BF2S Forums BF2142 shipping with spyware? (In-game Advertising)

dubbs wrote:

This is illegal, and EA could be legally responsible for this.  They are installing spyware, there are other ways they can sell ads in game.  I am for sure they are not going to go to a company and say, we have X amount of players playing BF2142 that visit your website, we would like to sell you an ad.  That is not how advertisements work.  It it was done legal, EA would say we have X amount of players and we would like to sell you an ad for Y amount of dollars. 

Something else that makes the EULA sound illegal is that the servers may not be located in the US or EU.  Two places where spyware is illegal.  It seems that all of this information will be sent to a server, where EA can not get into legal matters.

Personally, if I purchased BF2142, especially if I pre-ordered it, I would be calling a lawyer.  This is illegal, and EA should be legally responsible.  This type of EULA is also illegal, because before buying the software, you were not told that you have to install spyware on your computer to play the game.

You do realize that many websites you go on do the exact same thing as what EA is doing here with ads. All it's doing is reading your IP address and deciding what ad to show.

Chaos81 wrote:

dubbs wrote:

This is illegal, and EA could be legally responsible for this.  They are installing spyware, there are other ways they can sell ads in game.  I am for sure they are not going to go to a company and say, we have X amount of players playing BF2142 that visit your website, we would like to sell you an ad.  That is not how advertisements work.  It it was done legal, EA would say we have X amount of players and we would like to sell you an ad for Y amount of dollars. 

Something else that makes the EULA sound illegal is that the servers may not be located in the US or EU.  Two places where spyware is illegal.  It seems that all of this information will be sent to a server, where EA can not get into legal matters.

Personally, if I purchased BF2142, especially if I pre-ordered it, I would be calling a lawyer.  This is illegal, and EA should be legally responsible.  This type of EULA is also illegal, because before buying the software, you were not told that you have to install spyware on your computer to play the game.

You do realize that many websites you go on do the exact same thing as what EA is doing here with ads. All it's doing is reading your IP address and deciding what ad to show.

Name a site that does that?  Most ad companies work by getting information about what the site you are visiting is about and selling ads about that subject.  That is how ads work, they do not scan you PC just to tell where you have been. 

Also, most websites use traditional advertisment, like TV and radio do.  They say that we have X amount of visitors/subscribers and we charge you a certain price depending on how large your ad is.

Edit: Not only should you name a site, but prove that they scan your PC to place ads on the site for you.  If you say that any site that has Google Ads or Adword on it you are incorrect.

https://www.google.com/adsense/ wrote:

Google AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display relevant Google ads on their [color=orange]website's content pages[/orange] and earn money. Because the ads are related to what your visitors are looking for on your site — or matched to the characteristics and interests of the visitors your content attracts — you'll finally have a way to both monetize and enhance your content pages.

It's also a way for website publishers to provide Google web and site search to their visitors, and to earn money by displaying Google ads on the search results pages.

I have highlighted where Google Ads, stated that is it based on the website's content just to point that out to you.

Last edited by dubbs (2006-10-17 16:08:40)

Up until yesterday, I was going to buy this silly ass game. Now that the spyware is confirmed I believe I'll spend my $50.00 elsewhere. So, FUCK YOU EA kthxbai

A potential taste of what we are in store with 2142

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_pa … ;aid=14800

No play this game!

The deal

http://investor.ea.com/phoenix.zhtml?c= … highlight=

Last edited by bob_baur (2006-10-17 16:11:53)

dubbs wrote:

Hurricane wrote:

It's not against the law as you agree to it when you install the game. It says right there.

If there was a hack to uninstall the advertisement scanner though, I'd pay for it. This definetly makes 2142 less appealing to me =/

It is agaist the law, because you paided $50 for the game without a warning telling you, that you will have to agree to installing spyware on your computer.  If you take the game back to the store, you would not get your full $50 back would you?  Do you think that EA will give you your $50 back if you call them telling them you do not agree with the EULA and want your money back?

Good point, forgot that

Two solutions from here

-Firebomb EA's headquarters

-Find a jewish lawyer

EA can suck my nuts now. Having read more on it, it's definetly some shady shit. I can only hope an angry customer and a crafty lawyer can bring the demise of this company.

Laywer and stuff, EA will buy and sell any lawyer for a dime and don't forget that they calculate their actions, you think a firm like EA is to be trapped like a mouse?

You got the Note in your box or where you can download it from so they say that you could have known.

Choumichel wrote:

Laywer and stuff, EA will buy and sell any lawyer for a dime and don't forget that they calculate their actions, you think a firm like EA is to be trapped like a mouse?

You got the Note in your box or where you can download it from so they say that you could have known.

That is true, but they do not tell you before you purchuse the game.

Edit:  Also, EA can be effected by this if everyone boycotts all of their products in the future.

Last edited by dubbs (2006-10-17 16:28:00)

I dont care if it puts ads in my game, or if it scans for "advertising information" on my computer, i just dont want it to lag me up like i bet its going to.

As I posted in the other topic. If all they are doing is giving you ads based on what you have already seen, how does IGA or EA make money off of the deal? How would the receive the money from the ad companies for placing the ad in the game? What if the company doesn't want their add in the game?

It makes no sense at all to say that they are getting it from what you look at. If you can explain how EA and IGA make money off of it, and how the ad companies allow it, and pay for it, please do, until you do, I'll stick with my opinion.

dubbs wrote:

If EA was just trying to get your IP, then they added some additional words that make the information sound fishy.  Also, if that is the only thing that they are doing, getting information as the guy in your link stated, they would not need a discalimer stating that they are doing that, since your IP is public domain.

Exactly, +1 karma for you.

dubbs wrote:

What are you talking about?  It is ovious that you do not know anything about advertising.  As I have stated before, traditional advertising says we have X amount of viewers/subscribers.  We will change you a given amount for and ad that is a given size.  Here is an example:

A site has 10,000 hits a day.  Coke ask how much it would case to place a banner 762px by 100px on the site.  The site charges Coke $100 per day. 

Another example is with Google Ads.  If you have an ad, you pay Google $0.01 per each click on that ad.

You completely misunderstood what I was saying.

dubbs wrote:

Another thing, if they are not keeping any information about you, and only your IP address, how would they know that you are a Male 18-39 that plays from 9:00 PM to 11:00PM?  That was listed in your interview.

As I said, and as was said in that interview, they DO record what time you play. As for age, they don't know your age, they go off of time blocks just like TV does. That was even stated in the interview

Think of it this way, if somone is watching TV at 3:00 am, who do you think it would be. A) A 12 year old that has school in the morning or B) A 25 year old that doesn't have to work until noon? Same thing for daytime TV, same thing for prime time. They can't know for sure, but they do know that on average a certain age, at a certain time, watches a certain TV show.

Same thing with the game. At say 4:00 PM on a weekday, who's more likely to be playing the game? A) A 12 year old that just got out of school, or B) a 25 year old that is still working?

Chaos81 wrote:

dubbs wrote:

What are you talking about?  It is ovious that you do not know anything about advertising.  As I have stated before, traditional advertising says we have X amount of viewers/subscribers.  We will change you a given amount for and ad that is a given size.  Here is an example:

A site has 10,000 hits a day.  Coke ask how much it would case to place a banner 762px by 100px on the site.  The site charges Coke $100 per day. 

Another example is with Google Ads.  If you have an ad, you pay Google $0.01 per each click on that ad.

You completely misunderstood what I was saying.

dubbs wrote:

Another thing, if they are not keeping any information about you, and only your IP address, how would they know that you are a Male 18-39 that plays from 9:00 PM to 11:00PM?  That was listed in your interview.

As I said, and as was said in that interview, they DO record what time you play. As for age, they don't know your age, they go off of time blocks just like TV does. That was even stated in the interview

Think of it this way, if somone is watching TV at 3:00 am, who do you think it would be. A) A 12 year old that has school in the morning or B) A 25 year old that doesn't have to work until noon? Same thing for daytime TV, same thing for prime time. They can't know for sure, but they do know that on average a certain age, at a certain time, watches a certain TV show.

Same thing with the game. At say 4:00 PM on a weekday, who's more likely to be playing the game? A) A 12 year old that just got out of school, or B) a 25 year old that is still working?

Gaming is different.  I played games at 4, and I am 23.  I work at night, so on my days off, this is when I play games.  Also TV shows are targeted at a certain age group, like video games.  So they do not need to know what age you are.  BF2142 is a Teen game so they should be targeting everyone in that age group not by the time that they play.  Unlike TV, where they have federal restrictions on what they can show and what time they can show it, games do not have a "timeslot". 

Justin Townsend wrote:

In addition, IGA's in-game ad solution does capture the time of day that the user started to play each gaming session - Townsend mentioned, as an example, that "if the brief says 'Males 18 to 34'", the ads may only be served between 6pm and 9pm on a weekday evening or similar, to replicate 'primetime' viewing.

Once again, this does not need a disclaimer to have this done, unless they are collecting additional information.  If I have you IP address, and know that you are in the US, do I care what age you are?  I know that you are 13+, or should be, because the game has a Teen ESRB rating.  I would not be advertising to anyone under 12 because of this rating.  If they are, that is another issue that EA is going to have.

Edit:  EA could determine the time that you logged on, by noting when your IP address accesses their account servers.  They do not need to install software on your computer for this information.  Also, they do not need your IP address for any advertising.  The more I think about it, you tell them what nation you live in when you create your solider in BF2142, they do not need your IP for this.  You are also give a Global ID when you do this.  With the Global ID, they can tell when you log on, because your Global ID accessed their server.  So without installing any additional software, I just showed how EA can do this.  Installing software that sends data from your computer to their servers, shows even more that this does not sound legal.

Last edited by dubbs (2006-10-17 17:30:46)

...or EA could just thrive off the huge amounts of cash from sales and their ranked server royalties (FOUR FUCKING BUCKS A SLOT). It worked fine for a year. Guess the grass is ALWAYS greener even when you're a billion dollar company eh?