Regarding Origin...

[Kodachi]

So I can't find the particular post within the forum that summed up Origin's ToS nor am I familiar with the product itself but I was curious. Knowing that EA can essentially examine your computer through Origin (my best guess is this is the step-up in the fight against piracy, now being able to flag people who have "torrent" in their search history among other things), I was wondering if this was only able to be done through Origin and if so, could I not simply exit Origin when not using it to avoid being monitored?

I ask because I truly want to play BF3 when it comes out but surely a compromise can be made short of giving EA open access to my computer.

 

[ruben6f]

I think that the "we can check your computer because we are evil *evil laugh" was removed from the ToS.

And if it wasn't removed you wold have to leave origin on while playing BF3 so origin wold check your computer while you were blowing stuff up.

Now that I think about it, what stops origin from still checking our PCs, true the ToS no longer says that we the users agree to have our PCs checked but I mean, it's EA... they are evil.

 

[Kodachi]

Yea I realized there was no way around the issue while in game but if they did back down that would be awesome.

Also billions of dollars in breach of privacy lawsuits would prevent them. Evil yes, stupid... well yea they're pretty stupid too.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Steam asked me the other day if it could scan my computer then show me what it would send before sending it and give me the option to back out if I chose to, I said OK. I didn't like some of the things it wanted to send so I canceled it, that's the best way of doing it in my opinion. Too bad I couldn't edit it so I only sent my comp's specs, because that I don't mind.

I don't trust EA enough to show me what I'm sending and give me the option to say no, so I'm giving up EA titles for a while.

Here's the ToS: http://tos.ea.com/legalapp/eula/US/en/ORIGIN/

I got the link from here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112559-Internet-Explodes-Over-Origins-Invasion-of-Privacy

Not sure if that's what you were looking for.


EDIT:

Spoiler: The sections you probably wanted to look at

2. Consent to Collection and Use of Data.

You agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online services. EA may also use this information combined with personal information for marketing purposes and to improve our products and services. We may also share that data with our third party service providers in a form that does not personally identify you. IF YOU DO NOT WANT EA TO COLLECT, USE, STORE, TRANSMIT OR DISPLAY THE DATA DESCRIBED IN THIS SECTION, PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THE APPLICATION. This and all other data provided to EA and/or collected by EA in connection with your installation and use of this Application is collected, used, stored and transmitted in accordance with EA?s Privacy Policy located at www.ea.com. To the extent that anything in this section conflicts with the terms of EA?s Privacy Policy, the terms of the Privacy Policy shall control.

3. Application Communications and Conduct/Privacy Settings

Your use of online features available via the Application is governed by EA?s Terms of Service, available at www.ea.com. By installing and using this Application you acknowledge and agree that you will abide by EA?s Terms of Service and otherwise agree not to:

- Create a false identity for purposes of misleading others;
- Defame, abuse, harass, threaten, spam, violate the rights of others and/or otherwise interfere with others? use and enjoyment of the Application;
- Publish, transfer or distribute any inappropriate, indecent, obscene, foul or unlawful conduct;
- Transfer, stream or otherwise make available material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancel bots, corrupted files or any other similar material that may damage the computer or other property of another user;
- Use any portion of the Application to harvest or collect information about others, including but not limited to email address.

EA reserves the right to monitor communications on the Application and disclose any information EA deems necessary to (i) ensure your compliance with this License; (ii) satisfy any applicable law, regulation or legal process; (iii) protect the rights, property and interests of EA, its employees or the public. EA also reserves the right to edit, refuse to transfer and/or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, in EA?s sole discretion.

When you establish your Application profile, your privacy settings will govern how others can search for you within the service as well as who can see your profile, which will show which games you have and play (among other items that you choose to disclose). If you choose to connect with friends on the Application and you are ?online,? your friends will receive notifications about your game play activity, Application usage and stats. If you do not want your friends to receive such notifications at any time, you can disable chat. In addition, you can revisit your privacy settings and/or block users at any time.

Select Origin services will be available on both PC and mobile platforms. You can log into all Origin services using your Origin Account (formerly EA Account). Your Origin friends list, if you choose to have one, will be the same no matter where you log in. For instance, if you utilize Origin features on your Scrabble mobile application, your Scrabble Origin friends will appear in your Origin friends list on PC when you log in and vice versa. Likewise, your Origin PC friends? list will also appear on your Origin mobile friends? list when you log in there. If you do not want friends or other users to see your mobile and/or PC profile, including a list of your mobile and/or PC games or other entitlements, please be sure to set your profile visibility settings to private or ?no one can see.? You can block friends and/or revisit your privacy settings at any time. Your profile visibility settings will remain constant across Origin platforms. Your last communicated preference for profile visibility will govern visibility of your profile across all Origin service environments (i.e. mobile and PC). Your email searchability settings will also remain constant, meaning that if you allow your friends to find you via email address on Origin on mobile, members will be able to find you by searching for your email address in the PC Origin environment as well and vice versa. Your last communicated email searchability preference will apply to all Origin service environments (i.e. mobile and PC). Keep in mind that when you log into Origin on mobile, you agree to allow members search for you via your email address. This preference will also apply to your Origin PC profile. If you do not want to be searchable on Origin by email address, please visit your privacy settings via your profile page. Note, however, that if you wish to turn off notifications to your friends about your game play events and stats, you must do so separately on mobile and PC Origin environments. On PC, you must disable chat to turn off notifications. In the mobile Origin environment, you must separately disable notifications via your privacy settings. Likewise, if you wish not to have members find you using Facebook Connect, be sure to log out of Facebook in both the mobile PC Origin environments and adjust your privacy settings accordingly. Check your privacy settings in all Origin environments often to ensure that they are set according to your preferences.

Always use caution when giving out any personally identifiable information about you or your children when using the Application. EA does not endorse the content, messages and/or information exchanged by means of the Application and therefore you agree that EA is not liable with respect to the Application in general and/or any action resulting therefrom. You are responsible for all actions that occur in connection with the Origin Account (formerly called ?EA Account?) you use to register and log into this Application. You agree to notify EA immediately of any unauthorized use of your Origin or EA Account or breach in security known to you related to the Application.

4. Interaction with Third Party Sites and Services.

The Application may allow you to interact with third-party websites, web browsers and web services (?Links?). The Links are not under the control of EA and EA is not responsible for the content of any Links, including without limitation any link contained in a Link or any changes or updates to a Link. EA is providing Links only as a convenience and the inclusion of any Link does not imply endorsement by EA of the Link or any association with its operators. You are solely responsible for any consequences of accessing a Link as well as for viewing and abiding by the privacy statements and terms of use posted in connection with
those Links.

USE OF LINKS IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. EA DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT YOUR PREVIOUSLY-SET BROWSER SETTINGS OR PARENTAL CONTROLS WILL APPLY TO LINKS AND OTHER WEB SERVICES ACCESSED WITHIN THE APPLICATION.

 

[Irridium]

Fight piracy?

Why would pirates be using Origin, when they're, you know, pirating, and not using Origin?
And anyone EA bans on suspicion of pirating, will probably just start pirating.

Though you're guess is probably right. Piracy most likely is part of it. And it'd be just like EA to have logic that stupid.

Anyway, Dragmire up there posted the specific section your talking about. Though I think it's rather out of date, since EA removed the whole "we'll send this data to markets whenever we want" part.

 

[Gralian]

Eh. People are kicking up a fuss about Origin, but Steam has already been doing what Origin is doing for years now. Whether you give consent for certain PC specifics to be sent to valve through steam, your system is still scanned and monitored. However, the things they are scanning and monitoring is very minor and barely relevant to you. People have a cult of fear right now regarding privacy but it's really not as bad as it seems. There isn't some Big Brother omnipresent and omniscient eye watching over the global information network. EA or Valve or Apple or anyone haven't bugged your PC with plans to call the party van the next time you search something you shouldn't. It's simple anonymous data such as what time and when the application was last booted up, purchase history, browsing history, that sort of thing - and such data is only collected once in a while, not on a daily basis. Lastly, to people who worry about this sort of business practice, get used to it. Once we move to the Cloud what do you think is going to happen? Everyone's private information will be made 'securely public'. Almost anything and everything used to identify you will be stored in the webspace across many servers. It sounds scary, but it's more convenient for companies and more convenient for the consumers in the long run. Just have faith in the powers that be.

 

[Kodachi]

It's a valid point you have Gralian about corporations not specifically watching your computer but to paraphrase an old quote - "Evil thrives when the good do nothing". For me, it's not so much that I think corps are wasting resources examining individual computers as I think allowing such a privilege sets a dangerous precedent. With western judicial systems thriving on precedent, it gives the "investigating" party much more room to defend their position should a legal/privacy issue occur.

And a thanks to Drag for finding the section in question =D.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

This is what's really happening:

Steam is the judge who watches you enter his 100-meter sprint and clocks you on your performance.

Origin is that creepy guy impersonating a parole officer who stalks you at home after you finished the race.

 

[yuval152]

1)EA is really fucking stupid if they think that origin would protect them for pirates,because pirates won't be using origin.

2)EA can kiss my ass i will only buy their games from to my 360 or get them *alternatively*.