Locking Down an Application
"[color="#1D1D1D"][font="Arial, sans-serif"]2. Consent to Collection and Use of Data.[/font][font="Arial, sans-serif"][color="#1D1D1D"]
You agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online services. 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. IF YOU DO NOT WANT EA TO COLLECT, USE, STORE, TRANSMIT OR DISPLAY THE DATA DESCRIBED IN THIS SECTION, PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THE APPLICATION. This and all other data provided to EA and/or collected by EA in connection with your installation and use of this Application is collected, used, stored and transmitted in accordance with EA’s Privacy Policy located at www.ea.com. To the extent that anything in this section conflicts with the terms of EA’s Privacy Policy, the terms of the Privacy Policy shall control."
[/font]Relevant Steam EULA Snip:
(We can collect) "I[color="#1D1D1D"][font="Arial, sans-serif"]nformation regarding Steam billing, your Steam account, your Internet connection and the Valve software installed on your computer are uploaded to the server in connection with your use of Steam and Valve software.”[/font]
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[color="#1D1D1D"][font="Arial, sans-serif"]Hmm...[/font]
Do you have ANY actual evidence AT ALL of these claims?
I cannot tell if you are trolling, or having fits of "ZOMG evil corporations are evil".
About the most solid of your claims is that you are asked to install a browser plugin, but I would hardly call that forced, and (as many people have mentioned and linked to) you don't even need to do that although it makes life easier as a player.
If you are trolling, +10 internets to you. You did well. We fed the troll rather nicely.
It is one thing to suggest that problems may happen and to watch out for it. Caution is good. Feel free to record it over the wire, figure it out, study it, and report about actual findings of fact. That is good.
It is quite another issue to unequivocally state these things as fact. That quickly crosses the line.
They haven't been able to collect much since origin isn't out yet your right.
It's pretty darn obvious from the eula, the terrible web-interface and shit like that that they will be mining you, and you're in complete denial for some reason.
They haven't been able to collect much since origin isn't out yet your right.
...
So what is it that you installed, if it isn't out yet?
What about the new "play instantly" features that let you play ME2 and other games directly within those web browers plugins you hate so much.
And you say that isn't out yet. Odd.
The beta is out hth.
Are you still talking about Origin or about Batlefield 3?
Origin has been out since June 3 according to Wikipedia. I just know it was a few months ago I needed to install it so my kids could play sims 3 and other games. Apperently it replaced their old auto-update service in addition to being a store.
It also looks like one of the web browser plug-ins enables the "play now" feature that I linked to above. That feature to let you play without installing looks pretty slick, actually. I give the whole thing a month or so and it will be a whole lot of "meh, just another steam/impulse/D2D system". I wonder if they hadn't pulled games from Valve if people would have even noticed in the first place.
Relevant Origin EULA Snip:
"[color="#1D1D1D"][font="Arial, sans-serif"]2. Consent to Collection and Use of Data.[/font][font="Arial, sans-serif"][color="#1D1D1D"]You agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online services. 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. IF YOU DO NOT WANT EA TO COLLECT, USE, STORE, TRANSMIT OR DISPLAY THE DATA DESCRIBED IN THIS SECTION, PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THE APPLICATION. This and all other data provided to EA and/or collected by EA in connection with your installation and use of this Application is collected, used, stored and transmitted in accordance with EA’s Privacy Policy located at www.ea.com. To the extent that anything in this section conflicts with the terms of EA’s Privacy Policy, the terms of the Privacy Policy shall control.
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One thing also worth noting is that "Application" is not to be confused with "application". "Application" is defined earlier in the EULA as the Origin service:
This License governs
your use of this application and all related software, documentation, and updates
and upgrades that replace or supplement the application and are not distributed
with a separate license (together, the “Application”). This Application is licensed
to you free of charge. You do not own the Application.[/quote]
[quote name='James Leighe' timestamp='1317772397' post='4869147']
The beta is out hth.
Are you still talking about Origin or about Batlefield 3?
Origin has been out since June 3 according to Wikipedia. I just know it was a few months ago I needed to install it so my kids could play sims 3 and other games. Apperently it replaced their old auto-update service in addition to being a store.
It also looks like one of the web browser plug-ins enables the "play now" feature that I linked to above. That feature to let you play without installing looks pretty slick, actually. I give the whole thing a month or so and it will be a whole lot of "meh, just another steam/impulse/D2D system". I wonder if they hadn't pulled games from Valve if people would have even noticed in the first place.
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I just looked at your profile and it says you DO work at ea so LOL nt you can't have my datas.
I may have overstated the intensity of the datamining.
I guess we will have to wait and see if ea just decided to go hog wild and is using their plugins to monitor browsing habits and snooping around your hdd.
Depending on what sector you work in you might have some insight if you would open up!
I guess most companies of that size make it difficult to know whats going on in another division but w/e.
If it's a privacy concern, the solutions to that can be rough. I don't buy many games with monitoring software or DRM, but when I do I use a clean dual-bootable Windows 7 Install with a strict firewall just for that purpose. Once I'm done playing whatever-game it was, I sometimes refresh with a clean image before playing a new game.
Really... that's all you can do. If you want privacy, you're going to have to try very damn hard for the reasons people listed thus far. Google knows who you are. Facebook knows. Every game 'platform' knows. Every Console. You're not really going to fall off the grid unless you take some pretty extreme measures, and if you haven't been doing that yet then it's probably too late anyway. So really, don't worry much about it.
