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

#1

Post by X4 » Mon, Oct 31, 2011, 11:08 AM UTC

It's also against german law. The software pictures, cell phone backups etc. and more and reportedly uploads the information to EA.

Luckily EA didn't arrive on Linux yet :)

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

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

#2

Post by X4 » Mon, Oct 31, 2011, 11:14 AM UTC

http://s1.directupload.net/file/d/2691/fglehhsj_jpg.htm http://i44.tinypic.com/2lc8q37.jpg Many upset people discuss their experiences and view in Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Battlefield-3-Pc/product-reviews/B002I...

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

#3

Post by ukdm » Mon, Oct 31, 2011, 11:16 AM UTC

This was posted back in August, hasn't EA changed the EULA since then? http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/battlefield-3/news/6331203/...

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

#4

Post by mattmanser » Mon, Oct 31, 2011, 12:01 PM UTC

ukdm wrote: post #3

This was posted back in August, hasn't EA changed the EULA since then? http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/battlefield-3/news/6331203/...

They only removed parts of it, specifically the parts allowing them to use the information for marketing.

Also the Germans are going nuts about it because they claim the Origin EULA is a violation of privacy laws:

http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/3477/article/origin-s-inv...

I was under the impression that Steam's anti-cheat bot actually did something similar to this too, scanning running programs to search for aimbots and the like. This might go further though, I have no idea if it scans non-steam folders.

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

#5

Post by Luyt » Mon, Oct 31, 2011, 12:13 PM UTC

This is why I install my games on a separate bootable harddisk, which I only boot when I want to play a game.

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

#6

Post by dietcokedrinker » Mon, Oct 31, 2011, 12:37 PM UTC

I hope the bad Amazon reviews based on Origin, which is just a poor Steam clone, don't deter people from buying Battlefield 3 - it is easily the best PC FPS game there has been for a long time. With a half decent graphics card it's no exaggeration to say the graphics are jaw dropping, and the game play matches it.

Unfortunately if you lose your internet connection mid game, Origin closes the game immediately. You lose all XP/progress you have made in the game since you launched it.

Steam had its share of problems when it launched and it looks like Origin is exactly the same, except the tool isn't there to make our gaming lives better but to stop piracy without giving a crap about the gaming experience.

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

#7

Post by lclarkmichalek » Mon, Oct 31, 2011, 12:43 PM UTC

mattmanser wrote: post #4

ukdm wrote: post #3

This was posted back in August, hasn't EA changed the EULA since then? http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/battlefield-3/news/6331203/...

They only removed parts of it, specifically the parts allowing them to use the information for marketing. Also the Germans are going nuts about it because they claim the Origin EULA is a violation of privacy laws: http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/3477/article/origin-s-inv... I was under the impression that Steam's anti-cheat bot actually did something similar to this too, scanning running programs to search for aim…

I thought most EULAs were ruled invalid in Germany, as you pay for the product before you accept the EULA.

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

#8

Post by JonWood » Mon, Oct 31, 2011, 12:47 PM UTC

Luyt wrote: post #5

This is why I install my games on a separate bootable harddisk, which I only boot when I want to play a game.

I do that as well.

Because games are the only reason I'd want to run Windows.

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

#9

Post by click170 » Mon, Oct 31, 2011, 1:38 PM UTC

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 Google."

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

#10

Post by Havoc » Mon, Oct 31, 2011, 1:40 PM UTC

mattmanser wrote: post #4

ukdm wrote: post #3

This was posted back in August, hasn't EA changed the EULA since then? http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/battlefield-3/news/6331203/...

They only removed parts of it, specifically the parts allowing them to use the information for marketing. Also the Germans are going nuts about it because they claim the Origin EULA is a violation of privacy laws: http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/3477/article/origin-s-inv... I was under the impression that Steam's anti-cheat bot actually did something similar to this too, scanning running programs to search for aim…

Nobody cares about what gets scanned on the HDD. Antivirus, indexing apps etc all do that. Its the attempt to legally extract the info and (ab)use it that angers everyone.