As Americans, we crave entertainment. Movies, television, and more recently video games are a popular way for many of us to spend our free time. However, a new policy by a major video game company, makes us ask how much we are willing to sacrifice for the sake of entertainment.
Electronic Arts, or EA, is one of the largest publishers of video games in the world. It's hard to pick up a video game nowadays and not see the EA logo. As of last year EA, "reported $3.8 billion in revenues for the fiscal year ending March 2011" (Wikipedia). Out of that, EA generated "$833 million in digital revenue last year"(allthingsd).
This is done through their digital distribution platform, EA Origin. It is a piece of software that allows the video game to be purchased then directly downloaded to your hard drive. It was created in response to Steam, another piece of digital distribution software created by Valve (another video game company).
If you install any piece of software with EA's name on it, EA Origin must be installed with it in order for it to run.
When installing a piece of software, the user usually has to accept an End-user license agreement, or EULA. It's a legal contract between the publisher, the author of the software, and the user. Usually these are benign in nature.
This is where it gets interesting. The latest version of EA's EULA, states the following:
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.
Basically, this gives EA free access to your computer. Legally. All applications, web browsing habits, and even the hardware you have attached to your computer (monitor, printer, digital camera, etc.) is recorded and kept on file. All of your personal information is theirs.
Quite a hefty price to pay in order to play a video game.
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So Why Should You Care?
This sets a precedent. If EA can get away with it, what is to stop (aside from the obvious ethical reasons) Microsoft, Apple, or other companies from following suit?
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So What Can Be Done About It?
Honestly, not much. This isn't as simple as voting with your wallet. People are still going to purchase video games, regardless of the privacy violations.
If you are a gamer, I urge you to simply spread awareness of this issue. Go to your gaming communities (forums, message boards, clans, etc.) and show people what EA is up to.
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Credit Where Credit is Due:
EA Origin EULA
Wikipedia Article on Electronic Arts