SharkScope Ban Reconsidered (Update)

November 14, 2008 (InfoPowa News) — Barely a week after announcing a ban on players using the poker information database SharkScope (see previous reports) the management at PokerStars appears to have reconsidered its decision following appeals by its players.
 
In a new statement this week, PokerStars noted:
 
"We understand that players have expressed concerns regarding our recent detection methods, and we recognize that we made a mistake. Consequently, we will explain the error, and correct it.
 
"We detected players who visited the SharkScope website by having the PokerStars Client monitor active network connections using built-in Windows functions for that purpose. The data returned by this function is similar to that which is returned by the Windows accessory called 'Netstat'. A periodic query to Windows determined whether the SharkScope IP was being accessed. This was a YES/NO query, purely regarding access to the specific SharkScope IP address. If a connection to the SharkScope IP was detected, this fact and only this fact was sent back to the PokerStars server. We then sent warning emails to players who had accessed SharkScope in conjunction with the PokerStars Client."
 
"This technique ensured that players accessing the SharkScope website were detected without breaching their right to privacy. At no stage was a player's Internet browsing history ever queried, or transmitted from the PokerStars Client to the PokerStars Server."
 
The popular website has therefore decided that Sharkscope will remain a prohibited service, but only while players are actually involved in a game.