Redundant wrote:If I stopped charging for the hotel room, would it make it ok to wiretap it? This isn't a good analogy, but the fact that I'm not paying for use of the server (even though I did pay for KGS+) doesn't change anything about privacy issues. I know that KGS explicitly states that there is no expectation of privacy, but it still really annoys me that all the admins have this power, given that some of them are people that I would not associate with in real life (this last bit is a euphemism for many choice insults that would violate L19 TOS). I'd prefer if stuff like this were more difficult for KGS staff to access, as to prevent abuse.
If it's helpful to you, I'm happy to explain the perspective of one of the admins who can read the private messages and discussions in private rooms.
Only senior admins can read private messages and chat in private rooms.
Senior admins only look at private chats or conversations in private rooms in response to complaints. Provided that either you or the person you're speaking with aren't subject to a complaint from another player, there's no reason for the admins to look at your private discussions. Although theoretically senior admins can view any discussion anywhere on KGS, in practice the vast majority of discussions on KGS are of no interest to anyone other than the participants themselves.
That said, if you truly want to have a discussion about something very important and personal, then I suggest that you have the conversation on Skype or another instant messenger. When I want to have a personal discussion with a friend, that's what I do.
Finally, I can't think of a circumstance where any admin would have any real interest in reading private chats, provided that one of the people involved isn't the subject of a complaint. KGS management investigates complaints about admin behaviour precisely to ensure that players can have confidence that admins don't abuse their positions.
