Internet Explodes Over Origin's Invasion of Privacy

[Sgt. Dante]

We need to get some creative people together for this one.
Come on guys,

How can we make a legal issue out of this? Surely there must be something we can claim against them for this, it's bound to stamp over all kinds of legal and ethical issues. We just need a good enough claim against it and we can destroy them.

The games industry has been spitting on customer rights for this long, it's finally getting to the point where they don't consider customers to have any rights at all they can't have a hand in. We know we can't let it go down this way.

The Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data)
affords some nice liberties to the EU members amoungst us, however i'm not entirely sure of the legality of reading the TOS means you're bound to them.

1.Notice-data subjects should be given notice when their data is being collected;
2.Purpose-data should only be used for the purpose stated and not for any other purposes;
3.Consent-data should not be disclosed without the data subject's consent;
4.Security-collected data should be kept secure from any potential abuses;
5.Disclosure-data subjects should be informed as to who is collecting their data;
6.Access-data subjects should be allowed to access their data and make corrections to any inaccurate data; and
7.Accountability-data subjects should have a method available to them to hold data collectors accountable for following the above principles

This could easily be seen to say that while you agree to take my data I have to agree to you selling it, but the big scary TOS does try and say that by using our products you have no rights... I am really unsure of the legality of that.

 

[NoeL]

Or as some people have, if you have downloaded music at all they can sell that information to SonyBMG (or whoever) and use that as a legal means of obtaining evidence against you that you pirated their stuff.

Noop:

We may also share that data with our third party service providers in a form that does not personally identify you.

 

[NoeL]

The Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data)
affords some nice liberties to the EU members amoungst us, however i'm not entirely sure of the legality of reading the TOS means you're bound to them.

1.Notice-data subjects should be given notice when their data is being collected;
2.Purpose-data should only be used for the purpose stated and not for any other purposes;
3.Consent-data should not be disclosed without the data subject's consent;
4.Security-collected data should be kept secure from any potential abuses;
5.Disclosure-data subjects should be informed as to who is collecting their data;
6.Access-data subjects should be allowed to access their data and make corrections to any inaccurate data; and
7.Accountability-data subjects should have a method available to them to hold data collectors accountable for following the above principles

This could easily be seen to say that while you agree to take my data I have to agree to you selling it, but the big scary TOS does try and say that by using our products you have no rights... I am really unsure of the legality of that.

From the snippet of the TOS on the front page it says EA's Privacy Policy overrides anything in the Origin TOS. In the Privacy policy it says:

B. Will EA Share My Information With Third Parties?
EA will never share your personal information with third parties without your consent.

Installing Origin likely counts as "consent" so even in the EU they may have their bases covered here.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

It still boggles the mind as to how this much of an invasion of privacy can be legal.

Agreed, or even relevant. I mean please, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but EA really don't have any need for the kind of information described here, do they?

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

EA is seaming increasingly evil... :/

But c'mon people, unless you have kiddy porn (you sick bastard) I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Since when did EA become the police? People constantly use the Kiddy Porn argument whenever someone says their privacy is being violated, the whole argument is getting to be right up there with the Hitler one.

If Origin opens a constant door on to your computer, how long do you think, it'll take EA's servers to hacked wide open and all that data and entry point info finds its ways in to (more) unscrupulous hands?

Sony, one of the biggest and most powerful out there, were shut down for more than a month and their entire customer database was compromised. This little exercise was apparently for "the lulz". Just imagine what might happen to EA now that they have painted a target on their foreheads.

You know who takes privacy seriously? Anonymous.

 

[Jonabob87]

DAMN IT PEOPLE READ THE ACTUAL ToS WITH YOUR EYES OPEN.

It says they will collect information about your COMPUTER and CERTAIN PROGRAMS and that they will NOT share ANY personal information they might have.

Stop being such fucking sheep and learn to think for yourselves. Just because the vapid OP decided to jump to utterly unfounded and ridiculous conclusions doesn't mean you have to.

They should not be be allowed to collect such a vague and wide amount of information such as what programs I have and when I use them and as has been pointed out someone could come in and steal the information they have collected. This ToS is overreach and should be fought so we don't have even more attempted next time. It comes down to trust and frankly many people do not trust EA with that much of their information.

What's difficult about trusting someone with the specs of your computer?

No, people are looking for reasons to be upset about Origin, and it's pathetic.

 

[ThreeWords]

Hmm, this is just really, really, really, fucking stupid.

"We'll release a triple-A game that hundereds of thousands (maybe) really want and have been waiting for for thre or so years. BUT we'll make them download something which requires you to agree us to do ANYTHING with ANY data we want to collect off their computers. Good idea guys, marketing is gonna love this!"

I think it's genius. Evil genius, of course, but still genius.

Does Satan run EA?

It would make sense. And in a way, it would almost make me respect EA, rather than pity them...

Any how, all we would need to do is beat them in a rock off [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJTYp1tvd3Q]...

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

But c'mon people, unless you have kiddy porn (you sick bastard) I don't think you have anything to worry about.

[HEADING=2]Citizens of The World,[/HEADING]

We have decided to do something about the increasing rates of domestic violence in this wonderful world of ours. Close circuit television cameras will be installed in all of your houses so that we may find these despicable people who attack their partner.

As people who live in peace with their partner, I am sure you will have nothing to worry about from the cameras. They are purely their for your own protection.

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

 

[Nouw]

I'm pretty sure most softwares do the same. If not worse.

 

[Blaster391]

I think I will just buy the PS3 version of any EA product. Or not at all.

 

[JKain]

Good Thing I'm already boycotting EA for like half a decade now (personal reasons,really)
but I am just lucky that i'm not interested in BF (or MW and the likes of)- so that makes it comparatively easy for me
Shame for the good Developers they lured on their side

OT:

HOLY SHIT! EA IS TRYING TO FUCK US OVER? WHO WOULDA THUNK IT! Its almost as if no one had every heard of them before...

-.-;

Why is this a surprise to some people?

That reminded me of this...


OT: Gotta love the tactics companies like EA try to pull. Unless people start taking notice and peel away the contradictions, hypocrisies and paradoxes like what's going on here, corporations will just steamroll over the "common folk". Rarely do people ever take that initiative, so long as they get fix...what's the point, right?

Hold on, something's slapping my butt...

thx- haven't seen that one yet. gotta love me some Bill Hicks. what a damn pity he ain't still around

 

[Nikolaz72]

Eh people will still accept it in order to play BF3, even if they say they won't.

Baseless assumption is baseless. Find me another example of millions of users willingly downloading spyware to play an FPS and I'll listen.

And no, people buying a game they said they would not does not count. Those games were probably unpopular but they still werent spyware.

And no Zynga's spyware doesnt count. Because they got sued for it and it was proven illigal and people didnt willingly download it.

Why must it be an FPS? Cause I'm considering facebook and google where information is collected from you and harvested for ads and nobody really cares, since they recieve the service they want. The 3DS also has insane ToS, granted the sales are poor but the poll put out on the street didn't have "crazy terms of service" as the top reasons. Gimmicky, lack of games and even lack of colour choices were more common a reason not to buy it If we'll be honest, no-one's going to be affected so harshly individually from whatever Origin plan to do, they might get some strangely specific ads; but if you weren't going to buy it cause of this it's an act on principle not convenience. And I've yet to see the gaming community successfully impact a AAA studio with a boycott even slightly, so when they do it will be a great day. People want to play BF3, and I hope they can subvert this. When the steam group for BF3 inevitably arises from this we'll find out after launch date how many were willing to stick to their guns.

In fact, I find the 3DS ones even worse than this. "We can destroy your shit any time we feel like it" is pretty nasty, but people really do just suck it up because they want to play the games

You just stated perfectly yourself what I didnt. Casual gamers and facebookers dont care for the terms of services. This has never happened before with a tripple-A title. And also, something else you said which doesnt make sense.

You are gonna wait a shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-t load of time for a steamgroup of battlefield 3 to pop up.

Makes this all the more interesting actually. Do hardcore (Yeah I'll regard this specific game as hardcore, but only the PC version cause of the sysreqs) gamers have the stones to stand against this, or will they fold as they did with MW2 PC?

There are *many* examples which are strong but not perfect.There's no example we can give where the performance-pushers have been specifically shafted, so we will see. Also: Where do the MW2 PC gamers lie on your casual-hardcore spectrum? It's a PC game (Hardcore) It's CoD(Casual now) and the sysreqs are high enough that you can't play it on a browser-PC, not even close.

What I was saying is that my Grandmother uses Facebook and my cousin of 4 years uses 3DS. I dont think they would care four shits if somebody was looking into their porn collection or pirated games. However I think gamers of below 20 years who pirate games and watch porn would be a little too embarrased to let EA look into their stash. That was the point I was trying to get across. And no, im not a PC elitist -thankyouverymuch- but im not getting it on consoles either as that would send the message that we dont want them on the PC (Which is a lie) We, or I. As a person. Do not like Origin, personally im getting Space Marine instead. Looks terrific.

 

[Aprilgold]

HEADLINE, EA BANKRUPT FROM ORIGIN!
Can't a man dream. This would be the second coming of the [don't read next bit if you have a religion and / or not atheist, don't want to offend, you've been warned

Spoiler

not real

JEEZUS! Serisoulsly, Ea, keep it up, and you won't have a company in the dawn.

 

[magicmonkeybars]

HOLY SHIT! EA IS TRYING TO FUCK US OVER? WHO WOULDA THUNK IT! Its almost as if no one had every heard of them before...

-.-;

Why is this a surprise to some people?

This is almost word for word what I thought when I read the headline.

 

[Lim3]

They want to collect information for their own nefarious purposes - such as selling it for a premium price. That sort of information is worth a lot to marketers.

It sucks that if you want to play Battlefield 3 you would have to sell your privacy and pay $s.

Isn't there laws against this?

Google sells a lot of information. I think as long as its anonomouse data and they don't specify they won't sell it in the user agreement its fine.

 

[Sgt. Dante]

From the snippet of the TOS on the front page it says EA's Privacy Policy overrides anything in the Origin TOS. In the Privacy policy it says:

B. Will EA Share My Information With Third Parties?
EA will never share your personal information with third parties without your consent.

Installing Origin likely counts as "consent" so even in the EU they may have their bases covered here.

That's kinda what i'm getting at, even the bloody EU law regarding privacy and data protection can so simply be overridden cause a company put in the line "cause we said so."

I'm really wavering about this now. Everything I see about BF3 makes for more want, everything I hear makes me not wanna go near it.

 

[Phisi]

Well... They seem to be going well on their quest to reclaim most evil publisher award from Activism. I applaud you EA for you devious tactics at succeeding in becoming more evil by ending any chance my friends and I would buy BF3 to play together.

 

[YunikoYokai5]

Fucking EA! Hard. Copies. Come on people! I don't want to be the guy who's telling everyone to "Go back to horses, motors are just a fad!" but seriously!

I always buy hard copies, but that's because my internet connection is horrible XD Downloading WipeOut HD and Ratchet and Clank from the PS3 welcome back package took over 24 hours each, downloading Dragon Age: Origins on the PC took 2 and a half days of straight downloading. So until I move to an area with faster internet (which isn't any time soon) no downloading games for me XD But I agree with what you say. If you don't like a site's TOS, buy a hard copy online or in a shop.

 

[Drakulea]

That's kinda what i'm getting at, even the bloody EU law regarding privacy and data protection can so simply be overridden cause a company put in the line "cause we said so."

I'm really wavering about this now. Everything I see about BF3 makes for more want, everything I hear makes me not wanna go near it.

Same here.

In fact,I'm not even wavering.

I was really looking forward to playing BF3 together with my clan-mates. But if the price is installing a piece of spyware, then forget it.

I like the Battlefield-style squad-centered multiplayer, I really do. But it's Modern Warfare 3 run-n-gun for me if this doesn't change, at least they don't probe-f*ck my cyber-butt.

Maybe,just maybe, if enough people pile up their discontent EA will take a 2nd look. If not, then I will find other ways to play EA games. Because, really, when faced with this kind of corporate contempt, then the conglomerate in question deserves to have their earnings, shall we say, undercut .

EA doesn't deserve one cent for the kind of police-state crap they're pulling.

EA would still easily make lots of money even without installing spyware on people's systems. They don't really need Origin. But then again, the baron doesn't need to f*ck over his serfs, does he? He does it because he can.

I would love to walk up to the corporate suit that came with this brilliant idea and give him a piece of my mind. And fist.

 

[mrc390]

God damn you EA, do you just not want my money?