Take-Two and 2K games have updated all their games Terms of Service, turning this game as well as all of their other games into literal spyware.

Important Info in Terms of Service:
• Mods are a bannable offense
• Display of Cheats/Exploits is bannable
• Forced arbitration clause and a waiver of class action and jury trial rights for all users residing in the United States and any other territory other than Australia, Switzerland, The United Kingdom, or The Territories of The European Economic Area
• You can be banned for using a VPN while connecting to online servers
• Cannot access game content on a Virtual PC

Collected Data Types:
• Identifiers / Contact Information: Name, user name, gamertag, postal and email address, phone number, unique IDs, mobile device ID, platform ID, gaming service ID, advertising ID (IDFA, Android ID) and IP address
• Protected Characteristics: Age and gender
• Commercial Information: Purchase and usage history and preferences, including gameplay information
• Billing Information: Payment information (credit / debit card information) and shipping address
• Internet / Electronic Activity: Web / app browsing and gameplay information related to the Services; information about your online interaction(s) with the Services or our advertising; and details about the games and platforms you use and other information related to installed applications
• Device and Usage Data: Device type, software and hardware details, language settings, browser type and version, operating system, and information about how users use and interact with the Services (e.g., content viewed, pages visited, clicks, scrolls)
• Profile Inferences: Inferences made from your information and web activity to help create a personalized profile so we can identify goods and services that may be of interest
• Audio / Visual Information: Account photos, images, and avatars, audio information via chat features and functionality, and gameplay recordings and video footage (such as when you participate in playtesting)
• Sensitive Information: Precise location information (if you allow the Services to collect your location), account credentials (user name and password), and contents of communications via chat features and functionality.

This is not ok, shouldn't be allowed, and frankly I want to see someone get defenstrated over this.

The Review: Borderlands is a good game. You should at least try it.

Now, the main reason I am writing this. No, the game is not spyware. It’s a misunderstanding based on updates to the terms of service. What happened was the games publisher, Take Two Interactive, updated the terms of their end user license recently. Several actors in the Borderlands community misread these changes as them turning the currently released games in the franchise into literal spyware. This is not true. The games are perfectly safe to run and your data will not be stolen. The codebase for the games is unchanged, all the update did is add an advertisement for the upcoming fourth game and you have to agree to the new EUL before you can play online. That said if you feel uncomfortable playing due to this controversy, I understand. I post this only to clarify the situation and will update as needed.

QnA:
Will the game spy on me?
– NO. The codebase is unchanged from before the update. The game itself will not collect any information.

Will I need a Kernal Level Anti-Cheat which will spy on me?
- NO. You will not need to install any anti-cheat to play Borderlands. The update did not change this.

Will I be banned from multiplayer or sued by Take Two for using mods?
- NO. The game is a 10+ year old co-op shooter. Take Two does not care if you mod it. This part of the EUL is relevant for modern releases and in active development projects such as Grand Theft Auto Online where cheating via mods is a very real problem. Besides, this part of the EUL is targeted at cheat creators, not individual users who use mods.

Will I be banned from multiplayer for using foul language?
- NO. Again, this is a 10+ year old game. Take Two does not care if you trash talk your teammates. Again, this part of the EUL is relevant to more modern projects. Still, please respect your teammates.

What data does the new EUL cover?
- Emails, phone numbers, username, name, IP address, and passwords if relevant. If this sounds concerning, know that this is standard for many EULs where you need to create an account. You provided all this information except the latter to Steam when you created your account, Take Two just asks Steam to look at this information. The password clause is only for your Gearbox Shift account, it will not steal banking passwords or your Steam password.

Take-Two and 2K games have updated all their games Terms of Service, turning this game as well as all of their other games into literal spyware.

Important Info in Terms of Service:
• Mods are a bannable offense
• Display of Cheats/Exploits is bannable
• Forced arbitration clause and a waiver of class action and jury trial rights for all users residing in the United States and any other territory other than Australia, Switzerland, The United Kingdom, or The Territories of The European Economic Area
• You can be banned for using a VPN while connecting to online servers
• Cannot access game content on a Virtual PC

Collected Data Types:
• Identifiers / Contact Information: Name, user name, gamertag, postal and email address, phone number, unique IDs, mobile device ID, platform ID, gaming service ID, advertising ID (IDFA, Android ID) and IP address
• Protected Characteristics: Age and gender
• Commercial Information: Purchase and usage history and preferences, including gameplay information
• Billing Information: Payment information (credit / debit card information) and shipping address
• Internet / Electronic Activity: Web / app browsing and gameplay information related to the Services; information about your online interaction(s) with the Services or our advertising; and details about the games and platforms you use and other information related to installed applications
• Device and Usage Data: Device type, software and hardware details, language settings, browser type and version, operating system, and information about how users use and interact with the Services (e.g., content viewed, pages visited, clicks, scrolls)
• Profile Inferences: Inferences made from your information and web activity to help create a personalized profile so we can identify goods and services that may be of interest
• Audio / Visual Information: Account photos, images, and avatars, audio information via chat features and functionality, and gameplay recordings and video footage (such as when you participate in playtesting)
• Sensitive Information: Precise location information (if you allow the Services to collect your location), account credentials (user name and password), and contents of communications via chat features and functionality