EA's Origin is creepy and watches you sleep!

[Granger M]

Dont know what it says in the english language EULA, but in the french version, it actually states that although EA collectes information, EA will never sell to third parties or divulge any informations unless obliged by the law.

 

[ttnicktt]

i really hate ea for not going along with the rules steam has had for ages even though i do want mass effect 3 and battlefield i want to play them with steam as steam games with my friends who dont use origin and never will. also i needed origin for some mass effect DLC i installed origin put the dlc on removed origin and never looked at it again.
please ea put your games on steam again cause even though your origin idea sucked the games you provide are still awesome.

 

[DrunkPickle]

I agree, it's an invasion of privacy, but eh, doesn't bother me enough to restrain from buying EA games completely...

As an aside, I felt really dumb as a human being when all the playstation users were shocked to find that Sony keeps their credit card info encrypted in their systems...I mean it's a multi-billion dollar company, it's what they do. What did you guys expect?

 

[Viral_Lola]

*looks around nervously*

I knew this day would come. In fact, EA has started replacing the people I know with doubles.

 

[raklin]

This is spying, plain and simple, and I'm fairly certain it's against the law. Can't we do anything about this?

Sadly, i don't see a way to bring this to the wider public's attention - Too many people easily shrug off their rights today, anyways. The only thing we can really do is pretend we're making a difference by boycotting their games - at least, the pc version with the devilish eula.

There was a thread on the escapist a few weeks back, maybe a month or so titled "internet explodes over EA orgins" or something like that. it included everything you need to know to let EA know you disapprove - email addresses for all of the people you'd need to contact, etc.

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

STEAM keeps records of your programs installed, too

just tah let you know

Steam is run by Valve who don't have a record of being exploitative of there consumers at every turn. And you can opt out.

 

[Brynar]

Just keep all your pirated games on a seperate disk, and disable it when origin is on. That should solve the problem?

 

[HassEsser]

STEAM keeps records of your programs installed, too

just tah let you know

Steam is run by Valve who don't have a record of being exploitative of there consumers at every turn. And you can opt out.

Hey, I know, VALVe's my main dev, own every one of their games; I am a loyal VALVe fanboy.

I was simply pointing out that Origin's behavior isn't exclusive to Origin, and we shouldn't lose our shit.

Just keep all your pirated games on a seperate disk, and disable it when origin is on. That should solve the problem?

That is impractical and would not work for a number of reasons.

 

[Branches]

If you check out Amazon, BF3's reviews are in the middle ground between 3 stars mainly due to the ratings blackout by Amazon.de

For all the hype and all the non-sense involved, they'll never move away from the Origin platform, unless Valve and Steam come up with a way to allow the in-game browser for the Game Overlay open to the Battlelog website.

 

[BLAHwhatever]

I've gotta say, even if they change their policy, EA completely lost my trust especially with all the dick moves they've pulled off in the past.
It's really really past the point of no return.
The Logo EA on a game box has become a reason not to buy the game. It will stay that way.

 

[TheGreekGeekPrick]

It's good to know that EA's learning from their past mistakes and getting better at this [http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/18/ea-clarifies-iga-spyware/].

 

[Tufty94]

I read about this of 4chan before, I couldn't care less though, I'm using Google chrome so it's be pretty ironic for me to ***** about it.

http://images.4chan.org/v/src/1319886553109.jpg

 

[Floralys]

EA might have changed the EULA, mainly due to the preassure in Germany, but unless they patch Origin... words are wind.

Some explenation what causes the rage in Germany, the nearly 2000 1-Star ratings at amazon.de and nevative covering in German media: Some people started to track Origin via process monitor and the results were pretty astonishing:

Most of the time, origin does scan nothing special. Scan some game relevant folders. But sometimes, it does really creepy things:

Origin reads your browser cookies, cache, history:
http://www.planet3dnow.de/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=24008&d=1319909290

Origin reads Lexware and your tax declaration
http://s1.directupload.net/images/111028/fglehhsj.jpg

Origin reads your synchronized SMS and adressbook (confirmed: Samsung and Sony Ericson, not testet with Apple stuff yet)
http://www.photographyplace.de/origindurchsuchtmeinenpc.jpg
http://s7.directupload.net/images/111028/enxmldba.jpg

Origin sends data to some cloud-services hosted by amazon
http://i44.tinypic.com/2lc8q37.jpg
http://www.planet3dnow.de/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=24007&d=1319909290

Origin scans your PC BEFORE you accept the EULA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDUgIibWwGg

The EULA contradicts German law in multiple points and the breaches are that severe, that you can return your purchased and even unpacked games.

A lawyer analyzed the EULA (googletranslate) for a German games magazine, print edition has high circulation
http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/battlefield-3/artikel/analyse_zur_eula_von_ea_origin,45612,2561554.html

"Origin" even made it into German mainstream media (somewhat comparable to the "Time Magazine"):
http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/0,1518,794600,00.html

German government agencies for data privacy are already on it (but results take time)

 

[Kaossdemon]

How the hell do they expect you to buy anything from them?

 

[Jon Burgess]

the funny thing about all this topic is every game out there has the ability to track programs u are running with the game. this is how game companies pop those who like to hack and say they r good. as far as them getting into files not associated with the game ur playing through them, its not possible and your protected through the federal rights. this would be like someone putting a camera in the bathroom and monitoring you there its illegal in most countries. so before you complain or ***** about ea and other companies you might want to understand the technology your actually working with and how it operates first because all im seeing is a simple statement getting blown out of proportion by a bunch of people that probably have no real clue on how this works. and if you dont like being monitored then u better lose all technology cause everything you do is being scanned and listened too by someone.

 

[Sean Lapointe]

Not saying valve is as evil as EA but yeah let's just say the Left for dead series idea which made that series and made it what it eventually was wasn't their own. I'm sure that's what it was with some other of their games as well probably for EA.

Just saying sometimes you gotta go back to the beginning and find what they did in their past to learn how they will do things in the present n future.

Also that spying on ppl is really bs or it's 100% true.

Maybe EA will start sending out propaganda against people it doesn't like and turn people against people. Remember once you've played one of their games. They own you lol. For ever. Heh.

 

[Barbas]

(Snip).

Hey there. I should let you know that we normally frown on posting in threads older than 30 days, since it's considered thread necro-ing. You might want to have a look at the CoC to make sure you don't get caught out by any of the site's quirks. Other than that, welcome to the Escapist!