Hello guys,
I just wanted to raise your attention about the rage that is going on in Germany
about the Terms of Service of EA and the Origin service itself.
People are really going on the barricades for their rights in Germany, what we
are known for (remember Google Street View and Germany?).
Who knows what this will result into but Battlefield 3 is literally burning over here!
Please feel free to discuss but don't let it go out of hand.
Edited by Kleingetier - 10/31/11 at 2:02pm
I just wanted to raise your attention about the rage that is going on in Germany
about the Terms of Service of EA and the Origin service itself.
People are really going on the barricades for their rights in Germany, what we
are known for (remember Google Street View and Germany?).
Who knows what this will result into but Battlefield 3 is literally burning over here!
Quote:
 "The Devil is in the contract details" The first is a article of the German gaming magazine GameStar on their website. They hired a professional lawyer to analyze the ToS of EAs Origin and the result was devastating. EA enables themselves to gather like all the information on the computer and process the data, possibly leading to massive privacy violation. The forum thread for the article has around 2500 replies on 250 pages! German Source // Translated Source "Origin analyzed my tax program!" On the Amazon forums the Origin program caused a massive outcry. People used Process Monitor to scan Origins behaviour and posted pictures of the program accessing files of their tax management program (Picture/Video) and their cell phone manager (Picture). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TAZ-HN9cOk& "Battlefield 3 is the worst rated game on Amazon ever" People give the game, or should I rather say the client 1 star in an enormous number. Unverified reports talk about 90,000€ loss on Amazon alone by now from returned games.  German Reviews // Translated Source "Retailers accept the return of opened copies of BF3!" The German electronic retailers Media Markt/Saturn (like Best Buy or something like that for you Americans) accept returns of opened and used (key) copies of the game. Not that that would be common behaviour. Sources would be too many to show them all but here is one: German Source // Translated Source "Attention rising with print media" The first known print media article was released in the "Lübecker Zeitung", you can see a picture of it here, the article is in German. The headline says: "Datatrap in new shootergame"  "Fight for files / Spyware included" The popular radio station 1Live for younger audiences presents an article about EA as well on the top of their website. "Battlefield 3 was the most anticipated game of the year for many people. But EA is belived to put Spyware (Origin) into their game what is a mood killer for the gamers."  German Source // Translated Source "Games giant wants to spy on customers" ...is the headline of another media company who picked the topic up as well and even as top article of their website. "Der Spiegel" is the biggest German weekly newspaper and its online activity is one of the most important source for news in Germany. German Source // Translated Source "Online petition to take Battlefield 3 off the shelves in Germany!" Some of the protesters started a petition to stop selling Battlefield 3 in Germany as an preventive move. "The publisher of the game, EA, has got paragraphs in their ToS that clearly infringe the German laws. EA enables themselves to have complete access to sensitive data. This selling stop is not permanent but until the company changes its ToS in such a way that it does not interfere with the law." By now, almost 4 000 people signed this petition. If they get 50 000 in 90 days, the politicians will talk about this in the Federal Council of Germany. German Source // Translation won't work, sorry I hope this thread is okay this way, I wanted to give you as much information as I can and worked like 1,5h on this and I can. Germans should take a look at http://theorigin.de/ where you can find information on the matter. |
Quote:
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UPDATE: Many more news sources picked up the topic in Germany. Here are some of the headlines and where to find them: Zeit Online: "Gamers feel monitored by Electronic Arts" "The Platform Origin spies out users of EA games. The company changed their ToS, but not their policy. Privacy groups investigate." German Source // Google-Translated Source ("Die Zeit" is a wellknown German liberal weekly newspaper) Focus.de: "Data kraken Origin: Gamers are in arms about Battlefield 3" The online gaming and distribution platform Origin of the action video game "Battlefield 3" makes gamers to on the barricades." German Source // Google-Translated Source ("Focus" is a weekly news magazine similar to "Der Spiegel" who also presented an article online) n-tv: "EA infuriates gamers: Battlefield 3 in espionage mode" "The highly anticipated video game "Battlefield 3" comes under tremendous attack.. PC gamers are forced to install software that doesn't only scan the computer for pirated games, but also spies out personal information. Additionally, publisher Electronic Arts shoots themselves in the foot with the termins of use." German Source // Google-Translated Source (n-tv is a German tv channel with focus on news and information) A TV appearance is also believed to air soon The petition to stop selling Battlefield 3 ..in Germany (as long as the ToS of Origin won't change and interfere with the law) reached over 7000 supporters!  German Source Amazon ratings went down even more By now, over 2500 people gave Battlefield 3 a rating on Amazon. 95% gave it a bad score! The average is now as low as possible, 1 star! Amazon continues to accept returns of used and opened copies, even with taken keys, as well.  German Reviews // Google-Translated Source Privacy groups had an eye on EA for some time already The protest website theorigin.de claims that privacy groups had EA on their sights for some time and the controlling authority prepares a questionary for EA. EA responded but another new EULA doesn't change critical parts at all. The new EULA is shorter than the old version but keeps its critical paragraphs and the Origin client didn't update to change it's behaviour as well. EA Germanys statement can be found here: German Source // Google-Translated Source The TV reports about Origin at prime time news: 20pm! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiONqSbn0zw It's in German but maybe your interested anyways and can guess the meaning |
Edited by Kleingetier - 10/31/11 at 2:02pm
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