| |
BGonline.org Forums
BGBuzzT personal data privacy violation!
Posted By: MK
Date: Wednesday, 15 July 2026, at 10:19 a.m.
This is the post that I refer to as "that post":
https://www.bgonline.org/forums/webbbs_config.pl?read=220459
In that post, in response to the error images I had posted, Frank said:
> If an error occurs BGBlitz tries to send me the log files.
: This doesn't work if you disallow BGBlitz to send emails, which is probaly the case here.
: In this case I ask to contact me by email so I can help.
: I just checked my email and SPAM and not too surprising no email from you.> If you send me the log files (log.txt and log.1.txt ....
: I try to find out whether it is an error in BGBlitz.I had responded to that post by saying that I had no intentions of helping him debug his commercial product for free (i.e. by emailing log files, etc.).
Then 10 days later, on July 5, I received an email from Frank saying:
"Thanks for the error log, it was very helpful.
As I hadn't sent him anything, I asked:
"What error log? Did I send an error log? When? From what email address?
On July 6, he replied:
"(log@bgblitz.com)
"You should have seen a dialog asking for allowance to send the email.
"If it was not you then sorry.
I didn't want to let this go with just a "sorry". So, I insisted:
"I don't remember being asked to allow sending of an email.
"Can you send me an image of the dialog asking for allowance to send the email so I can see what it looks like
"Also, can you forward to me the email you say that I sent you. I want to look at the headers to see when and how it happened.
Same day, he responded:
"I’ll check that. Usually there pops a simple yes/no dialog up.
"The content is simply
"- the bgblitz.cfg
"- the log.txt and log.1.txt
"Nothing special.
"(attached headers screenshat)
Nothing special? Those files contain thousands of lines, including many that identify the user (obviously enough for him to identify me). So, I pressed for answers that he avoided:
"If I'm not asking for too much, can you just send me the image (Or the message in the dialog so that I can search the files for it in the BGBlitz folder, unless your dialogs are encrypted).
"Can you just forward to me the email you received from me? Don't worry about the headers. I just want to verify that it was an intentional, approved email from me to you.
And he sent these:
"Here is the original email.
"Anfang der weitergeleiteten Nachricht
"Von log@bgblitz.com
"Betreff bgblitz-log 10 -- Sat Jul 04 201419 MDT 2026
"Datum 5. Juli 2026 um 041419 MESZ
"An log@bgblitz.com
So, it wasn't an email from me to him after all, but he had sent an email from himself to himself, behind the scenes, probably using Java runtime email function, without me realizing it, let alone authorizing it.
The screenshot of headers that he had previously sent exposes my IP address and my computer's network name!
The configuration file contains, among other cryptic data:
"#Sat Jul 04 201419 MDT 2026
"#dump
"dailygammon.password=.....
"dailygammon.user=.....
"persistentPath.JFPos=CUsers.....
"persistentPath.PathGnuDir=C.....
"persistentPath.WinBoxSave=C.....
"persistentPath.hardCopyPath=CUsers.....
If you wanted to evaluate BGBuzzt crippleware version anonymously for whatever reason, (i.e. maybe you are a famous bg giant or movie star or politician, etc.), now Frank knows who you are!
If you were participating on DailyGammon anonymously for similar reasons, now Frank knows not only who you are but also your password!!
The log files contain, among other cryptic data only meaningful to Frank:
"os.name Windows 11
"os.version 10.0
"os.arch amd64
"user.dir CPortable SoftwareBGBlitz
"user.home CUsers.....
"#CPU 20
"Mem total 40.0 MB
"Mem free 14.8 MB
"Mem max 832.0 MB
"Screen Dim 2560 x 1440
"Usable Dim 2048 x 1104
"Scaling (xy) 1.01.0
"AppHomeDir C.... SoftwareBGBlitz
"PrefDir C.... SoftwareBGBlitz.bgblitz
These alone are enough to "fingerprint" you and your computer.
Extracting such data files from a person's computer, containing identifying personal data, without consent clearly violates the EU GDPR.
He never sent me the screenshot of that "yes/no confirmation dialog", nor the text message of it in whatever exe, dll or other file that it may be in, nor instructions to cause that dialog to be displayed on purpose.
I haven't found time to research to find out what legal remedies are available for me under the EU GDPR yet but I must express that I have already acquired quite a dislike for Frank as a secretive, dishonest person, (and a not very intelligent or capable software developing nerd at that).
MK
PS: Sorry for the extra blank lines between quoted lines. The stupid software stick is using, (better than nothing, BTW), doesn't allow quoting entire paragraphs formatted :(
| |
BGonline.org Forums is maintained by Stick with WebBBS 5.12.