from Hacker News

Bethesda adds Denuvo anti-cheat which operates at ring zero as a driver

by SirLotsaLocks on 5/16/20, 4:05 AM with 1 comments

• by dTal on 5/16/20, 11:36 AM

  A Ring-0 driver that installs silently, collects information, and phones home! You could never trust that computer again. It turns your computer, a "trusted device" controlled by you, into a games console, controlled by them. Without telling you. This should be extremely illegal.

  All in the name of "anti-cheating". And why is that such a pressing concern? Because of another decision - like many games, it does not support local multiplayer. All multiplay must go over their servers, and they don't know or care whether you're in the same room or half a world away. So by interposing themselves, they become responsible for moderating the entire experience. Conversely, if a guy at your LAN part is using an aim bot, you just kick him out. Or you compete to see who can write the best aim bot. The game is a playground that you control.

  It is a shame to see Doom's hacker-friendly origins so desecrated.