EA hit with class action suit over 'Spore'

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Tek7

Tek7

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Earlier this week, a class action suit was filed in the Northern District of California Court on behalf of Melissa Thomas and all other Spore purchasers. The suit contends that EA violated the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act and Unfair Competition Law by failing to inform consumers that by installing Spore, they also inadvertently install a program called SecuROM. SecuROM is a copy protection program that limits the number of times software can be installed on a PC. In the case of Spore, that limit was set to three (and later upped to five).
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Source: EA hit with class action suit over 'Spore'

Is it a bad thing that this article made me smile?
 
vibrokatana said:
No, they will just find another way to annoy the consumer even more.
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Companies like Sony and EA are making piracy safer than paying for products.

People have been reacting to news of the DRM by dropping Spore's rating on amazon.com to 1.5 stars (out of 5), thanks in no small part to EA's DRM.

I think that counts as consumer backlash.

Unfortunately, EA is a dinosaur, too big and with too small a brain to change directions or adapt. You'll see a variant of SecuROM on EA's next major release. But EA will remain profitable by regurgitating the same sports games year after year with a new marketing campaign each time.
 
Is it the idea that you can't install it more then 5 times on the same instance of the operating system or that you can't make copies of it that has people annoyed?
 
Gods_Peon said:
Is it the idea that you can't install it more then 5 times on the same instance of the operating system or that you can't make copies of it that has people annoyed?
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It's the fact that the Spore install process installs SecuROM, which is close enough to malware as makes no difference, without notifying the customer.
 
Tek7 said:
It's the fact that the Spore install process installs SecuROM, which is close enough to malware as makes no difference, without notifying the customer.
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I think this would be the only legit claim that you were not aware and then not given a choice to not instal. Are not the claims of foul play coming from those who are trying to make illegal copies anyway? I think its a bit of the case of the pot calling the kettle black.
 
If the SecuROM is installed without the customer's knowledge and it only lets the game be installed X amount of times, AND to top all of that off, it can only be removed with an HD format, I can understand how the customers are upset.

I can understand EA trying to prevent people from copying their work, but once you buy the work from them, you now own a copy of that work and should be able to install it how ever many times you need. If they were scared that people were buying one copy and using it on multiple PC's, that's why they have CD keys and registrations.
 
The reason why so many are upset is because the pirated copies have all the crap removed. So in essence you will have less of hassle illegally obtaining the game then if you were a paying customer.

These days it seems like the big publishers assume anyone who gives them money is trying to cheat them in some way.
 
Odale said:
If the SecuROM is installed without the customer's knowledge and it only lets the game be installed X amount of times, AND to top all of that off, it can only be removed with an HD format, I can understand how the customers are upset.

I can understand EA trying to prevent people from copying their work, but once you buy the work from them, you now own a copy of that work and should be able to install it how ever many times you need. If they were scared that people were buying one copy and using it on multiple PC's, that's why they have CD keys and registrations.
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You don't own the work, you simply have paid for the right to use. I agree that EA should've said "By installing this software, you agree to install XXX which will not allow you to install this software more then 5 times or make copies of it. Do you accept Yes or No."

vibrokatana said:
The reason why so many are upset is because the pirated copies have all the crap removed. So in essence you will have less of hassle illegally obtaining the game then if you were a paying customer.

These days it seems like the big publishers assume anyone who gives them money is trying to cheat them in some way.
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And those who obtain and make available the software illegally should face the full brunt of the law. Its actually more of a hassle to face a 50,000 dollar fine and jail time for each infringement then it is to deal with secuROM.
 
Gods_Peon said:
You don't own the work, you simply have paid for the right to use. I agree that EA should've said "By installing this software, you agree to install XXX which will not allow you to install this software more then 5 times or make copies of it. Do you accept Yes or No."
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Or they could go with something that doesn't become a pain in the arse for customers down the road. As they keep trying to cripple their own software they are just biting the hand that feeds them. By the assumption that you are purchasing a box and disk, you should be able to install that software as many time as necessary unless it specifically states so on box.

Gods_Peon said:
And those who obtain and make available the software illegally should face the full brunt of the law. Its actually more of a hassle to face a 50,000 dollar fine and jail time for each infringement then it is to deal with secuROM.
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Maybe, but then again I think such measures only promote business to sue to make money. IMO encouraging this behavior is a bad idea as:

1) It promotes more piracy itself via free advertising (when thepiratebay was banned in italy traffic actually jumped up despite the domain name not resolving)

2) Businesses will it as a crutch to reap profits from bad business practices and mediocre products. This is similar to how cops have to give out speeding tickets. If they don't meet a certain "quota" then they get the talk, it is nothing more then a federally regulated fund raiser for the police department.

3) It encourages the dismissal of personal freedoms (look at the patriot act and AT&T sharing everything that comes across their lines). If you don't think these companies have lobbyists trying to shove bills in their favor then you need to open your eyes a little wider.
 
Gods_Peon said:
And those who obtain and make available the software illegally should face the full brunt of the law. Its actually more of a hassle to face a 50,000 dollar fine and jail time for each infringement then it is to deal with secuROM.
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The reasonable alternative to either of those scenarios is simple: Don't buy Spore and don't download it illegally, either.
 
so basically your gonna call a game lame because of the creators are trying to make it more secure and prevent stealing. wow yeah thats totally reasonable. yeah its wrong of them not to say anything about the securom, but leave em alone, its not worth the time to make noise over it.
 
Atown said:
so basically your gonna call a game lame because of the creators are trying to make it more secure and prevent stealing. wow yeah thats totally reasonable. yeah its wrong of them not to say anything about the securom, but leave em alone, its not worth the time to make noise over it.
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No, I'm going to call the game lame because it is, then kick it repeatedly like a dead horse for employing overly restrictive copyright measures. And for the information it doesn't prevent stealing, prior to public release the game had already been cracked.
 
Gods_Peon said:
I think this would be the only legit claim that you were not aware and then not given a choice to not instal. Are not the claims of foul play coming from those who are trying to make illegal copies anyway? I think its a bit of the case of the pot calling the kettle black.
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Actually no. Those trying to make illegal copies have already succeeded. It's on BitTorrent and anyone can go grab it. The people who are crying foul are those of us who want to buy a game, but want to actually own the media we're purchasing. I have three computers at home, and am comtemplating another purchase; two of which are my machines. Every other game I own (outside of MMORPGS) I can install on every machine and play at anytime. Why isn't Spore the same way?

Atown said:
so basically your gonna call a game lame because of the creators are trying to make it more secure and prevent stealing. wow yeah thats totally reasonable. yeah its wrong of them not to say anything about the securom, but leave em alone, its not worth the time to make noise over it.
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DRM has been proven time and again that it does not prevent stealing and does not make anything more secure. The only thing DRM does is hassle those users who would not steal a game in the first place. Frankly, when I heard that EA put DRM in this game, I decided right then that I wasn't going to buy it, despite the fact that I'd been eagerly awaiting for this game for years now.


Gods_Peon said:
You don't own the work, you simply have paid for the right to use. I agree that EA should've said "By installing this software, you agree to install XXX which will not allow you to install this software more then 5 times or make copies of it. Do you accept Yes or No."
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So, you'd be okay if publishers stuck a sticker on a book, and told you that you could only read it in 5 different locations?

As a software engineer, I see EULA's as a fundamental wrongness in our industry. The concept that we're all just renting the software we purchase bothers me as a free-market capitalist. Software is IP the same as books, or artwork or music or movies, and should be treated like all those media in regards to owning a copy of the IP.


Gods_Peon said:
And those who obtain and make available the software illegally should face the full brunt of the law. Its actually more of a hassle to face a 50,000 dollar fine and jail time for each infringement then it is to deal with secuROM.
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Actually, here in the US obtaining the software is not illegal, it only becomes illegal when you distribute it (a judge put another nail in the "making available" coffin in the RIAA case, where he overturned his previous decision). As such, it's easier to get it from IRC or USENET and not bother with secuROM than having to worry about the huge fines.
 
This arguement comes down to this:



The perceived right of protecting ones own work at any cost versus the consumers perceived right to do what ever they please with it.
 
/rant that will probably make no sense...

In the US where many of us tech people believe in a free FUBU (for the users, by the users) internet, especially our open source supporters (such as myself), see SecuROM as invading our space and telling us what we can do what stuff we believe to be ours... If a company tells me I can only install my game 5 times, I will go out and pirate the cracked version just to remove that, because a game company does not control what I do with my games...

/end rant that probably made no sense...
 
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