Mash His Cute Little Nose
We're Looking For a Little Yellow
Donate Monthly
Sponsors will contribute $10 for each New Monthly Donor
Posted on 11/04/2011 11:19:04 AM PDT by MeganC
EA Germany has denied claims made by German gamers and journalists that its Origin service is invading their privacy.
Germany's privacy laws are amongst the toughest in the Western world. It should come as no surprise that EA's Origin service - which is mandatory for gamers wishing to play Battlefield 3 on PC, and has been criticized for invasion of privacy before - has come under fire in the country known for challenging Google streetview and banning the Facebook "Like" button. German gamers are taking the situation pretty seriously.
The furore began a few days ago, when pictures that appeared to show Origin accessing non-related programs and data synced from cell phones were released online. Der Spiegel, one of the biggest newspapers in Germany, responded by printing a list of items from the Origin EULA which it claims could contravene German privacy law. German gamers responded by bombing Battlefield 3's Amazon.de rating down to one of the lowest on the site and returning their store-bought copies of the game. In an unusual move that illustrates the seriousness of this situation, high street giants Saturn and Media Markt have both started giving customers full refunds on used copies of the game, even those with used PC keys.
Now EA Germany has responded by updating Origin's EULA to ensure both "clarity" and "legal compliance." In a statement, the company said that, "EA takes the privacy of its users very seriously. We have taken every precaution to protect the personal and anonymous user data collected."
"We do not have access to information such as pictures, documents or personal data, which have nothing to do with the execution of the Origin program on the system of the player, neither will they be collected by us," it continued. "We have updated the End User License Agreement of Origin, in the interests of our players to create more clarity."
The statement also notes that Origin's privacy policies are "industry-standard" and that the company intends to work with "the relevant Government agencies to ensure that our policies are and remain legally compliant."
If the comments on Battlefield 3's Amazon.de page are anything to go by, German gamers are genuinely outraged by Origin's snooping activities. Many of the comments are lengthy diatribes written in German so angry that Google Translate is rendered almost useless (the one thing that is clear, though, is the repeated phrase "Nein danke" - "No thanks"). Understandably, many of them say that they just want to play their games without having to give EA access to their system data. There's a wider debate to be had over whether or not companies should highlight these parts of their EULAs, and about whether or not they should be forcing people to sign up for them just to access widely-anticipated titles. We'll keep an eye out for developments, but right now, these German gamers have made their thoughts abundantly clear.
This impacts their recent release of Battlefield 3 and some users are unable to use the game due to Windows 7 (doing what it is supposed to do) blocking Origin's attempts to steal information from programs not connected to EA.
And it’s only going to get worse because EA has two massive PC game releases coming in the next six months: Star Wars: The Old Republic on December 20, and Mass Effect 3 on March 6. Those are both near-guaranteed million-sellers and will probably require Origin. I’ve already pre-ordered SW:TOR through Origin because I like digital download for games (I’m a big Steam fan as well) but if this pans out as being true, I may just go to the store to get ME3.
}:-)4
Zat is because Germans Like NOTHZING! (Add a "stoic indifference" button and they would be all over it.)
BF 3 is a good game and while Origin sucks (even more if the invasion of privacy things is true, which I doubt) it’s worth putting up with to play.
If you are worried about such things, you should probably just use a dedicated machine for gaming.
I (am learning to) like BF3, have found Origin to be a pain. Right now, I seem to be playing BF3 so that other players have someone to knife...Actually went back and played a few minutes of BF2 last night, just to make sure I could still manage a kill every once in a while.
Right now, BF3 is about all that is on that pc. I do some surfing, but no purchasing on that computer.
It certainly fits the definition of “spyware” doesn’t it?
LOL....were you the guy posting in the BF3 forums about being attacked by black clad ninjas with knives everytime you spawned?
BF3 is just okay for me. The entire experience is weird. They tried to balance too much and made it very bland. A lot of the maps are really bad.
I enjoy Arma 2 a lot more. I’m eager for Arma 3 next summer.
Been reading articles on a German/Dutch BF2 clan website, the Germans have been nice enough to translate to English so the Dutch members can read,
and
I’m 100% sure that Origin is packet sniffing EVERY packet in and out of the PC.
I’m 100% sure that Origin is capturing every piece of information on every web browser used on the PC.
I’m 100% sure that Origin is illegal in Germany.
Mass Effect 3 will require Origin to play, fyi. That includes retail physical copies.
Doesn’t matter if you get the game from the store or from digital download. You will still have to use Origin to run the game. It launches from the Origin web browser. Very strange for me to get used to, but Battlefield 3 is pretty cool.
If you don't want to be tracked by the [insert big brother acronym here], you should probably just buy a dedicated car for going to the shooting range (or whatever else your hobby might be). Really?
"I have come to spread the word of Origin to the unbelievers who have been sheltered and raised by evil. Hallowed are the Ori."
I went to EA forums to complain about the language in the game. The spawn killing is frustrating. I think they should give you a couple seconds of invincibility at spawn points...it would remove spawn-killing from the game in a hurry.
The langauge...I just don’t get it. What was wrong with ‘enemy tank spotted’? Is ‘I got a *&%$#@@^ tank in the area’ that much better?
But I haven’t run into the ninjas yet...
Wouldn't Origin have to be using a lot more memory and network resources to do what you say it is doing?
1. It reads all of your ProgramData folders, and Programs Files and Program Files (x86) directories. It creates/updates a xml file after each scan.
2. Every time you open a web browser while Origin is running, Origin sends a Http Get command to the Amazon server that Origin runs on. I’m certain it’s the unique Browser User Agent string... that is then tied to your Origin account.
This allows them to perform ad tracking etc whenever you are on any third party website that leases their data on Origin accounts.
THis also allows them to track all hits to the EA family of websites using Browser User Agent String, even if Origin is not running as background process.
It’s a ballsy move because it’s already been ruled as illegal in Germany to do so.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.