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EA's Origin may be glorified spyware, causes mass upset

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Re: EA's Origin may be glorified spyware, causes mass upset

#51

Post by click170 »

bonzoesc wrote: post #27
click170 wrote: post #9

This sounds like the kind of thing that some MBA came up with; Suit: "And in the Terms of Service, add some note so that we can use their personal info for marketing." Cubicle-ee: "That's a little sleezy and sounds like it may backfire.." Suit: "Nonsense, nobody reads the ToS and everybody is data mining people's personal info these days, they can't get mad at us without getting mad at everyone else too. Look at Goog…

It sounds more like legal: Suit: "We're collecting this data? Why?" Cubicle-dweller: "Dunno, seemed useful." Suit: "Well, we better put something in the ToS about it so our customers know that we're storing it."

If it wasn't for the specific wording in the ToS allowing them to sell your info to marketers, I would be happy giving them that benefit of the doubt.

Re: EA's Origin may be glorified spyware, causes mass upset

#52

Post by Dylan16807 »

corncobpipe wrote: post #45
jonursenbach wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They may not actually be collecting data right now, but the ToS explicitly grants them the ability to do so at some point in the future.

People are freaking out on this like it's already happening. I point out how you can monitor the program and now I'm getting a negative feedback? Fuck this place.

The negative feedback is because you called the story nonsense. The story is about the TOS.

Re: EA's Origin may be glorified spyware, causes mass upset

#53

Post by click170 »

anigbrowl wrote: post #49
click170 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No no, I think you misunderstand my point. It's the suits job , nay legal obligation in the case of a publicly held company, to maximize profits. More and more frequently we're seeing profits take precedence over privacy and customers, and I don't think that would have been possible as a bottom-up change coming from coders. No, this change came from the top, and coming from the top it spread to the tops of other comp…

It's the suits job, nay legal obligation in the case of a publicly held company, to maximize profits. No, it's the suit's job to run the company in the interest of the shareholders. That is not the same thing as 'maximize profits at all costs' (such as, at the cost of future litigation that will exceed the instant profit). This idea that if an opportunity for profit exists, the management is legally obliged to seize…

I don't think it's so much that people believe corporations have a legal obligation to seize all opportunities for profit, I think it's that many corporations have been behaving in ways that the majority of the population believes is, or should be illegal. The people in charge of these companies are fully aware of the public perception of what they do, but they continue because they know they can get away with it with a few financial donations to some political campaigns here and there.

Re: EA's Origin may be glorified spyware, causes mass upset

#55

Post by ryanhuff »

click170 wrote: post #53
anigbrowl wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the suits job, nay legal obligation in the case of a publicly held company, to maximize profits. No, it's the suit's job to run the company in the interest of the shareholders. That is not the same thing as 'maximize profits at all costs' (such as, at the cost of future litigation that will exceed the instant profit). This idea that if an opportunity for profit exists, the management is legally obliged to seize…

I don't think it's so much that people believe corporations have a legal obligation to seize all opportunities for profit, I think it's that many corporations have been behaving in ways that the majority of the population believes is, or should be illegal. The people in charge of these companies are fully aware of the public perception of what they do, but they continue because they know they can get away with it wit…

I don't think the vast majority of corporations do what you suggest. On the whole, IMO most corporations (private and public) contribute to the economy and society without being scoundrels.

Re: EA's Origin may be glorified spyware, causes mass upset

#56

Post by AJ007 »

click170 wrote: post #9

This sounds like the kind of thing that some MBA came up with; Suit: "And in the Terms of Service, add some note so that we can use their personal info for marketing." Cubicle-ee: "That's a little sleezy and sounds like it may backfire.." Suit: "Nonsense, nobody reads the ToS and everybody is data mining people's personal info these days, they can't get mad at us without getting mad at everyone else too. Look at Goog…

There is actually a case where Sears paid consumers for permission to spy on them and the FTC did not agree it was lawful: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/06/sears.shtm

EA is run by idiots if they think they can get away with this.

Re: EA's Origin may be glorified spyware, causes mass upset

#57

Post by andypants »

nomdeplume wrote: post #36

best quote ever = "Reddit, known for its anger over everything..."

Also doesn't help in this case that reddit loves steam and hates ea and origin.

And the article is 2 months old, what's up with that? Is this the most sensational article that can be found when searching for 'origin spyware'?

Re: EA's Origin may be glorified spyware, causes mass upset

#58

Post by pyre »

anigbrowl wrote: post #49
click170 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No no, I think you misunderstand my point. It's the suits job , nay legal obligation in the case of a publicly held company, to maximize profits. More and more frequently we're seeing profits take precedence over privacy and customers, and I don't think that would have been possible as a bottom-up change coming from coders. No, this change came from the top, and coming from the top it spread to the tops of other comp…

It's the suits job, nay legal obligation in the case of a publicly held company, to maximize profits. No, it's the suit's job to run the company in the interest of the shareholders. That is not the same thing as 'maximize profits at all costs' (such as, at the cost of future litigation that will exceed the instant profit). This idea that if an opportunity for profit exists, the management is legally obliged to seize…

Where does the personhood of a lump sum of money[1] come into play here?

[1]: http://dockets.justia.com/docket/connecticut/ctdce/3:2011cv0...

Re: EA's Origin may be glorified spyware, causes mass upset

#59

Post by bonzoesc »

click170 wrote: post #51
bonzoesc wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds more like legal: Suit: "We're collecting this data? Why?" Cubicle-dweller: "Dunno, seemed useful." Suit: "Well, we better put something in the ToS about it so our customers know that we're storing it."

If it wasn't for the specific wording in the ToS allowing them to sell your info to marketers, I would be happy giving them that benefit of the doubt.

I couldn't find it in the current Terms of Service, so I expect that they saw the typical /r/gaming histrionics, checked and saw that they hadn't actually sold the info, figured out how much reddit histrionics cost in sales versus the almost-completely-absent demand for information about super-entitled whiny PC gamers, and decided it wouldn't hurt to remove it from the agreement and their business plans.

Re: EA's Origin may be glorified spyware, causes mass upset

#60

Post by pyre »

maximilianburke wrote: post #43
chaostheory wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But there’s a significant difference. Valve’s policy is self-restricted to anything on your PC directly relating to its own products. EA’s is so broad that it gives the publisher permission to scan your entire hard drive, and report back absolutely anything you may have installed, and indeed when you may use it, and then pass that information on the third parties. So currently Valve uses that clause mainly to scan…

EA also updated Origin's EULA after that article was posted: http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/26/ea-revises-origin-eula-dat...

But not the Privacy Policy.
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