Weekend tech reading: EA's user agreement forbids lawsuits

Matthew DeCarlo

Matthew DeCarlo

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EA's new user agreement bans lawsuits Electronic Arts has updated its Terms of Service Agreement for the Origin platform. Following Sony's lead, and taking it even further, EA has added a new clause that prevents users from suing them in both class action and jury trial forms. Or in other words, in a scummy move -- EA wants you to give up your civil rights. And yet they wonder why so many people pirate their games. NGOHQ

Third Senator says OnStar now violates privacy Senate democrats are jumping on board the bandwagon -- a wagon that wouldn't use General Motors' OnStar service, we note -- to protest the company's recent changes to the detailed tracking system for one's vehicle. Just how detailed? According to General Motors, OnStar tracks a number of specific variables, including oil life, tire pressure, and a vehicle's fuel economy... PCMag

Samsung lawsuits against Apple over 3G patents could backfire Samsung has officially stated that it plans to bring the hammer down on Apple's "free riding" on its patented 3G wireless technology. Among its latest moves is a lawsuit seeking to ban Apple's iPhones in The Netherlands, where Apple recently won an injunction barring Samsung from selling its Galaxy S-series devices in the European Union. Ars Technica

Exclusive: Motorola Xoom 2 is 9mm thick, shoots 1080p, streams Netflix in HD Sure, we just brought you details on the 4.3-inch Droid RAZR (or Spyder), but now we’re hunting bigger game -- like a 10.1-inch Motorola Xoom 2 that’s just 9mm thick. That’s still a hair thicker than the iPad 2's 8.8mm frame, but our trusted source says this Xoom successor will have an unspecified dual-core 1.2GHz processor... This is my next

Nvidia talks PC gaming trends Some claim that PC gaming is dying, but recent trends disagree. In fact, it looks to be console gaming that's soon to see a decline, thanks in part to a growing number of compelling aspects that PCs offer - including at the very least free-to-play games. Let's take a look at these and other trends, and the reasons behind them. Techgage

Software upgrades could produce self-tuning wireless access points Researchers say wireless access points could double as analysis tools that detect radio-frequency interference and automatically adjust to preserve the quality of Wi-Fi connections. Such upgraded devices could eliminate the need for separate, costly spectrum analyzers... Network World

The great JavaScript debate: Improve it or kill it? Whatever you may think of JavaScript, it's undeniably one of the most important programming languages in modern computing. The only language that can run in every modern Web browser without the aid of plug-ins, regardless of platform, JavaScript is the lingua franca of the client-side Web. InfoWorld

California Governor Jerry Brown approves 'Amazon tax compromise' Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Friday that postpones new sales taxes rules that would have affected online purchases in California, granting more time for traditional and online retailers to lobby Congress for a national standard on the high-stakes issue. Huffington Post

Star Wars: The Old Republic release date is December 20 this year Game publisher Electronic Arts today announced that Star Wars: The Old Republic, one of the company’s most anticipated online games, will come out in December this year. GamesBeat

LulzSec member's 'protection' turned into his undoing Late last week, authorities arrested a LulzSec member who was using a proxy server service to hide his Internet identity. He didn't realize that service, hidemyass.com, would be his undoing. Examiner

Steam translation community slaving away Steam/Valve has decided to build a “community effort” to get its Steam platform and game files translated by the community into 26 languages -- but here is the catch: Translators do not get paid. Zanfr

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https://www.techspot.com/news/45616-weekend-tech-reading-eas-user-agreement-forbids-lawsuits.html

 
Everyone is following Sony, except you can't legally forbid a lawsuit. The courts will handle that and more often than not you are going to find yourself in a legal battle.
 
Oh EA. You're so silly.

In any case, I'm not installing Origin on my computer. I really don't want to do any business with EA under any circumstances. If that means I miss out on a game, so be it.
 
"And yet they wonder why so many people pirate their games."

Oh, I see - millions of illegal downloads and only after this clause is put in their EULA, it's "NO WONDER we stole from you!" What a ******* thing to say...
 
no, the point is scummy moves in general by publishers causes people to pirate it. for instance, ubisoft's Always-on DRM was poor, and still didn't prevent people pirating it. Some people even had to buy it then pirate it so they could play offline.
 
EA's new user agreement bans lawsuits.

I remember that in one episode of South Park the fatty promised to be a slave if he lost a bet, but since the Real Law forbids slavery that bet was illegal and was disbanded due to.. well being ilegal even if they sign papers.

Its like a prostitute telling police on a man who didn't paid =D
 
TomSEA... what you do think is the result if the pirates have a more convenient and less intrusive distribution model than the producer?
 
@Cota
Thats why pimps exist to beat the living **** out of you and then rob you if you don't pay. No police needed.
 
who cares what TomSea says. he thinks headphones with just okay bass are best suited for bass heavy music genres.
 
Eh pino its weekend reading ^^.

@EA news if you don't like it don't buy there product.

@lulsec thing, i thought those guys created there own protection er something, guess there not as untouchable as I thought
 
TomSEA said:
"And yet they wonder why so many people pirate their games."

Oh, I see - millions of illegal downloads and only after this clause is put in their EULA, it's "NO WONDER we stole from you!" What a ******* thing to say...
Click to expand...

But EA's move doesn't punish the pirates. Just us legitimate customers. The user data collection move irked me, and now they introduce this clause? Are EA purposefully trying to drive people to abandon their service, and products? They've certainly driven this legit customer away. I won't use Origin anymore. I'm taking my money elsewhere.
 
This isn't a plan to get the pirating to stop, there's no way EA by themselves can stop this.

This is a plan to gain lost profits. First they charge online passes to be able to play online. Then they buy cheaper servers, Cut back on the new production games quality, then they add to their EULA that you cant sue them.

Prepare for Battlefield 3 to look like minecraft
 
Seems like we should be suing EA for taking away our rights if we sign the EULA.
 
DokkRokken said:
But EA's move doesn't punish the pirates. Just us legitimate customers.
Click to expand...
Congratulations - you "get it"...

This type of DRM and legals has nothing to do with piracy and everything to do with deterring the casual reuse of a software licence on another machine. This is why "content delivery systems" exist, because games developers/publishers really do not want to give you an old fashioned disc. There is still nothing they can do about piracy - every game still gets cracked and distributed illegally. You went out and paid for it, so why should you have to jump through hoops and prove you're not a thief just to run a game? It beggars belief, but gamers still lie down, take it and hand over their cash.
 
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