Warden and 'The Governor'

[Cypher]

Right, I decided to write this thread because people insist on linking the stupid tool known as 'The Governor' years after it became totally obsolete.

Facts:

1. Warden does not scan outside WoW.exe, it does not look at any windows, processes, etc outside the game's address space.
Nitpicker's Corner: Yes it does some very specific and very limited scans to see if certain drivers etc are loaded into the system. But that is the only real exception.
Warden - WoW.Dev Wiki

2. Yes warden used to scan outside of the game's address space, but it NEVER sent back any identifiable information. EVER. EVER EVER EVER. Contrary to what Hoglund would have you believe, there was zero privacy violations occuring even when Warden was scanning windows. But alas, he misrepresented the facts, the WoW sites all jumped on it based on the misinformation, everyone assumed the sky was falling and blizzard was looking at their furry pr0n, and shortly after that the functionality got pulled (for no good reason except that an idiot -- read: Hoglund -- seemed to decide page views were more important than the truth).
On Warden: Privacy and you
On Warden: Why are people still referencing Hoglund?

Myths:

1. Warden scans your harddrive!
2. Warden reads your IM conversations!
3. Warden reads your browser history!
4. Warden scans/reads your <insert any statement here except 'game memory'>!

Credits:
Lax, Kynox, Merc, Greyman, Bobbysing, Boogieman, Harko.

'The Governor' (before following this link, repeat after me.. "I understand that this application is currently 100% useless and is a piece of shit. I promise not to post about it anywhere except in this thread"):
rootkit.com

Now. Can people PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop linking that app? Thank you.

[SacredSpenny]

I don't get the point of this

[arigity]

totally new and relevant information about a program made years ago.

deserves sticky.

[Cypher]

totally new and relevant information about a program made years ago.

deserves sticky.

Kudos on totally missing the point of this thread. It was created to stop the constant creation of threads regarding the governor and the misinformation surrounding it. Not because it's 'totally new information'.

Obviously you're not aware of the fact that threads are constantly deleted where someone posts the app and goes "hai guize! look what i just found!" (such as the one posted 20 minutes ago).

How about you think before you post. Or heck, even READ the post before you reply.

Because a couple of paragraphs is obviously far too much information for you to process let me help you out:
This thread is here to hopefully slow or stop the creation of threads regarding the governor. Reason is twofold, to make it easier on the mods, and to stop the spread of misinformation.

[arigity]

i realize that reading comprehension is not one of your strong points but honestly, how could you misinterpret the meaning of such a simple phrase as "deserves a sticky"?

clearly such new insight on the wonders of what warden doesn't do deserves to be sticky'd! not to mention people never would have guessed that a program made years ago was somehow obsolete had you not just said it.

in all seriousness though i find it ironic that the solution to people posting links about the governor is... posting a link to the governor.

this thread is officially THE most useful thing ever posted.

[Kuiren]

This thread is to stop people from posting the same thing over and over again. I just had to delete a thread not too long ago.

If the solution is not to post a link, how might I solve it? Keep deleting the threads? That's retarded and time consuming. Now please go back to your hole, thank you.

[Cypher]

i realize that reading comprehension is not one of your strong points but honestly, how could you misinterpret the meaning of such a simple phrase as "deserves a sticky"?

clearly such new insight on the wonders of what warden doesn't do deserves to be sticky'd! not to mention people never would have guessed that a program made years ago was somehow obsolete had you not just said it.

in all seriousness though i find it ironic that the solution to people posting links about the governor is... posting a link to the governor.

this thread is officially THE most useful thing ever posted.

Again, you're having trouble. I never stated the information was new, the age is totally irrelevant.

The point of the post is to inform those that ARENT aware of the facts regarding Warden/Governor. Despite your claims, lots of people STILL think Warden invades your privacy and that the Governor still works.

Computerworld on Blizzard's Warden at work <-- Point in case

So you already knew all this? Great! This thread isn't designed for you. This thread is designed to inform the newbies about the basics so we can make life easier for everyone (especially the moderators). Believe it or not people DONT guess that an old program is outdated and useless. There has been one thread about it today already (that was deleted), and also that WoWInsider article (and thats nothing, just take a look at the comments).

Also, the solution was not to post a link. The solution was to explain the misinformation regarding the application. I simply posted a link as reference. In no way did I promote the tool (quite the opposite).

Please learn to read. I know it's difficult given you're a moron, but please try.

[[Shon3m]]

god dam...this well be a good thread

[arigity]

perhaps you aren't reading what i am writing? i have nothing but good things to say! (albeit in a sarcastic manner) surely my generosity does not warrent such hostilities.

"if i haven't seen it, its new to me."

[BoogieManTM]

Good info.. I do have to lecture people all the time on how warden behaves.. they're still very stuck on that "omfg warden invades my privacy" mindset, so hopefully this will help.. shame people rarely actually read the worthy posts (especially stickies)

[~OddBall~]

Good post, flame fest as usual xD

[Apoc]

Good info.. I do have to lecture people all the time on how warden behaves.. they're still very stuck on that "omfg warden invades my privacy" mindset, so hopefully this will help.. shame people rarely actually read the worthy posts (especially stickies)

Well, in a legal/technical sense, Warden used to invade privacy. (As soon as it started comparing hashes with window titles, it was a privacy issue.) Albeit, they never actually sent back any 'useful' information as to what hash was matched, etc, they still stepped out of the bounds of their own process to monitor your PC in ways they shouldn't be allowed. (Even you can agree, if Blizzard wanted to, they could easily monitor your surfing habits while playing WoW. Though, they never ever will.)

Either way, good thread. Should stop some of the useless posts and whatnot in this section.

[BoogieManTM]

Well, in a legal/technical sense, Warden used to invade privacy. (As soon as it started comparing hashes with window titles, it was a privacy issue.) Albeit, they never actually sent back any 'useful' information as to what hash was matched, etc, they still stepped out of the bounds of their own process to monitor your PC in ways they shouldn't be allowed. (Even you can agree, if Blizzard wanted to, they could easily monitor your surfing habits while playing WoW. Though, they never ever will.)

Either way, good thread. Should stop some of the useless posts and whatnot in this section.

Absolutely, it was out of bounds and in the wrong, but isn't anymore. I was just re-enforcing Cypher's point in that people still believe warden works the way it originally did.

[dushkarn]

thanks for pointing out the myths for warden noobs like me

[KuRIoS]

The governor ... are we back to 2007 ?
oh well nice sticky as usual