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Darth 13 Apr, 2014 @ 3:22am
[Privacy Issue] Steam Gift - Exposes email address
Scenario / Steps
Receive a Steam Gift
Check the email you receive from Steam

Privacy Problem
The email address (of the person sending sending the gift) is displayed in the email you receive, both in the plaintext view and HTML view. See these images:
http://i.imgur.com/LYXiu1E.png
http://i.imgur.com/3tG8NWf.png

Why this is a privacy issue
Steam uses your email address to send you account-related emails. Steam NEVER displays your email address to anyone else. Gift messages are the only place email addresses are displayed to other users, which is unexpected and doesn't follow the way that the rest of Steam works.

Users do not expect their email address to be shared with other users. Users assume their email is private in their account information. The email may have private information such as their surname, their school, or their place of employment. Users may like someone enough to send them a gift, but they don't necessarily want that person to know this information or be able to contact them outside Steam.

Expected Behaviour
Steam should link to your Steam profile instead of exposing your email address.
Last edited by Darth; 13 Apr, 2014 @ 3:22am
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Showing 1-15 of 157 comments
Nei 14 Apr, 2014 @ 1:28am 
I've been giving away my email address thru gifts.....
in this case I'll just stop gifting
Last edited by Nei; 14 Apr, 2014 @ 1:35am
#1
Silon 14 Apr, 2014 @ 2:41am 
This is bad. I've already gone and found out the emails of everyone who has ever sent me a gift.
#2
Saikred™ 14 Apr, 2014 @ 9:15pm 
needs to be fixed ASAP.
#3
Greaper 15 Apr, 2014 @ 1:35am 
I just use a gmail specifically for Steam and spam..... but I can see the issue. Personally, If I were to gift someone, they would probably already have an email, phone number, or FaceBook link of mine anyways, so it's moot to me. However, I'm not the norm, so I would agree; or at least put the option to hide/show your address on a gift.
Last edited by Greaper; 15 Apr, 2014 @ 1:51am
#4
Darth 22 Apr, 2014 @ 3:03am 
I was going to buy a couple copies of a really cheap game and gift it to people today but I don't want to share my email address.
The alternative is that I do a Steam trade with them but it's much nicer to send it as a gift so I'm not going to bother.
#5
TwoBit 4 May, 2014 @ 12:14pm 
Although i can not imagen a scenerio where this would be a problem this should be fixed.
#6
catsnobs 5 May, 2014 @ 5:14am 
Originally posted by Saikred™ |кѕ|:
needs to be fixed ASAP.
#7
Darth 25 May, 2014 @ 2:36am 
Any thoughts from Valve?
#8
TwoBit 25 May, 2014 @ 6:40am 
Originally posted by Princess Darthikins Tealcina:
Any thoughts from Valve?
Working as intended i suppose.
Also I beleve in calafornia this is actualy illigal. Im not sure though, being not from Califorinia.
#9
Crimson 26 May, 2014 @ 10:10pm 
I agree that this is something that needs to be resolved. Bump for visibility.
#10
Darth 27 May, 2014 @ 9:17pm 
I've made an example of what Valve could do temporarily until they fix this bug: http://i.imgur.com/G8k4d1k.png
#11
Darth 27 May, 2014 @ 9:31pm 
I've also sent Gabe Newell a Steam Gift with a link to this topic, in the hope that he might see it and agree it is something that should be fixed.

To Gabe Newell if you're reading this: Thanks for checking out this topic! As you can see in the gift email, my email address is displayed instead of linking to my Steam Community profile. No other part of Steam does this, and it doesn't tell users that it is going to do it.
I'm sure you don't actually need any game gifts so I sent you an invite to the "New Steam Community Beta" from 2012 which is... not very useful any more :)
#12
Chrisuu 1 Jun, 2014 @ 9:06pm 
This is a serious privacy issue. Is there any way to revoke a gift before it's been received?

Nevermind, the email has already been sent... there's no way to fix that.

Wow.
Last edited by Chrisuu; 1 Jun, 2014 @ 9:09pm
#13
Darth 1 Jun, 2014 @ 9:09pm 
You can revoke it but the email will have still been sent, showing your email address.
#14
Chrisuu 1 Jun, 2014 @ 9:12pm 
What makes this worse is that my email address is my_actual_first_name@my_actual_last_name.com, because I registered my own domain a few years ago... geez.

Well, that's what I get for trusting third parties with my personal information. I'm only going to be using throwaway accounts online from now on.
#15
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Date Posted: 13 Apr, 2014 @ 3:22am
Posts: 157
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