EA’s Origin EULA Proves Even More Sinister

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What's that you say? You never read the terms of service or end user licensing agreement? This story might change your mind about that.

Under the title of “Consent to Collection and Use of Data”, the clause states that by installing Origin you are giving EA permission to “collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer, operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware.”
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wait... WHAT?... just to be sure... the application usage tracking includes all applications and not just origin????

WOW....................
 
Well I'm not using it, don't want my digital library of games spread out amongst various distribution points
 
Exactly firas,
Ostensibly its just to create a survey of the hardware your users are running on. It can be anonymous but very helpful to software development companies etc...

I'm not sure its safe to assume "evil use" unless we are talking about the government.
 
tubular said:
Well I'm not using it, don't want my digital library of games spread out amongst various distribution points
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As in your not buying the game? I'm getting the disc, but it'll still require Origin.

I'm not real happy about Origin (or Steam) either. But, I shut them down when not playing games (or using anything else) that don't require them. And my game drive is just that. A game drive. They'll never know what else I actually use since those other programs aren't even on the same platters or spinning at the same time.
 
Honestly it goes further than just the steam survey list.

" 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."

Seems to me that they will target you with ads and such as well as possibly selling your info for marketing services. Yeah they wont personally identify you but still again EA is taking shit to far imo.

Also to the people that hate on steam supporters some of us support steam because as a company valve has not dicked people over anywhere close to how much EA has and continues to do which is why we avoid putting any service ea makes like a plague. The company isn't trust worthy and has always tends to take 1 step forward and 2 steps back in terms of gaining people support.
 
Again, I'm not sure how I see a difference from Steam. As people noted, Steam reports hardware, software, all that jazz. If you don't like that, understandable, but it hardly seems like an Origin only thing.
 
LostInRehab said:
Seems to me that they will target you with ads and such as well as possibly selling your info for marketing services. Yeah they wont personally identify you but still again EA is taking shit to far imo.
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Is there any proof of this?

LostInRehab said:
Also to the people that hate on steam supporters some of us support steam because as a company valve has not dicked people over anywhere close to how much EA has and continues to do which is why we avoid putting any service ea makes like a plague. The company isn't trust worthy and has always tends to take 1 step forward and 2 steps back in terms of gaining people support.
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Steam already post this info.. And in the public. You don't even know if EA is going to post it out in the public. So far EA has more trust to me then Valve on this subject.
 
Dion said:
Steam already post this info.. And in the public. You don't even know if EA is going to post it out in the public. So far EA has more trust to me then Valve on this subject.
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Oh noes. :rolleyes:

It's all posted as anonymous data. You don't see names or IPs listed also, do you? Didn't think so.
 
Dion said:
Steam already post this info.. And in the public. You don't even know if EA is going to post it out in the public. So far EA has more trust to me then Valve on this subject.
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:confused: if you're worried, you don't have to allow Steam to collect your data.
 
STEAM does the same thing, don't care personally although Origin is the crappier service of the two, more clunky and a bitch to find anything unless you know what your looking for.
 
yeah I wet my pants over bf3 but this is obsurd.

peripherals? does that mean it can take a picture of me on my webcam and im allowing it?
 
Oh my god it's happening!!!! Steve jobs resigning! EA TOS very over reaching!!!


Human CentipEAd!!!!
 
..but seriously invasion of privacy anyone?

i dont mind if it just deals with THEIR games but anything else..
 
For the people pointing the finger at Steam:

1) Two wrongs don't make a right.
2) Please inform yourself before saying nonsense. The facts:

- Steam will randomly select users for the hardware/software survey. Not all users are solicited.
- The selected users have to accept (and for this you go through a menu) to let Steam scan their computer.
- Steam then scans the computer. By doing this Steam only searches for a specific file within Windows that lists the hardware and software installed. It does not scan all software, files etc.
- Steam will then show you the results providing you with the chance to change your mind and not send the results. Only if you accept will Valve receive the results of the scan.
 
Shotglass01 said:
They'll never know what else I actually use since those other programs aren't even on the same platters or spinning at the same time.
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Really? Do you honestly think they search your whole harddrive for that type of information? Which platter or diner plate your apps are on, makes no difference.

AT MINIMUM they will know what apps you have installed and the frequency (not terribly accurate) you use them, last time you use them. These apps generally use wmi to query the add/remove programs data on Windows.

So unless you delete all reg entries to remove all add/remove data, origin will still collect it, no matter what drive you have it installed.

That said, yes by killing origin you probably do remove some tracking abilities that may be built into the running process of origin itself.

I agree with many people here EULA and contracts are generally VERY scary and do not realistically amount to much. Though it is a bit scary to know if they do something nasty, supposedly they are in the right. I thought I read as story where in court EULA doesn't usually amount to much if the claim is really illegal... aka EULA cannot circumvent law.
 
Dion said:
Is there any proof of this?



Steam already post this info.. And in the public. You don't even know if EA is going to post it out in the public. So far EA has more trust to me then Valve on this subject.
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How does that even work in your mind... The public info that steam puts out is anonymous and in theory so will EAs but valve has a better track record of keeping its consumers interest in mind so its a wash at best. Heck you can opt out of valves survey iirc.
 
Oh cool, another one of these "Why we/you should boycott BF3/Origin because it's not on/is Steam" threads.
 
For all of those saying Steam already does this read the Steam EULA:
http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/ or privacy policy
http://www.valvesoftware.com/privacy.html

No where in there can I see a clause that allows Steam to collect information about my PC without asking (unlike the Origin EULA). Hence that is why Steam must ask you for permission before transmitting stuff to them.

EA can download anything they want off you computer without asking. Hell they could even scan your hard drive to find pirated copies of EA games and use that as evidence at court.
 
im pretty sure too that alot of programs (including steam) will send information about technically, your hardware, and applications that are running while playing the game imo. gives them a census on what "may" be the cause why your game locks up on a freshly installed BF3 for example, while other computers don't. this has been a norm recently to address the ever random number of system configurations out there.

that is the technical and logical reasoning behind that. now, until origin is really out, we really can't confirm atm if that's the only information really being sent ;)
 
Steam even asks for your permission before it sends a bug or crash report too.

I think the point is that Steam does not put in a arbitrary catch all clause and instead work on a item by item basis for permission.

But Origin clearly don't want to ask for permission before they send private data or they would not need the clause.
 
Well at least they admit it, the rest do it without your knowledge or its worded just slightly different.
 
Well at least they are telling you up front they're going to sniff through your PC. Look at google and that wifi sniffing ordeal, Apple keeping a gps log of everywhere you been, facebook and everything it does and Microsoft for bundling Internet Explorer with their OS.
 
There is no justification EVER for a game publisher to need that kind of information. This is flat out unacceptable business practices and downright invasive by EA. I find it unbelievable that some people are so willing to dismiss this so casually. Newsflash kids, no game is worth giving that level of access up too someone else. You would do well to learn that lesson now and not when you are older and it is too late.

Frankly anyone who buys Bf3 knowing this is a bigger moron than the average facebook user.
 
_PixelNinja said:
For the people pointing the finger at Steam:

1) Two wrongs don't make a right.
2) Please inform yourself before saying nonsense. The facts:

- Steam will randomly select users for the hardware/software survey. Not all users are solicited.
- The selected users have to accept (and for this you go through a menu) to let Steam scan their computer.
- Steam then scans the computer. By doing this Steam only searches for a specific file within Windows that lists the hardware and software installed. It does not scan all software, files etc.
- Steam will then show you the results providing you with the chance to change your mind and not send the results. Only if you accept will Valve receive the results of the scan.
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+1

Also on a side note not only does Steam show the results but they're open to everyone and are not sold to the highest bidder.
 
dandirk said:
Really? Do you honestly think they search your whole harddrive for that type of information? Which platter or diner plate your apps are on, makes no difference.

AT MINIMUM they will know what apps you have installed and the frequency (not terribly accurate) you use them, last time you use them. These apps generally use wmi to query the add/remove programs data on Windows.

So unless you delete all reg entries to remove all add/remove data, origin will still collect it, no matter what drive you have it installed.

That said, yes by killing origin you probably do remove some tracking abilities that may be built into the running process of origin itself.

I agree with many people here EULA and contracts are generally VERY scary and do not realistically amount to much. Though it is a bit scary to know if they do something nasty, supposedly they are in the right. I thought I read as story where in court EULA doesn't usually amount to much if the claim is really illegal... aka EULA cannot circumvent law.
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No. An EULA can't circumvent a law. And, you are right in what they can collect on my game drive. They'll know what games I play. They won't know what else I use as those are on completely different drives that are physically turned off when game drive is running. All I can do is try to limit my exposure. And, on the game drive, there is no personally stored information. Steam could link my Steam ID to my real name as I have bought from Steam. But Origin won't be able to do that. Again, it's limiting as much as I can while still playing the games I want to play.
 
TheMadHatterXxX said:
Take off your tinfoil hat and stop spreading the insanity. I still see nothing wrong with Origin.
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Denial, you are still in it.

You see nothing wrong with them scanning your computer for installed and uninstalled software and selling this information to third parties?

Wow...
 
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