Privacy concerns with steam

Hi,

I just downloaded steam and bought the orange box, and I was wondering if there should be any privacy concerns I should know about, now that steam has my credit card, home phone number, and address. Are they storing all of this information? Is it being used to identify me? It seems a little bit worrisome, will steam poke around my computer?

Thanks

 

Ummm its like that for every website you buy something from.

have you never bought anything online before?

 

I have. My issue is not with giving out my information, I have no problem with that. My main concern is the steam program itself. Am I being unreasonably paranoid here?

For example this was taken from the FAQ

"Some users have seen non-Steam related information (like names of private files on their computer) show up inside their Steam cache files, raising privacy concerns."

Sure, they say that the data is overwritten, but how do we know? Especially considering how Real Networks were taken to court with a Privacy Intrusion lawsuit?

 

STEAM uses the information just like any other company uses the information - to charge your credit card.

 

I see, thank you for the clarification.

 

Don't worry, millions of people use STEAM including myself and there have never been any reports of fraud or identity theft caused by the use of STEAM. It's just like shopping at any other online retailer.

Even if your STEAM account is stolen, your information is safe.

 

i don't think Steam should be something to be afraid of...

 

That's good to know. Thanks again everyone for taking the time to answer my post.

 

You don't have to worry about it any more than a reputable online store.

Of course, if you use your credit card a lot then your numbers/info will undoubtedly pass through hundreds if not thousands of systems. It's always possible for your card info to get leaked and it will probably be impossible for you to find out where. Keep checking your credit card statements just in case.

 

Steam does not store you cc info online. TBH I'd like the option to store the info. Kind of a pain to enter it every time I'd like to make a purchase.

 

That's true, I'd like an option for them to save my CC details, so I don't have to re-enter them whenever I make a purchase.

But I guess it's safer this way? That should please the OP at least.

 

I wouldn't worry.

But if you're truely concerned about this, just let your credit card(s) expire and get new ones with new numbers every time. That way you'll cover your tracks, so to speak.

 

maybe check out steams privacy policy... that will outline everything they do with it, and if they do anything else they are in big trouble (and big companies dont like to be in big trouble, so your info should stay within the realms of their privacy policy)