OK EA, now you're pulling the piss...

Shiminay

So, if you use EA's Origin service, the Ts & Cs you have to agree to in order to use it allow them to scan your hard drive and use the results of what they find, combined with your personal information, to sell better advertising, amongst other things.

Article here on RockPaperShotgun.

I can forgive a lot of the practices EA do that people regularly take issue with but this is too much for me. I will be un-installing Origin from my machine at home (haven't used it in ages anyway) and probably won't allow another of their products installed on my PC in the future unless they make some serious changes to this.

I'm going to see if I can get a hold of someone in EA to comment.

amacachi

Pretty common thing I thought? Otherwise it amazes me how good Google are at suggesting things I'd like to buy.

Redlion

amacachi wrote: »

Pretty common thing I thought? Otherwise it amazes me how good Google are at suggesting things I'd like to buy.

I thought that's done through taking what you google/look at online and using this info to show ads that you'd want to see, as opposed to scanning your hard drive. I think it's called Adsense or something...

Kiith

It's done in a lot of EULA's, but most of them specifically state that it only happens when you use the game online. Because Origin is always online, it is allowed to do whatever it wants. Plus, most EULA's specify that they can take info relating to their product, whereas this one is pretty much saying it can take what it wants.

It sucks, but i'm still going to buy and play the **** out of Battlefield 3.

Opinicus

Redlion wrote: »

I thought that's done through taking what you google/look at online and using this info to show ads that you'd want to see, as opposed to scanning your hard drive. I think it's called Adsense or something...

Exactly.

Scanning your hard drive is more than a little too much I think.

amacachi

Redlion wrote: »

I thought that's done through taking what you google/look at online and using this info to show ads that you'd want to see, as opposed to scanning your hard drive. I think it's called Adsense or something...

Gmail scans your emails as well though. My emails are probably worse than my hard drive. :pac:

Redlion

amacachi wrote: »

Gmail scans your emails as well though. My emails are probably worse than my hard drive. :pac:

Something ya'd like to share with us, amacachi? :P

Mindkiller

My hard drive is mostly porn and pictures of cats. Nothing too incriminating really

marco_polo

Mindkiller wrote: »

My hard drive is mostly porn and pictures of cats. Nothing too incriminating really

Unless the two overlap in places

hooradiation

Mindkiller wrote: »

My hard drive is mostly porn and pictures of cats. Nothing too incriminating really

I think you'll find bestiality is illegal.

Edit: MARCO! *Shakes fist*

ríomhaire

Steam is allowed gather info on your PC aswell, though Valve are only allowed share aggregate info about the entire customer base with whoever they want, they can only share personal information about your specific profile with companies who are working under a contract for them. It's all in the Steam privacy policy.

Also, this: http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

SeantheMan

I have my PCs 3 disks partitioned into 6 drives.
F:/ being for games.
With regards to the above, are they only allowed to scan this F:/ drive , the whole disk, or all disks ?

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.”

It doesnt really say anything about personal data, website history, pictures, documents or anything. Just software and hardware usage or tech info related to your PC. Not a HUGE deal , considering the digital age we are in, where everyone already has everything personal about them scattered on facebook, twitter, myspace, youtube etc

ríomhaire

Surely internet history and such would fall under "software usage".

humanji

SeantheMan wrote:

It doesnt really say anything about personal data, website history, pictures, documents or anything. Just software and hardware usage or tech info related to your PC. Not a HUGE deal , considering the digital age we are in, where everyone already has everything personal about them scattered on facebook, twitter, myspace, youtube etc

I think that people are claiming that because it doesn't say specifically what it can collect, then they could potentially collect anything.

I'm not sure, but it could potentially include any banking details you put online or something like that. That's where the problems lie (though I could be wrong, who the hell ever reads T&C's?).

DeVore

Seantheman, is says any associated peripherals. I'd say they just enumerate the hardrives and start at the top.

I thoroughly dislike this and wont be playing any games that insist upon it.

Steam, while not spotless (see what I did there!), are at least self limiting in that they say more or less what they are looking for and that they will treat it with SOME respect.

DeV.

Shiminay

The wording of the EULA is vague enough that it mean's you have to allow them full access to everything and anything on your computer.

Not everyone has all of their personal life on Facebook or Twitter or all the rest and some of us would like to keep it that way

jaykhunter

yep. i've nothing incriminating on my laptop but i'm completely against anyone remotely scanning my hard-drive.

I'd have to imagine that this going public and tons of negative press that they'll amend their TOS

Doodee

Shiminay wrote: »

The wording of the EULA is vague enough that it mean's you have to allow them full access to everything and anything on your computer.

Not everyone has all of their personal life on Facebook or Twitter or all the rest and some of us would like to keep it that way

Under Irish law they can not 'opt-in' people by default or overly complicate the wording to mask their intentions. The correct term escapes me right now but they basically have to give a clear enough message to people about what they are tracking.
I know this cause we have had to investigate this for some features in our games and most legal teams are aware of it.
Be thankful that our Government are rather 'difficult' here regarding data protection.

I would also remind people of the differences between the Facebook T&C's and that of Google+. They both allow for the same thing only one is worded nicer

Shiminay

Since when has Irish law troubled organisations like Facebook or EA? These gigantic American firms don't give a fig about us Quite a lot of what Facebook does would be in breach of our Data Protection Act, but has that slowed them down even a little bit? Not at all.

BostonB

SeantheMan wrote: »

I....where everyone already has everything personal about them scattered on facebook, twitter, myspace, youtube etc

Er no they don't.

Most of the people I know have almost zero online presence. May very deliberately. Theres few people who have a lot of stuff online, they assume everyone else is the same. But they'd be wrong.

Personally I don't want anyone scanning anything or auto doing anything. Its all bloated crud and all it does is consume resources, and bandwidth, at the consumers expense.

Overheal

ríomhaire wrote: »

Steam is allowed gather info on your PC aswell, though Valve are only allowed share aggregate info about the entire customer base with whoever they want, they can only share personal information about your specific profile with companies who are working under a contract for them. It's all in the Steam privacy policy.

Also, this: http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

I'm pretty sure Steam asked me to opt in to the hardware survey. That they don't automatically start sniffing around my machine for nefarious reasons. I'd have to read the T&C again but I doubt anything like that is contained within it.

ED E

Wont be touching Origin, or Gamestops new yoke after that stunt they just pulled. If its not on steam/greenman I wont be downloading it.

CORaven

I hope programs like AVG start flagging it as spyware. It may make them rethink their T&C.

Overheal

Brought Origin.com's safeweb rating down to a 4.0

Some people on the article discussion are strange. Yes, a supermarket tracks information about your spending habits. They do this based on actions you perform in the store. But it's not as if you consent at the time you purchase milk to have someone from Tesco ransack your home and take an inventory of everything you own. You don't head away from the drive-thru of a mcdonalds with a gps tracker so they can see how often you use your car. This would be the virtual equivalent. Even adsense/analytics more or less just tracks your behavior while you're on the target site, only the crazy ones try to place trackers on you and I enjoy letting my internet security scrub me of such tracking cookies.

Icyseanfitz

bloody EA, always pushing the boundries of what is acceptable scuminess

jaykhunter

^^^ Yup. I think the limit hasn't been set for what gamers will accept; so VG companies are prone to seeing what they can get away with.

I also think this sort of thing could only happen at a time where in general, the industry is booming.

ríomhaire

Overheal wrote: »

I'm pretty sure Steam asked me to opt in to the hardware survey. That they don't automatically start sniffing around my machine for nefarious reasons. I'd have to read the T&C again but I doubt anything like that is contained within it.

Oh yeah. It's been so long ago since I opted in to it I forgot that I did in the first place. I wonder is it possible to still opt out again.

Jelle1880

I was doubting between the 360 and PC version, guess I'll stick to the 360 version despite the smaller multiplayer maps.

This is a step too far.

Burgo

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/26/origin-eula-gets-a-makeover/

ED E

Burgo wrote: »

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/26/origin-eula-gets-a-makeover/

They can still FOAD.

gizmo

Burgo wrote: »

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/26/origin-eula-gets-a-makeover/

Awesome, so now it's basically like every other EULA I've ever agreed to.