considered personal data.

Kinda a murky area, but online cheating is only getting worse as time goes by.

The World of Warcraft Warden (Blizzard)
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/spies-like-us-the-law-and-blizzards-warden.

Standard Disclaimer:
I'm not a lawyer, just an interested individual. Posts and comments made by me should in no way be considered or substituted for legal advice. </end Disclaimer>

My internet service provider use static IPs. That means the same IP always identifies my computer. And that's how sites like FICS could ban my computer instead of account.

It doesn't identify your computer, it identifies your router. Just for the record. Even with static IP there are ways to refresh and get a new one (up to maybe 4-6 depending on how many your provider allows) and as was stated prior, proxy servers for VPN (vitual private network) allow users to bipass IP bans. I had to deal with this on a daily basis when I was running a gaming server for an older game, the hackers and trolls that would come and break all our rules were constantly coming back with new IP addresses. I had to ban tons of VPN ranges and player ranges. But this was only possible to do because of it being an old game with only a few hundred players, and this still caught a few innocent people up in the bans who could no longer connect. Banning IP addresses is a fairly ineffective method of banning people these days.

I have no router so in my case the static IP is tracable to my comp. I also know there are ways to circumvent but that wasn't my point.

We have given out some 6 LM titles over the past 2 weeks and there are 3 people who have met the game requirement in the queue to review. Of course cheaters will continue being aggressively pursued, but I don't think it's a problem for LM at all.

It's not a problem. I asked the missus. She's a lawyer.