This is a breakdown of what mobile system folks are using, not whether they are using a mobile phone or not.
Given that the U.S. population is about 312,000,000 a 1% group not using a mobile phone would represent more than 3,000,000 folks. I do agree it isn’t likely any of those good people are playing WoW, but it isn’t a negligible number.
so if i continue to use the same log in like since 202what ever Im ok?
If you remove the authenticator from your account, I would recommend changing your password every once in a while. I know that always sucks to have to do, because new passwords are a pain, but it will help with security.
If you are able to use the Battlenet app then changing your password will not be necessary.
This looks like a way to sell a lot of your info . LOL they can and will sell your phone number and every thing you do on your phone . Not liking what I read here .
ttp://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/privacy.html
The developer, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
Contact Info
User Content
Identifiers
Usage Data
Diagnostics
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Location
Diagnostics
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Seller
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Size
132.9 MB
Category
Entertainment
Compatibility
iPhone
Requires iOS 14.0 or later.
iPod touch
Requires iOS 14.0 or later.
Languages
English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Thai, Traditional Chinese
Age Rating
4+
Copyright
© 2023 Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.
Price
Free
I’ve heard it said that a person can only be young once, but they can always be immature.
I’ve had the mobile authenticator for ages since it first came out. I don’t get weird phone calls or anything. 
And to get market research on what type of mobile games you use.
And if there’s the phrase “like… but not limited to” that pretty much means anything they want. And “trusted partners” means any data broker or third party with their check book open.
What’s frustrating is, if you don’t agree to this, they make the game experience worse.
If it’s free, you’re the product.
… I’m sorry what?
One of the great joys of life for me was discovering I don’t have to answer the door or the phone. If I don’t recognize the number I let it go to voicemail. If I’m not expecting a package or visitor the door can fend for itself. Likewise most of my mail is fed unopened into recycling.
It is liberating to realize one is not a dog in Pavlov’s lab and some things can be ignored for the better.
Didn’t people crack the Authenticators like… years ago? What is the point? Why do we still use them?
What???
Yeah, they cracked the authenticator and then started brute forcing passwords. I don’t see why we still use the thing.
To be fair, there’s probably been multiple iterations of the authenticator, but that doesn’t really matter too much when it’s been proven that the thing can be bypassed.
USPS informed delivery is wonderful for that.
I’m emailed pictures of what’s coming to my mailbox and whether I even need to bother walking down to the mailbox today or not. Our driveway is unusually steep, and I’ve been known to wait for days to collect the trash in it.
I assume you have proof.
I’ve been using it for years too.
Anyone can eventually hack anything. It’s why SMS exists, as well.
But encryption can be changed, as well.
So it’s a moot point, really. Blizz will change the encryption and ask people to also use SMS.
No one is that invested in WoW accounts to keep going through all of that to hack.
A former Blizzard dev was talking about how they did ban waves and the logic behind it, and then mentioned the authenticator being cracked at one point.
I’m not an expert, but I’d say you’re wrong about this. If you can steal an account, that’s a lot of bots to do what ever you want with. And, when it eventually gets banned, that’s someone else’s account that’s getting banned. There are plenty of good reasons for immoral people to do bad things. It might not make sense to you, but I also assume you aren’t in the business of stealing other peoples accounts or bot farming.
I don’t know what the rates are, but if you can bot farm for several months (ban waves are done every 3 months I think), well you can now sell that farmed gold on 3rd party sites, and if you live in a 3rd world country where 1 USD is more money than you would otherwise make in a month, then you have ALL the incentive to spend time stealing peoples accounts and bot farming… because the alternative might be going without food.
So no proof got it.
If this is what you want to believe, then believe it. I told you where I got the information. But what would the devs know about this sort of stuff, I mean they’re just intimately involved with the inner workings of this stuff.
I will say that listening to him talk I learned a lot about how pernicious the botting scene is. How there are entire websites which help sell and coordinate and gather these sorts of services and people.
I used to think “Why doesn’t Blizzard just run around banning people if they see bots”, and it turns out the entire process is much more complicated.
Either way, you aren’t really interested in a dialogue you just want me to be wrong. This is fine, you can want me to be wrong, but I’m not. I’m not lying and I’m not wrong, I would have absolutely nothing to gain from either of those things.
I believe what I see verifiable proof of. I also don’t have much faith in what any “former employee” of any company says unless I see conformation since they often have an agenda.
I have no interest in you being right or wrong only whether your information is factual and so far I’ve seen no reason to believe it is.