Hackers, Spyware, and Tales of Intrigue

Many users of Battle.net think that Diablo2 maker Blizzard Entertainment is going a little too far with its security measures. The company recently altered its terms of service to allow it to take advantage of a patch that gives it the ability to take a look at the hard drives of Battle.net users. The patch is supposed to look for any duplicate items and disable them, but many users aren't thrilled about the situation and claim that the company can peek at more than just files related to their games. Yesterday, Blizzard's web sites - including Battle.net - mysteriously went off-line, apparently victims of a hack attack. The Register has more information.