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Blizzard backs off real-name forum mandate

Game developer Blizzard has backed down on a plan to require users of its official online forums to register with real names, just days after announcing the move.

The shift, announced Friday in a message posted to the company's forums, followed a firestorm of criticism from users expressing privacy concerns.

"We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums," Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, wrote in the Friday post. "As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums."

Morhaime stressed that the real-name requirement was not to be confused with the optional in-game Real ID system that's now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II. That system is a voluntary, optional level of identity designed to keep players connected even outside of games with features such as cross-game and cross-realm chat and real names on friends lists.

Forum users met Morhaime's announcement with hundreds of pages of messages, many of them thanking Blizzard ("Fantastic. Thanks for restoring my faith in you guys," read one post typical of the mood on the boards. Read another: "The little guy wins!").

Some, however, tempered their relief with caution. "Although I certainly am grateful for the announcement, I...am concerned about the use of 'At This Time,'" wrote another poster. "This is definitely code for "At some point, we may consider trying again." … Read more

Blizzard Real ID system sparks controversy

Blizzard boasts one of the largest, most engaged user communities of any game developer in the world. The benefits of such a following are obvious, but the downside becomes similarly stark when the company runs afoul of its user base.

The company on Tuesday unveiled its new Real ID system, a service that allows friends to easily follow each other's activities in Blizzard games like World of Warcraft. It also introduces cross-game chat and social-networking features that let users see not just their friends, but also their friends' friends.

However, Blizzard is requiring users to register for the service … Read more

Warcraft gamers to get 'Real ID'

You've been teaming up with that hot night elf in the World of Warcraft, killing thousands of mobs and doing hundreds of instance runs with her, and yet you don't know if she is actually a girl in real life? Now there's a way for you to possibly find out.

Blizzard announced early this week that together with the launch of patch 3.3.5 for WoW, it will offer a new feature called "Read ID." This is a voluntary, optional level of identity designed to keep players connected even outside of WoW.

In fact, the company says that as long as you play games that use its Battle.net online gaming service, which currently includes WoW and the upcoming Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3, you will be able to stay in touch with playmates.

According to Blizzard, the new Real ID features include:… Read more

PhoneTell taps Web for proper mobile caller ID

Besides the wheel, fire, and air conditioning during the month of August, caller ID is on the short list of life-changing inventions. Though its one hang-up (no pun intended) is that its directory of phone numbers, which is attached to names and readily available for landline phones, has not been carried over to mobile phones. Instead, mobile-phone users get numbers only.

One company that's helping to change that is PhoneTell, which is launching at Monday's TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York. Formerly CallSpark (which debuted at last year's DemoFall) PhoneTell aims to help you figure out who'… Read more

TuneUp's easy ID3 tag cleaning comes to WMP

A couple years back, iTunes faithful were rewarded with TuneUp Companion, a handy plug-in that makes filling in, cleaning up, and correcting ID3 tags for tracks in one's music library a cinch. Now, those who prefer Windows Media Player for their music management and playback have been invited to the party. As of today, users will be able to download a version of the software for WMP from the TuneUp Web site. Even better, the first 50 CNET readers to e-mail TuneUp will receive a code to activate a Gold account, which regularly costs $29.95.

Those who opt … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1207: Dropping the EFF bomb on the RIAA and MPAA

Warning: contains strong language (that will be bleeped by the time you hear this), but we frankly couldn't help ourselves when we saw the stuff the RIAA and MPAA want to do to your computers, border guards, the FBI, and Homeland Security. It ain't good. Also, Twitter makes developers mad again, and we are definitely not number 1 in broadband. And it hurts.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1207

Senators push Obama for biometric national ID card

Two U.S. senators met with President Obama on Thursday to push for a national ID card with biometric information such as a fingerprint, hand scan, or iris scan that all employers would be required to verify.

In an opinion article published in Friday's edition of the Washington Post, Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) say the new identification cards will "ensure that illegal workers cannot get jobs" and "dramatically decrease illegal immigration."

Schumer and Graham pitched the idea to President Obama during a private meeting Thursday at the White House. Graham … Read more

A photo editor with potential

IdPhotos 2008 bills itself as an easy way for users to create photos appropriate for a variety of identification types. Although the program has potential, it wasn't as easy to use as we had hoped it would be.

The program's interface is sleek, and at first glance it seemed like it would be fairly intuitive. Users first select the type of document for which they need a photo; specifications for documents from 31 countries are listed, including those for passports, visas, and other types of ID. Each document type notes, for example, what color the background should be, … Read more

Easy ID helper

ID Photo Maker provides a simple but impressive set of tools for creating the photos needed for various means of identification. We were constantly pleased with the program's thoughtful options for perfecting our ID image.

ID Photo Maker's interface immediately sent us the signal that it was a professional program. Its design is sleek and simple to navigate, so much so that we never even thought to read the Help file. The program contains the ID information for dozens of countries; we chose an American passport. After choosing which ID to make and employing the useful cropping feature, … Read more

Identity security

ID Theft Calculator from White Sky is a free utility that scans your PC and assesses your vulnerability to online identity theft, a growing problem. It's linked to the publisher's ID Vault online financial identity protection service, which isn't free.

ID Theft Calculator is simplicity itself; just a wizard that scans your computer for personal data, especially financial data, and passwords, account numbers, and other potentially compromising information. It displays the results of the scan on a colorful graph representing your risk of online identity theft, and it offers a link to learn about what you can … Read more