Poll: Sandboxing E.A. Origin - And did it work for you?

[CrystalShadow]

... and I keep wondering what people think they have to hide.

This is ridiculous

One of the stupidest statements ever made is "only criminals have anything to hide." - But hey, if you don't mind some company somewhere knowing every single thing about your life, don't let anyone get in the way.

It's not natural to tell others everything.

Aside from which, do you have any unsecured documents on your computer?

Writing a novel perhaps? Bank statements? Financial data?

How about account information for other online services?

There's a huge list of things people can have on their computer that actually, if you gave any thought to it, wouldn't want just anyone to be able to see.

And while I doubt a company would be looking for this stuff, the mere fact that they're expecting you to give them the legal right to look at anything at all that you've got on your computer (and without letting you so much as know what, exactly they're looking at) is not such a great idea.

It really surprises me how people seem to think nobody would have anything to hide. Ask yourself honestly... "Is there anything I wouldn't be happy about EVERYONE ON THE PLANET knowing", then check to see if any of that is sitting unsecured on your PC somewhere...

When I posted this it was about time to hit the sack. I said to my fellow Comrade: "When I wake up I'll be quoted at least 4 times with people telling me about the horrible risk that Origin poses to our personal data."

Woo Woo.

Score.

Really. It amazes me. EA is not going to steal my novel. EA is not going to steal my bank account details. EA is not going to collect every single .jpg and .png just in hopes that it gets some nudes out of them.

They are getting hardware and software specs to improve on their marketing and development. Something I fully endorse and will continue to fully endorse as long as I profit from the outcome.

(And no, I don't have anything to hide, and I would be perfectly fine with my computer contents being available to the rest of the planet. I'm grown up enough to know that "privacy" is an illusion)

.. and worried about hackers getting access to Origin and eating all and your datas? Sometimes I wish companies would have the time and resources to explain every single one of their decisions and what measures are being taken to insure that their customers remain safe. But they don't. So unless someone receives a reply from one of their developers responsible for stitching together Origin, and gets a complete rundown on what they can and cannot see and what the can and cannot transfer, I'll just do what I always do:

Trust a corporation to have enough brains not to fuck up entirely. Unlike the general populace of the Escapist I still have faith in humanity. I know. Shocking, isn't it?

Let me rephrase that; This is akin to giving someone permission to enter your house, look around, touch, and make notes about everything they see whenever they feel like it.

I'm not worried at all about EA here. I'm worried about the precedent this sets, and the dubious reasons why they're wanting you to give them permission to do this.

If you really can't see the problem with this, that's fine. Let's just hope it never comes back to bite anyone on the ass. (And don't say it won't happen, because it has. Seemingly innocent information about people collected for innocuous reasons has been used to aid some of the worst atrocities ever seen in history. I won't go into details, but do a little research and I'm sure you can figure it out.)

 

[Loop Stricken]

... and I keep wondering what people think they have to hide.

This is ridiculous

Snip

Snip

(And no, I don't have anything to hide, and I would be perfectly fine with my computer contents being available to the rest of the planet. I'm grown up enough to know that "privacy" is an illusion)

Snip

So I assume you don't close your curtains at night? Because clearly you have nothing to hide.
I assume you blurt out all your random and innermost thoughts? Because clearly you have nothing to hide.
I assume you rub your disgusting proclivities in everyone's face? Because clearly you have nothing to hide.
I assume you hand everybody photocopies of all your personal correspondence? Because clearly you have nothing to hide.

And so forth.

 

[Danceofmasks]

To me the problem isnt that they can legally access everything in my computer, im not afraid of that.
The problem is that they actually put that little note there.. I know it sounds weird but i cant really explain it.. Blocking it off for me would do nothing. It's the fact that they even let it in there, that little note in the TOS. It disgusts me, therefore i have started a small EA protest, not to play any of their PC games (and well, try to avoid their console games).

You know they did update the EULA right?

http://bf3blog.com/2011/08/ea-updates-origin-eula-after-criticism/

You know that ammendment changes barely anything, right?

They can still sell information such as "30% of Battlefield 3 players spend more time playing Arma 3", 'cos that stuff doesn't identify you personally.

 

[Socken]

Honestly all I'm worried about is can I get in trouble if they find all the pirated EA games I have.
Everything else I don't give a fuck about but so far, nobody could give me a clear answer on that.

Can Origin identify illegally acquired software and can EA use that information to sue me for damages?

 

[Something Amyss]

me being one of them but not willing to miss out on great games

That's awesome. You're against it, but you're willing to send the message to EA that it's totally okay to do it by playing the games.

I salute you.

 

[Saulkar]

me being one of them but not willing to miss out on great games

That's awesome. You're against it, but you're willing to send the message to EA that it's totally okay to do it by playing the games.

I salute you.

The sarcasm is strong with you my young padawan

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Let me rephrase that; This is akin to giving someone permission to enter your house, look around, touch, and make notes about everything they see whenever they feel like it.

I'm not worried at all about EA here. I'm worried about the precedent this sets, and the dubious reasons why they're wanting you to give them permission to do this.

If you really can't see the problem with this, that's fine. Let's just hope it never comes back to bite anyone on the ass. (And don't say it won't happen, because it has. Seemingly innocent information about people collected for innocuous reasons has been used to aid some of the worst atrocities ever seen in history. I won't go into details, but do a little research and I'm sure you can figure it out.)

that sounds like every single rpg i have ever played -_-

and there is a difference between digital and physical, if someone was looking outside my house, taking notes, trying to recreate its awesomeness or whatever, yeah i wouldn't give a rats ass, inside the house is a slight bit different.

yeah i get it sets a precedent, and i do frown a little bit upon the idea of them having access to ALL things on my computer (even though that isn't true anymore.), i have nothing to hide so i really don't care, and im' not stupid enough to keep bank information or all that shit on this computer, i keep it separately located on a remote computer that doesn't do any type of gaming/lulz of the sort.

so EA, come at me bro, i really don't care what you look at, you won't find much shit different from anyone else's computer (that is, AMD/Radeon users)

 

[idarkphoenixi]

... and I keep wondering what people think they have to hide.

This is ridiculous

Is that really an excuse to allow people to rummage through your files, however personal they may be?
I'm using this program as soon as I figure it out, theres no way I'm letting some faceless organisation scan my pc without even asking for my permission.


Edit: I'm amazed how willing people are to give up complete privacy for the right to play video games...

 

[fenrizz]

... and I keep wondering what people think they have to hide.

This is ridiculous

I have nothing to hide, but I still would not welcome the police to search my appartment every week.

It is about privacy, and some of us like that.
E.A. has no right to snoop around my computer.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

Honestly all I'm worried about is can I get in trouble if they find all the pirated EA games I have.
Everything else I don't give a fuck about but so far, nobody could give me a clear answer on that.

Can Origin identify illegally acquired software and can EA use that information to sue me for damages?

"We and agents acting on our behalf do not share information that personally identifies you without your consent, except in rare instances where disclosure is required by law or to enforce EA?s legal rights."

It actually sounds like they're covering for if that ever happens. "Required by the law" also sounds pretty fishy...

 

[Rawne1980]

... and I keep wondering what people think they have to hide.

This is ridiculous

Some people have ... less than legal ... software on their computers.

Other folks just don't want their PC being nosed around in.

Some don't have anything to hide, it's just the principal of the matter.

On topic.

I have Sandboxie, it works okay for me.

 

[mavkiel]

I'd lean towards principal and security fears. I don't trust ea to secure any information they get. What exactly are the limits to their intrusion? I can see it now, some pervert looking for porn pictures off a womens computer. Or accessing their webcam.

Or some hacker gaining access to their system and starts inflicting whatever damage they can do to all users.

 

[Socken]

Honestly all I'm worried about is can I get in trouble if they find all the pirated EA games I have.
Everything else I don't give a fuck about but so far, nobody could give me a clear answer on that.

Can Origin identify illegally acquired software and can EA use that information to sue me for damages?

"We and agents acting on our behalf do not share information that personally identifies you without your consent, except in rare instances where disclosure is required by law or to enforce EA?s legal rights."

It actually sounds like they're covering for if that ever happens. "Required by the law" also sounds pretty fishy...

Yeah that's what worries me. I'm not sure if that shit could fly in Germany though, consumer protection is usually pretty strict here. It's not like EULAs override the law.

Bleh, guess it's all speculation until something happens anyway. Just gonna wait a few months.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Ugh, people are getting on my nerves. "You don't like this, you have stuff to hide!" and crap like that. FFS people, it's the principle of the matter! I DON'T WANT people snooping around my stuff cause they don't have the right to do so! Who cares if I have stuff to hide or not, it's just weird to know that everything on my comp can be looked at. What bout MSN conversation logs? They can search through those, but who says I want anyone else but the people taking part in the convo to know what is being said?

In short: It's just the principle of the matter. Some people like their privacy, things to hide or NOT.

 

[robert01]

For me it is the fact that we can all sit back and look at how well our private information(mostly in the form of credit card numbers, email addresses and other information that can be used to gather financial data on us) is stored by these companies. At best it is usually laughable. EA is just making it easier, if Origin truly does all that people claim it does, if someone were to get a hold of say a gigabyte of data, they would have stuff like browser histories, windows search quarries, and other information sitting in probably files easy to decrypt. The hackers wouldn't even need to guess what bank you use etc, because all the information would be there for them in probably a nice little package.

Of course most people have nothing to hide, who gives a shit if you have 5 gigabytes of hardcore porn stashed away somewhere on your hard drive. They don't care about that either.
IT IS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION THAT YOU NEED TO WORRY ABOUT, NOT THE CONTENTS ON YOUR COMPUTER.

Can Origin identify illegally acquired software and can EA use that information to sue me for damages?

Can it identify it? Depends. If you have stolenprogram.exe and stolenprograms_crack.exe in the same folder than yeah of course. Other than that it would require them to look at other
stuff like checksum values, and compare it to a known legitimate value. And even that doesn't prove that it is stolen software, just patched.

"Required by the law" also sounds pretty fishy...

Required by law = enforcement agencies show up with a subpoena. Yes it does happen. Some companies(Blizzard( is known to co-operate with law enforcement agencies, and just skip the whole subpoena thing. If you read any ToS that line is in there.

OT: In theory sandboxing Origin would work but it comes with a HUGE list of problems, like a sandbox is always temporary. Do you really want to have to reinstall Origin and whatever game you want to play EVERY time you restart your computer.(Unless it now can write permanent changes to the drive and keep it sand boxed), plus sandboxing(in my experience) is usually less stable than a true windows environment. Why not give VMware or dual booting a try instead.

 

[RobbinxDeHood]

Why would you go to such lengths? Why do you care that they can see your other programs' saved data?

If you feel that way then how about I sell you a television but in order to buy that television from me you have to let me put cameras in every room of your house. Sound OK? And if not, Why?

 

[RobbinxDeHood]

That is actually partially inaccurate. The information is used for way more than just catching thieves. It gives corporations a window into our heads. They take the information and build huge databases around the fears and dreams of communities. It enables companies to directly market to you. This information is being sold to insurance companies to figure out if they are willing to insure you based on how risky your lifestyle is. Look, I know this sounds crazy but I'm a communications major with a degree in Intercultural Communications and a minor in Media Studies. This is what we are taught hot to do. We learn how to dissect information about people so that we can learn how to directly communicate with them in a way that will reach into their emotions. Look at the work by Lippmann and Bernays. Bernays is the nephew of Sigmund Freud and he used psychology to change the way companies sell products. It changed the way the world works. This stuff about privacy has nothing to do with hiding something. This is about not letting corporations into every part of our lives. If you have nothing to hide why not let someone put cameras in your house? Why would anyone be against that?

 

[Vegosiux]

... and I keep wondering what people think they have to hide.

This is ridiculous

Show me your credit card purchases for the last year, please, then.

What do you mean "no"? What are you HIDING?

 

[Dandark]

Oh look! It's the "What have you got to hide" argument. Woot, I get to facepalm twice as much as I usaully do.

I don't want people to look on my compter. Simple as that. I don't really have anything to hide, they probably wouldn't even find anything useful. However, it is my computer. I wouldn't want people to watch me when I am at home, I like my privacy.

I like my privacy, many other people do too, it's as simple as that. Im not really sure how else I can say this to make people understand, we don't want EA to be able to look at our compters because we like or privacy. I don't have guns or drugs or kidnapped hostages hidden in my house, I would still feel uneasy letting it be searched by anyone though.

People like their privacy.

 

[Tharwen]

Why would you go to such lengths? Why do you care that they can see your other programs' saved data?

If you feel that way then how about I sell you a television but in order to buy that television from me you have to let me put cameras in every room of your house. Sound OK? And if not, Why?

I don't live inside my computer though. I don't really see why you should be self-conscious about the programs you have installed, especially since they don't identify you at all.