Pokerstars putting the screws to regulars. Major shadiness in this whole thing

[ftpjesus]

Found a thread on Four about this and traced it back to the orginal poster.. See the cut and paste below this shit is unbelieveable.

"Re: *******HU CASH Regs thread*******


"However, we require a video recording of you playing. This recording has a few mandatory requirements:

- At the beginning of the recording, we must be able to clearly see your face in order to confirm your identity
- Before starting to play, you must rotate your camera 360 degrees to show us all of your surroundings
- You must start your playing session from an empty computer desktop, whereby you initiate the PokerStars client and log into your account
- After logging in, you must play a regular session of yours
- Your playing session at the tables must be for a minimum of 70 active minutes
- During your play at the tables, the recording must be of sufficient quality to see and track the activities that are taking place on your desktop. In addition, the recording must capture your surrounding environment including your monitor, keyboard, mouse and the movement of your hands
- Audio must be included in the recording
- You must minimise the amount of individual video files. Longer, continual recordings are preferred
- You have 10 days to complete this task

It is important that your playing session is conducted in the same manner as one of your typical sessions as your tendencies will be contrasted with your regular play.

You must supply the resulting recording to us via email. In the likely event the files exceed attachment limits, please utilise file sharing services such as Dropbox, Google Drive or whichever service you prefer. We'll largely leave this option up to you.

Failure to follow these instructions or if the video is of sub-par quality, will result in this task needing to be repeated."



Also, they're keeping the balance hostage unless you complete this video to their liking. It's so gross because they have way too much power here. They know the mac ID of your keyboard and mouse, they can look at your screen, they can see any programs running at all times, they can track your mouse movements/clicks etc. and now they want a video of people playing in their home. I think it's going too far as an invasion of privacy and it's like "jump through these hoops to keep your $ that's yours." And you just have to do whatever they say or you're ****ed. I suppose you like the government listening in on your phone calls because they might sniff out a terrorist threat? Or would you like them being able to show up unannounced to your house and check things out on a whim? Where do you draw the line? Yeah I get it's a decent way to stop people cheating but it's certainly not fullproof and I think it crosses the line. Seriously guys I get that everyone knows someone that in a curious/selfish way they might want this measure taken against but look at the big picture here.

I really doubt they could keep one's $ legally if they refused to do this. I mean they can't make you gamble on their command right? I understand banning one's account but not keeping the $.

For real this **** is vile. "

Here is a link to the rest of the thread http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29...ssion-1582287/

[BeerAndPoker]

It's one thing to police games as they should but that is a bit ridiculous. Anyone who has a good grasp of poker should be able to understand if shady stuff is going on by a player, players working together,etc...

They might be making assumptions that someone was a big loser and now is pulling a Brian Hastings or if they feel a few people are playing together in which case they can just temporarily not allow that person to sit with the other person then see how well they do without them.

In regards to third party software that isn't allowed being used Pokerstars should do work on there part to not allow it to run with the client. Pokerstars has a better chance of doing this then anyone else because they have a full team of competent programmers unlike some of these smaller sites.

It sucks if someone is sitting there with a player giving them advice in hands but a site shouldn't resort to wanting to record them, all the room surroundings, etc.. We must see your hands and mouse movements too?

What about it saying play from an empty desktop computer? I rarely ever use a desktop these days and some others are the same I'm sure.

Their are better ways to draw conclusions getting convincing evidence that someone is doing something shady then violating their privacy like this.

[Dan Druff]

Also in the thread you linked: Supermod Professionalpoker being a controlling/rude douche. But that's par for the course on 2+2.

But back to the topic...

Believe it or not, I am mostly taking Pokerstars' side on this one.

If they have strong evidence to suspect botting or multiaccounting, this demand is fine.

What if the e-mail simply read: "We have detected your usage of botting software, are closing your account, and redistributing your funds to past opponents. This decision is final."

Would there be the equivalent outrage? Probably not, especially if the "victim" refused to step forward and identify himself.

Here it appears Stars is stopping short of a full ban, but is giving this player one chance to prove he wasn't botting.

Basically, they're saying, "Play exactly as you did before, while on camera, and we will compare your patterns". They know that he won't be able to duplicate the mouse movements and playstyle of the bot (especially the mouse movements).

So they're giving the guy one "out" to prove he's legit before closing him down completely and taking his money.

If they have strong evidence against him already, this is 100% fine.

Question: Why hasn't the "victim" of this stepped forward? The 2+2 thread features the guy's friend speaking for him, but the person receiving these demands by Stars is not identified. Why not? What does he have to hide?

I have a feeling that he's afraid to say who he is, because people will start coming out with stories about how they knew he was botting.

[gut]

Also in the thread you linked: Supermod Professionalpoker being a controlling/rude douche. But that's par for the course on 2+2.

But back to the topic...

Believe it or not, I am mostly taking Pokerstars' side on this one.

If they have strong evidence to suspect botting or multiaccounting, this demand is fine.

What if the e-mail simply read: "We have detected your usage of botting software, are closing your account, and redistributing your funds to past opponents. This decision is final."

Would there be the equivalent outrage? Probably not, especially if the "victim" refused to step forward and identify himself.

Here it appears Stars is stopping short of a full ban, but is giving this player one chance to prove he wasn't botting.

Basically, they're saying, "Play exactly as you did before, while on camera, and we will compare your patterns". They know that he won't be able to duplicate the mouse movements and playstyle of the bot (especially the mouse movements).

So they're giving the guy one "out" to prove he's legit before closing him down completely and taking his money.

If they have strong evidence against him already, this is 100% fine.

Question: Why hasn't the "victim" of this stepped forward? The 2+2 thread features the guy's friend speaking for him, but the person receiving these demands by Stars is not identified. Why not? What does he have to hide?

I have a feeling that he's afraid to say who he is, because people will start coming out with stories about how they knew he was botting.

Agreed. Nothing wrong with the method. The (basically) same thing has existed in competitive online gaming for years as well. Don't ban until you have proof, and the easiest ways to detect bots are to watch them play without and then compare.