I took that same survey. Before it is sending back that data it shows you a dialog window in which you can see what they have collected. I think you can then decide whether to continue or not. I am afraid that EA does not show such a dialogue window. EA collects the data whenever they want and you have no idea what they collect.

BTW: You can find all that data back on the Steam site and see how popular it was among the Steam users. Gamers used that data sometime ago: TW2 was about to support monitors with an aspect ratio of 16:9 only. With a bit of work we could calculate that this only represents about 30% of the gamers on Steam. Monitors with 16:10 were good for 40% and the rest for the remaining 30%. That allowed us to pressure CDPR to release a patch as soon as possible.

At least Steam's data is public. It is handy for developers to know in case they want to support specific hardware or software. That doesn't mean I like software snooping around like that, but it is better than EA collecting unknown data and dumping it into the company's commercial void.

EA even has a loophole to share private data. They take a trusted company that isnt them, but close enough that it still counts as EA. Theres a term for this type of corporation or delaings betwene two corporations. They get this data, and then this new company since it doesn't fall under EA's terms of service is allowed to use the private information. I have no idea if Valve has similar shady background dealings, but I doubt it.

That or deciding to play vigilante calling the FBI saying "hey this person has a lot of music and sound ripping software on their computer investigate them." Personally i'm a hypocrite cause I like the first amendment however i'm feeling that it's getting abused way to much lately. Kind of like that little bully that picks on kids then when someone stands up to him they run to their mommy saying the other kid they were bullying tried to beat them up. It's beyond pathetic and things need to change so that we don't see companies going all big brother on gamers like us.

Personally if EA is a bunch of cowards putting DRM stuff and all of that i'm surprised they don't make their own console. Make it so it can only play EA game and modifying any part of it results in a lawsuit that they automatically win.


I man i've heard of that as well except with hospitals/doctor's offices and drug stores. Was happening way back in the 1900's where a doctor would refer a patient to a specific drugstore getting paid under the table money. There isn't a bone in my body that doubts what you say there to be true gamgee. Wouldn't put it past EA to sell information to a "trusted" third party company that in turn sells it to another company being a middle man. In the process EA gets paid under the table for the so called "legally" obtained information.

Watched Moonshiners on the Discovery channel and there was an in-depth discussion about the transportation of the stuff. Talked about double identity protection or something where middlemen never met the sellers and buyers never meet the makers of the stuff. Sounds extremely similar to what EA is doing except their stuff is legit .

The problem with all this is that gaming fun has become a commercial commodity and companies dealing in it have become big internationals which have lost all signs of reality. When a company's profit is so large that it becomes unimaginable then the next step is gain power to stay in business. Anything goes. It reminds me of the following song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfUB4Wv5ooI.