Are our gaming sessions private?

[Blaiki]

Are our gaming sessions private or can the devs/engineers look in as we're playing? I guess if they did then it'd be for quality control but it'd be nice to know.

[NetSage]

We know Google is collecting data because we know they working on "negative latency" basically the want to build tech that will predict what you'll do accurately enough that it reacts before you do because of the latency inherent in the platform.

[Chufu]

I don't think that can directly view your gaming sessions, but for sure Google is collecting data and feedback to improve Stadia, so I believe that some things might be forwarded. But who knows what exactly? 

[Mad_Dog_Bravo · Accepted solution]

@Blaiki :

I would very much expect that the devs/engineers can see exactly what we are doing when we are playing if they choose to do so, for any number of reasons. Troubleshooting, investigation of blocked players and so forth.

There are a number of links about the data that is collected over the following three documents:

Stadia Controller and your privacy 

Privacy policy - Stadia 

Google - Privacy Policy & Terms 

As you can see from these there is a the ability to control some of the data sharing associated with diagnostics and usage data, but there is also a statement in the Stadia Privacy policy that states that Google may share some data with the game publisher including game play data, and the video and audio of your game.

So, my understanding of this is an absolute yes, they have visibility of this and can share this with game developers.

From a cloud based service and the necessity to protect users, I would think that it would be a serious issue for Google/Stadia if they didn't have the ability to access users games and chat and so forth, especially in a multi-user environment where it would be essential IMHO.