Dear Community, Developers, Server Owners, Cfx.re Team, and Everyone Involved,
I’ve recently noticed a growing trend in the FiveM community that goes beyond the usual anti-cheat resources or scripts. There’s now a hype surrounding specific programs like Synapse, Echo, and others, which are marketed as anti-cheat solutions. In essence, users download these programs, allowing them to “scan” their PCs. However, these programs are not open-source, and an overwhelming 99% of German servers have started using these services. This raises concerns about compliance with European law, as these programs don’t transparently inform users about the data being accessed or which data is visible to the admin. Furthermore, data such as the most recently launched programs on a user’s computer is stored on the provider’s server without clear consent.
Before the rise of these programs, PC checks were typically conducted through screen-sharing on Discord, TeamViewer, or similar applications, allowing admins to inspect a user’s computer to prevent bans.
While I understand that these measures aim to keep cheaters at bay, it has reached a point where some German servers now require PC scans or full analyses for players just to gain whitelist access. It feels like every player is being scrutinized, and I question whether every individual under these checks is indeed a cheater. This approach puts regular players in a position where they feel forced to allow invasive scans to avoid being banned.
Is this practice acceptable? Is it legally or ethically justified? And above all, what stance does the Cfx.re Team take on this matter?
A snippet of Q&A EchoAC:
What do we log at Echo?
At Echo, we log only the bare minimum necessary to ensure that you receive a highly detailed forensic analysis result. We store data types such as IP addresses, hardware identifiers, recent program usage, the memory of processes running on the computer, and login activities. All this information is essential to determine whether a player might be cheating or not, and with every update, we aim to log less.
Cheers,
byK3