Your Xbox Might Be Revealing Personal Info Without Your Permission, Here's How to Check

Last night Reddit user 'nadiaface' received a strange heads up from a friend who said that their [...]

xboxone

Last night Reddit user "nadiaface" received a strange heads up from a friend who said that their last name was showing up next to their GamerTag. "I thought it was weird," they said in their post, "because I have my settings to block from showing my real name." Sure enough, when they went to check, their full name was showing. Not only that, but everyone's full name was on display next to their tags. Streamers, friends, recent players, everyone.

"I went through my entire friend list and I know for a fact none of these people have ever showed their name before. We all go by nicknames and having your last name show is a HUGE BREACH in security. Why is this happening?" A follow-up post on ResetEra confirmed that it's not just users who are part of the Insider Alpha program. Many people, for no apparent reason, had their privacy options reverted to show their full names to everyone, and no one is sure why it happened. So how can you tell if your privacy settings have been tweaked?

You'll want to follow (this link) to review your Xbox privacy settings. After you log in, you'll see a long list of settings that you can adjust on the fly. About halfway down the page you'll settings for sharing your real name with everyone, with friends, or only to those whom you choose. It will look like this:

privacy settings

For the record, the image above was taken by me, and my privacy settings were not affected. It's worth noting, however, that I recently upgraded to an Xbox One X, and so all of my settings were very fresh.

Many users are reporting that, despite having their privacy settings ticked to only show their names to friends or friends of their choosing, it had been adjusted to show their real names to everyone. Obviously this has been unsettling for a lot of players, and some people are really upset. On the Reddit and ResetEra threads, you'll notice that people are labeling this as "doxxing," since Xbox has been sharing personal information against the wishes of its users.

We've reached out to Xbox for comment, and will update the story as soon as they respond.

Have you been affected, or are your settings still the same? If they were changed, does that frighten or alarm you, or is it a simple inconvenience? Sound off in the comments below, and let us know if your privacy was breached.

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