[xmrcat]

True, but a tracking pixel is an active attack that leaves a visible trail. This leak is passive surveillance; I can silently graph the sleep cycles of 200 friends without ever interacting with them. Trust shouldn't imply consent for invisible, automated logging.

[scratchyone]

Do you really need an LLM to talk on HN? Genuinely, this research seems cool but its hard to trust your findings when there's clearly AI being used heavily in writing the article and in your comments here.

[wernerb]

But your friends have accepted your request for friendship and your friends are not expecting you to spy on them correct?

[xmrcat]

Exactly. The 'Offline' feature exists specifically to set that boundary, and the backend completely ignores it.

[rvnx]

It's about when your friends were last signed-in in their account. From my understanding:

    Invisible = Sign-in but do not broadcast the games you are playing (though your profile will show that you signed-in)

    Offline = Stay offline and do not sign-in

[nemomarx]

How do you construct a sleep cycle out of login events? Does steam do one if the computer goes into standby etc?

[smileybarry]

Nope, going into standby is the same as logging off, since your client doesn't send keep alive packets anymore. (Not sure if macOS is an exception, because I think my MBP doesn't go into proper sleep if I keep Steam running)