EA’s Battlefield 2142 under fire for its in-game Adware

Traditionally, video games and politics are often at each others jugular. Not this time. Lori Saldana (California Assemblywoman D-San Diego) said she might introduce a new bill against in-game ads and spyware that are automatically installed onto PCs. The controversial and sneaky practice is part of EA’s Battlefield 2142.

If you have this game on your PC but didn’t bother to read every reference material that came with it (who does?) you might have missed the card that says:

• By installing and using the software, you agree to:
• The transfer of advertising data to servers located outside of your country of residence
• The collection and use of advertising data
• The delivery of advertising and marketing content

It gets better. If the game won’t run properly on your PC, EA recommends you un-install a critical Microsoft security update that protects your machine against Trojans. In response to the allegations EA quickly fired back with the following clarifications:

• It does not capture personal data such as cookies, account login detail, or surfing history.
• The advertising in Battlefield 2142 does not access any files which are not directly related to the game.
• Battlefield 2142 delivers ads by region. The advertising system uses a player’s IP address to determine the region of the player, assisting to serve the appropriate ads by region and language. For instance, a player in Paris might be presented with ads in French.
• Battlefield 2142 tracks impression data related to in-game advertisements: location of a billboard in the game, brand advertised, duration of advertisement impression, etc.
• This information is used to help advertisers qualify the reach of a given advertisement.
• The information collected will not be repurposed for other uses.

Nevertheless, Beth Givens of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse lashed back at EA, calling the practice of snooping at all activity the entire family participates in “particularly vile and calls for legislation”. Enter Saldana who said she might introduce that bill.

Via 10News

Traditionally, video games and politics are often at each others jugular. Not this time. Lori Saldana (California Assemblywoman D-San Diego) said she might introduce a new bill against in-game ads and spyware that are automatically installed onto PCs. The controversial and sneaky practice is part of EA’s Battlefield 2142.

If you have this game on your PC but didn’t bother to read every reference material that came with it (who does?) you might have missed the card that says:

• By installing and using the software, you agree to:
• The transfer of advertising data to servers located outside of your country of residence
• The collection and use of advertising data
• The delivery of advertising and marketing content

It gets better. If the game won’t run properly on your PC, EA recommends you un-install a critical Microsoft security update that protects your machine against Trojans. In response to the allegations EA quickly fired back with the following clarifications:

• It does not capture personal data such as cookies, account login detail, or surfing history.
• The advertising in Battlefield 2142 does not access any files which are not directly related to the game.
• Battlefield 2142 delivers ads by region. The advertising system uses a player’s IP address to determine the region of the player, assisting to serve the appropriate ads by region and language. For instance, a player in Paris might be presented with ads in French.
• Battlefield 2142 tracks impression data related to in-game advertisements: location of a billboard in the game, brand advertised, duration of advertisement impression, etc.
• This information is used to help advertisers qualify the reach of a given advertisement.
• The information collected will not be repurposed for other uses.

Nevertheless, Beth Givens of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse lashed back at EA, calling the practice of snooping at all activity the entire family participates in “particularly vile and calls for legislation”. Enter Saldana who said she might introduce that bill.

Via 10News