GPRO IS AT IT AGAIN

GPRO is at it again

Online games news Tedious Retro Gamer, 26-03-2025
Online Games Bay

Do you know that there are laws in the world? Yes, it is rather common knowledge. Meet Grand Prix Racing Online, an online game ran by people, who do not have that common knowledge.

Grand Prix Racing Online is an online game with a long, long, long history of breaking the privacy laws and it seems that they are still at it. Just got an e-mail informing me that friend of mine, Mack Cotton, has invited me back to Grand Prix Racing Online.

There are two problem with that e-mail. One: I got it on an address that was supposed to be removed by those a-holes from their database. Two: unfortunately I do not know any Mack Cotton. And oh boy, how I wish I knew Mack Cotton, because I have two fists he might be interested to inspect from a very close distance at very high speed.

To put it mildly GPRO never removes accounts, even though it is required by law. They never remove e-mail addresses from their database, even though it does break the EU privacy laws (and those a-holes are running their server from Bulgaria).

I don’t even remember how many years ago was it when I created account there, but I would guess about 12 or perhaps even more, played for couple of weeks before I decided to give it up, because the game just was not that good. After being bombarded for about 2-3 years with e-mails inviting me back, I tried to close the account, which was impossible, I changed the e-mail address linked to account, but still, after all these years GPRO is desperate enough to beg people to come back.

All I can say is: stay away from Grand Prix Racing Online, never create account there, if you were unfortunate to do so, contact your local privacy protection agency and report GPRO for breaking the EU laws. And tell your friends, so they won’t fall for that scammy website.

Just to let you know the context:
1. the privacy policy does not list company behind it, which is breach of transparency rules in EU privacy laws,
2. privacy policy has a header "in case you are a EU citizen", meaning they will not grant any privacy laws for people from outside of EU,
3. there should be publicly available information regarding closing an account, it is not present in there terms or privacy policy, which is another breach of the EU privacy laws,
4. e-mail I received does not contain option to opt-out of their notifications, which also breaks the law,
5. even the data of domain owner is hidden in WHOIS records, which does not break any laws, but also is not a sign of a company that has nothing to hide.

That is why we strongly advise you not to share any of your personal data with website or application GPRO, because you put yourself in danger of becoming their next victim.

28-03-2025