EA's Origin Service Is Basically Spyware, According to Origin's EULA
Considering Steam does the same shit.... Pirates are probably the only sane PC gamers left.
Yeah and that's the problem with your argument: you make a critical error in assuming that everyone has opted into Steam's survey's. Guess what? That's one of the major points of contention genius, the fact that you can't opt out with Origin. You're brilliant.@RsistncE: If you don't opt out it sure as fuck does.
Yeah opting out or no, the fact it can happen in general is bullshit. You're probably some ignorant ass fanboy anyways.
This is an instance where I trust a company fully, but I would never for example trust a government. The only interest a private company could have in my private info is to sell me more stuff. They sell me more stuff by catering to my needs, and that's all right with me.
Any other organization's only interest in my private info would be to track and control me for solely its own benefit.
No, he's right. Steam's EULA doesn't take permission to sell your information to third-party partners. EA's does.@RsistncE: If you don't opt out it sure as fuck does.
e: Not that I'm saying it's not dumb to get in a hissy about an EULA you don't read (and probably still haven't read), but there are differences between the two that make EA seem to be more devilish.
I wish we could be like partners with these people, we get what we want, they get what they want. A fair deal without them trying to fuck us in the background. Never gonna happen but it's a nice thought. The only place I feel like I'm taking part in a trade for mutual benefit is steam.
The quality of Battlefield 3 doesn't really matter anymore. For me, it's this simple:
Activision: hosting an awesome fan-event, complete with Kanye West, with proceeds going to veterans welfare
EA: forcing dishonest, unnecessary spyware that invades your privacy for profit
(Poor DICE.)
The only reason that EA's Origin situation troubles me as much as it does now is solely for Battlefield 3. They already have a couple of other EA games I want still on Steam (which are the Dead Space games) and that is it. . . .
Hey, didn't say you couldn't. I just find weird for people to be angry now, and not before. Because they bothered reading an EULA on a website that points out how bad it is, instead of reading the EULA right at the moment they put it in your face. And they know you won't read all that pile of text until they harm you. Everyone has the right to be angry, however this could have been solved if people opposed themselves in the first place, and not now when they already gathered enough data. But that ain't our fault, they do that on purpose, they know how consumers react.
Now they won't do anything until enough media sites try to bash them for that practice. Which will hardly happen.
Besides, Facebook is not something I would justify either.
@Branthog said:
Uh - that has been how South Park has operated since like 1998 and the turnaround time on their social commentary pieces is what has set them apart from other shows.
Man, they used to have plots of their own. It'd often intersect with social commentary stuff, but early South Park was mostly just about... South Park. They'd make fun of stuff, yeah, but now, it's just, "OK, let's do the Human Centipede episode." "OK, let's do the Family Guy writers episode." "OK, let's do the Scientology episode." "OK, let's do the [insert pop culture phenomenon here] episode." It's boring. I remember hearing rumors that season 10 was going to be the last season, and I was okay with that. It was a good show for 10 seasons. I just heard they're definitely going up to season 17. Are you kidding? Ugh.
@SexualBubblegumX said:
Considering Steam does the same shit.... Pirates are probably the only sane PC gamers left.
Steam's EULA is a lot more clear and most data they collect you can see. Steam collects info about services running (VAC), data that is already collected and made readily available by your OS. It is not a complete scan as Origin seems to do. Steam also collects info of how long you have been playing certain games. But only Steam intergrated games. It does not collect how long you have been running MS Excel, something that Origin might actually be able do - even though they probably won't, it's just that EA's EULAs are worded in such a way that it "legally" could.
Facebook is diffirent. It does not actively run a service that finds info about you that you are not readily giving up. On Facebook you are readily giving up information about yourself. You are uploading it to their site. Whilst Origin could possibly be actively searching for it without you wanting to give such information away. Facebook would be like that friend of yours that you tell everything who tells everyone else. Origin could potentially be like that stalker that follows you everywhere and takes pictures of you when you are sleeping or on the toilet - a stalker that might sell those pictures with your face pixelated but forgot to delete the address.
I'm buying Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3 no matter what. I'm much too invested in those series. I have to experience the end of the ME trilogy, and BF is my favorite series on the Citadel.
But I'm definitely less inclined to check out other EA titles due to the incredibly many dubious policies, practices and schemes EA are so very keen on pushing.
The quality of Battlefield 3 doesn't really matter anymore. For me, it's this simple: Activision: hosting an awesome fan-event, complete with Kanye West, with proceeds going to veterans welfare EA: forcing dishonest, unnecessary spyware that invades your privacy for profit (Poor DICE.)Lol fucking stupid.
You stink of fanboy, trying to sound legitimate but.. fail horribly at it.
I don't understand why anyone would buy anything from EA after all the bullshit they've made their customers go through all these years. Just stop buying their games already. I don't care how good their games are, a company like that shouldn't be tolerated.
While I'm not personally a fan of Origin, or these overly vague EULA's in general, I think it's only fair to point out that EA's Privacy Policy explicitly states that they will NEVER provide your information to third parties without your consent. I'm a bit surprised that this has become such a big deal in the gaming community just now, as almost EVERY pc game/online service (and most console games/services) have the exact same policy. Also, it makes sense for Origin to scan for your IP/Operating system/etc as this makes it easier to determine which version of the game to download to your pc - but yeah, the other information really shouldn't be gathered.
http://www.ea.com/1/privacy-policy
"B. Will EA Share My Information With Third Parties?
EA will never share your personal information with third parties without your consent. We may, however, share anonymous, non-personal, aggregated and/or public information with third parties. There may be circumstances where you may share information on your own. Please see section XI for more details about your rights to information you share publicly on EA and other third party sites and forums. You may also opt in to allow EA to share your personal information with companies and organizations that provide products or services that we believe may be of interest to you. To opt out of further communications from a marketing partner or sponsor with whom your information has been shared, please contact that partner or sponsor directly. "
Dear EA,
I use my Moses built laptop for pre 1990 games, looking at porn and have no money in the bank. There.... saved myself clicking the accept box right there. Your welcome EA.
@AMonkey said:
I guess I won't be buying Battlefield 3 then. Sorry Dice but I won't be installing Origin ever.
The gaming industry needs to get off its high horse and treat games like any other product.
Make good products, dont act like dicks to your customers and we will WANT to buy new as a show of support. When publishers implement draconian DRM or online passes, and force legit owners to jump through hoops that pirates get to avoid...well we tend to stop caring about where our money is going.
And just because I own a gaming PC doesn't mean I should be treated like a thief. And the way this online pass business goes, soon I will be treated like a thief on my consoles too.
Steam as he mentioned; and PSN have very similar EULA and Privacy policies (Steam has extra CYA clauses because of mod allowances and chances of getting virus direct through client) Why pick on just EA's new Origin as the Original Sin?
Blizz has similar as well. I am member in both Steam and Orgin. My BF signed me up to Steam and the terms are the same...even has a few vague spots to worry over in the "abandoned account" section. But most of us should read the actual terms on the services they have before hooting and throwing leaves at tehg biggest predator. It may not be as fast or hungry as smaller ones.
And unless something changed since Orgin's last term update; you actually can make sure your settings in Orgin are very particular about how they use the info. Teh Privacypolicy is seperate from the Eula but has a clause to refer to it. I had no prob getting SWTOR preorder. But I followed teh directi ns in total. To be fair those with prior EA accounts were having bugs in the account mergers and had to open new accounts. Bummer. But most the /rage on Orgin were porblems caused by user error during that mess.
EA has updated the EULA for Origin. and when I say "updated", I mean "added a sarcastic half-assed 'apology' to those getting angry over the potential invasion of privacy." everything mentioned in the article that was correct before this update still applies after this update.
Between this, the 1-year redownload limit, and the removal of EVERYTHING from your account if, for some inexplicable reason, you don't have activity on it for 2 years ( Not making this up, either), I think EA is trying to sabotage itself.
You realize Steam has literally these same things in their TOS? Steam says they can remove everything from your account if they want to right in their TOS.
Between this, the 1-year redownload limit, and the removal of EVERYTHING from your account if, for some inexplicable reason, you don't have activity on it for 2 years ( Not making this up, either), I think EA is trying to sabotage itself.
Origin also installs shit that runs and collects info weather Origin is running or not. I really hate EA, and I hate even more that they make games I love so I still support them with my $$
This Origin stuff is starting to piss me off. No BF3 on steam. No TOR anywhere. No TOR early unless you preorder. And now they watch us.....
/uninstall
+1
While I'm not personally a fan of Origin, or these overly vague EULA's in general, I think it's only fair to point out that EA's Privacy Policy explicitly states that they will NEVER provide your information to third parties without your consent. I'm a bit surprised that this has become such a big deal in the gaming community just now, as almost EVERY pc game/online service (and most console games/services) have the exact same policy. Also, it makes sense for Origin to scan for your IP/Operating system/etc as this makes it easier to determine which version of the game to download to your pc - but yeah, the other information really shouldn't be gathered.
http://www.ea.com/1/privacy-policy "B. Will EA Share My Information With Third Parties?EA will never share your personal information with third parties without your consent. We may, however, share anonymous, non-personal, aggregated and/or public information with third parties. There may be circumstances where you may share information on your own. Please see section XI for more details about your rights to information you share publicly on EA and other third party sites and forums. You may also opt in to allow EA to share your personal information with companies and organizations that provide products or services that we believe may be of interest to you. To opt out of further communications from a marketing partner or sponsor with whom your information has been shared, please contact that partner or sponsor directly. "
people say the EULA was updated so as to settle to feeling of the stupids. But if you go read the EULA... it's the same shit. On some other forum some moron said "it's fixed, EA clarified that it won't share the information with 3rd party" ... as if this was the problem?!
The problem is they are snooping into your computer without your knowledge and the updated EULA still states that they will do this.
It's a security risk and privacy issue.
You'd think you paid them $60 for BF3 and what more could they want? you can't even just play a game without someone trying to data-mine the contents of you and your PC. The data mined could be used against you in a future time. Their actions are not in the interest of the customer.
And the big deal isn't just the EULA, it's that the Origin app is in fact acting like a spyware - scanning things on your HDD which it should have nothing to do with.
Read here the results of a guy testing what actually happens when you install this crap:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/960869-battlefield-3/60145714
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