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Do you trust EA with your data?

Posted Aug 9, 2006 at 7:22AM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: Xbox 360 Tags: Credit Card, EA, Electronic Arts, Microsoft
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EA GamesYou would think that while playing your favourite game on Xbox Live, all of your private data would be safe, with nobody knowing sensitive information such as your credit card details, name or address. Think again. Giant Electronic Arts seems to be a bit of a dark horse where privacy is concerned.


You know the drill, after setting up your Xbox 360 for online play, you just accept the terms and conditions/privacy policy and continue. I mean, the pages go on and on, and it'd just be a waste of valuable playing time to actually read it. However, after reading EA's privacy policy, we might take a second thought before agreeing to something like this again, and we think you will too. Have a dose of just a section of EA's privacy policy, which you accept by playing an EA game on Xbox Live:

If you sign up to play EA games through MicrosoftÂ’s Xbox Live Service, Microsoft will provide your Xbox Live user account information to EA so that we can establish an EA Online account for you. You need an EA Online account to play EAÂ’s Xbox Live titles. By signing up to play EA's Xbox Live titles, you agree that Microsoft can transfer your user account information to EA.

Information collected will vary depending upon the activity and may include your name, e-mail address, phone number, mobile number, home address, birth date and credit card information. In addition, we may collect demographic information such as gender, zip code, information about your computer, hardware, software, platform, media, Internet IP address and connection, information about online activity such as feature usage, game play statistics and scores, user rankings and click paths and other data that you may provide in surveys or online profiles, for instance. We may combine demographic information with personal information.

This invasion of privacy is certainly uncalled for, and as Bill Harris from Dubious Quality correctly points out, is this even legal? By accepting this privacy policy EA have the right to collect information about your IP address, computer, credit card etc and put all of this information together. It is true that EA might not do this, but the fact is they can. Take heed: read everything before you agree to it.

Via Dubious Quality



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Comments 


 
# Easy to answerVietone 2006-08-09 09:24
They want all this information so they can charge you for content. The way it is, anything bought off xbox live, microsoft probably takes a cut out of. So EA probably wants your credit card information so that they can develop a content system where they charge you directly for the extras you download.



Also when you sign up for an EA account, you give them all that information anyways. Difference is you cant lie about it since the information is tied to your credit card.



If you say scre EA, then go screw microsoft for making people give the same information to them.

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# wootkanechart 2006-08-09 09:25
i love bashing ea :)

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# UmmmGuest 2006-08-09 10:44
Thats kinda scary.....

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# yesGuest 2006-08-09 12:35
I'm going to think twice before buying EA unless something is done.



Damn

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# EA sucks!Guest 2006-08-09 13:12
EA *****en sucks. Im gonna try not to buy any online games from them on the Xbox 360.

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# WTF?Guest 2006-08-10 00:42
Why are my posts being erased? EA sucks and should die. OOOH did I offend you QJ?

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# Guest 2006-08-10 01:30
"They want all this information so they can charge you for content. The way it is, anything bought off xbox live, microsoft probably takes a cut out of. So EA probably wants your credit card information so that they can develop a content system where they charge you directly for the extras you download."





Dont be stupid. EA also have to abide by thing called LAWS. They cant charge anything to your card unless you authorise it or they would be in jail before you could say 'stop talking *****'.

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# Ignorance at its Finest...johantheolive 2006-08-10 02:44
Obviously you don't realize that when you click accept, that indicates that you have read the terms of agreement and that you agree to them. Period. It's essentially a contract. If it said somewhere in there that you authorize them to charge your credit card $10 a month for 'maintinence' fees, are you trying to tell me that that's illegal? Hell no its not - you agreed to it. If you don't, then don't play the game. Simple as that. You people whine about how someone doesn't like a game so they shouldn't buy it. Well, same idea here. If you don't like the contract, then don't sign it. Maybe then you can't play online, but if you want to play online, you have to agree to their terms. EA games tend to use EA servers, which means that you agree to whatever rules they set or you aren't able to play.

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# ***** THEMGuest 2006-08-10 04:57
IM SICK OF THIS ***** THIS *****ING COMPANY PULLS OFF. OUR *****ING PRIVACY IS GATHERED AND PROBABLY SOLD LIKE *****. THEY TAKE AWAY OUR *****ING FOOTBALL AND RELEASE ***** LIK MADDEN THEY CHARGE U TO GO ONLINE OR SIGN UP FOR SPAM I GOTTA A MESSAGE FOR THEM IT'S ***** THOSE *****IN *****ERS THEY CAN ROT IN *****ING HELL FOR *****ING ETERNITY ***** U EA

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# #8Vietone 2006-08-11 01:51
Dont be stupid. EA also have to abide by thing called LAWS. They cant charge anything to your card unless you authorise it or they would be in jail before you could say 'stop talking *****'.



You "DO" authorize them to charge to your credit card when you download content that you have to buy from Xbox Live. Stop being stupid yourself. Thats like saying by accepting to download PGR3 car packs, you didnt authorise them to charge you for it.



IF EA starts charging for future rosters in sports games, or special content in other types of games, by downloading them, you accept that they can charge you for it.



Read the agreement you accept. Ignorance isnt accepted in courts. Saying that you didnt read it puts you in a bad position then if you did read it.



This is no different then signing a contract without reading it. Even if you dont know what it means, your still legally bound to it.

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