EA Games install massive spyware kit

[Flavius]

You really can't say it any other way. EA's EULA gives them the right to collect info information about who you are, what you do with your computer, what software you use and if you have everything properly licensed. They also reserve the right to share anything with their partners. Who those partners are they don't say.

http://www.destructoid.com/ea-s-origin-may-be-glorified-spyware-causes-mass-upset-209745.phtml

In Germany they are already under investigation since that EULA is against the law there.

No more EA for me.

 

[Jetfire]

Yeah that is a bad move. I haven't played EA games in a really long time...like since I had a Game Cube.

[edit] The only game I play and have on my laptop is WoW by Blizzard.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

The games industry seems to be getting quite silly as of late, it seems these days that if you actually support the game industry and actually buy the games then they will have you jumping throw hoop and hoop, be it intrusive DRM, one time codes, always on conenctions, locked single player content activation, and as we see here privacy invasive programs tacked onto games.....and all annoying the people actually buying the games and supporting the industry...........yet if your a pirate you dont have to deal with all this nonsense.

Yeap, that's how you keep your paying customers happy.

 

[TremblingBluStar]

You really can't say it any other way. EA's EULA gives them the right to collect info information about who you are, what you do with your computer, what software you use and if you have everything properly licensed.

How the heck does EA plan on determining if everything on a computer is properly licensed? Do they have a database with valid activation codes for everything ever released?

BTW, I'm nearing the end of Mass Effect.

Yeah, I'm a bit behind.

 

[FPAlpha]

Par for the course today and in the past.. the only difference in the past was that the tools to scope out your customers were more limited.

With todays technology and the carelessness many people show in putting personal info on the web (Facebook being one of the biggest examples) it's no wonder companies try to take advantage of that to maximise profits.

I'm really glad that German law is apparently hitting them hard on the fingers and establishing borders.

 

[Namikaze]

The only EA Games I have are console based. They are welcome to the limited amount of data on my PS3. However, I am wary of installing any computer software they may have developed.

 

[Arrqh]

That article is two months old and the EULA in question was amended four days later. http://www.giantbomb.com/news/ea-revises-origins-eula-to-make-it-sound-decidedly-less-sinister/3624/

 

[Flavius]

Thanks, Arrqh.

My interest in this stems from an article that appeared yesterday on spiegel.de.

It can be found here:

http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/0,1518,794600,00.html

This article focuses obviously on the German view of things.

As to the revised EULA, the new one is only worded friendlier but still reserves the right to monitor what's happening on your computer, not just what you are doing with their software. That includes your current IP address.

That's what spyware is.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Hasn't anyone learned from Sony's rootkit fiasco? And Starforce? I'm astounded that companies still think this is the best way to do things.

 

[Arrqh]

As to the revised EULA, the new one is only worded friendlier but still reserves the right to monitor what's happening on your computer, not just what you are doing with their software. That includes your current IP address.

Certainly the EULA is concerning but as of this moment Origin is not actually spying on people's computers and reporting any information back that doesn't have anything to do with EA's services internal to the program. It is not actually spyware. So in that regard, the thread title is factually inaccurate. Origin is not a spyware kit. It also is not comparable in the slightest to Sony's rootkit or Starforce. There is zero evidence at the moment that Origin is actually doing any of the things that people were inferring from the EULA. It also does not give EA the right to monitor everything going on on your computer... the definitions at the start of the EULA identify the word "Application" with a capital A as referring only to Origin itself (you can see that here in the first paragraph) At no point does it say that it is collecting data on how else you are using your computer. This was true of both the original and reworded EULA.

Now I don't mean to say that these sorts of things aren't a problem. I'm not that familiar with German law and if the EULA is in conflict with the law there then that certainly should be pursued. That aside, there absolutely should be an opt-out option if you don't want any anonymized information sent back. But there's a lot of misinformation and charged language that flew around the internet two months ago about this and it's important to recognize what actually is the problem and what is just people being reactionary.

 

[Flavius]

..It also does not give EA the right to monitor everything going on on your computer... the definitions at the start of the EULA identify the word "Application" with a capital A as referring only to Origin itself (you can see that here in the first paragraph) At no point does it say that it is collecting data on how else you are using your computer...

The German government agency as well as a number of high profile scholars of law - who are quoted in that German article - certainly disagree. Spiegel.de btw is a major news outlet in Germany and this is a big story. Note: EA didn't want to comment on the story.

They had a chance to clarify that 'Application, software, and software use' actually means what you claim it means.

IANAL, but it seems pretty clear that in August EA just put a little lipstick on the pig.

No more EA games for us.

 

[Arrqh]

Unfortunatly the only way I can read the German articles is through Google's translator which isn't so great so I can't speak to that.

But you're wrong. They did clarify that when they revised the EULA a few days after the outrage. Here is the relavent passage from the EULA which I already linked to:

This End User License Agreement (“License”) is an agreement between you and
Electronic Arts Inc, its subsidiaries and affiliates ("EA"). This License governs
your use of this application and all related software, documentation, and updates
and upgrades that replace or supplement the application and are not distributed
with a separate license (together, the “Application”). This Application is licensed
to you free of charge. You do not own the Application.