Tuesday, October 17, 2006

More on EA's Finger and Your Ass

I'm not sure if this is version-universal, but here's the text of the Battlefield 2142 "flyer" as shown in this photo:
The Software may incorporate technology developed by IGA Worldwide Inc. ("IGA")(the "Advertising Technology"). The purpose of the Advertising Technology is to deliver in-game advertisements to you when you use the Software while connected to the Internet. When you use the software while connected to the Internet, the Advertising Technology may record your Internet Protocol address and other anonymous information ("Advertising Data"). The Advertising Data is temporarily used by IGA to enable the presentation and measurement of in-game advertisements and other in-game objects which are uploaded temporarily to your personal computer or game console and changed during online game play. The Advertising Technology does not collect any personally identifiable information about you, and EA will not provide IGA with any of your personally identifiable information. The servers used by the Advertising Technology may, from time to time, be located outside your country of residence. If you are located within the European Union, the servers may be located outside the European Union.

By installing and using the Software, you agree to the transfer of Advertising Data to servers located outside your country of residence and, if applicable, outside the European Union, (ii) the collection and use of the Advertising Data as described in this Section; and (iii) the delivery of advertising and marketing content by the Advertising Technology. IF YOU DO NOT WANT IGA TO COLLECT, STORE, OR TRANSMIT THE DATA DESCRIBED IN THIS SECTION, DO NOT INSTALL OR PLAY THE SOFTWARE ON ANY PLATFORM THAT IS USED TO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET.


First, off: DICKHEADS, PLEASE DO NOT SHOUT AT US IN CAPITAL LETTERS. If you can't write this invasion of privacy flyer more clearly than a fourth grader, shouting at us is not going to help.

And if you're a fourth grader reading this column, believe me, I'm not talking about you. You're cool.

It appears to me that the important phrase is here:
When you use the software while connected to the Internet, the Advertising Technology may record your Internet Protocol address and other anonymous information ("Advertising Data"). The Advertising Data is temporarily used by IGA to enable the presentation and measurement of in-game advertisements and other in-game objects which are uploaded temporarily to your personal computer or game console and changed during online game play.

Notice that the "Advertising Technology" (aka "spyware") records "anonymous information." What it does not say is that the information collected is limited to what you're doing inside the game. In addition to that, what ads you click on inside the game will be recorded. Literally read, it's saying that "advertising data" and "measurement of in-game advertisements" are separate entities.

There is zero explanation of what this "anonymous information" actually represents, and that's why it smells.

Oh, and here's one more question--about this:
The Advertising Technology does not collect any personally identifiable information about you, and EA will not provide IGA with any of your personally identifiable information.

So does the phrase "personally identifiable" mean me as a person or my computer? Clearly, if the ads are going to be targeted, my computer is being identified. So what exactly do they mean here?

Now is it possible that EA is doing nothing wrong here? Absolutely. But they seem pathologically unable to write any document related to privacy that's clear enough to be understood, and the last time issues related to their Privacy Policy came up, they were real issues, with enough substance that EA actually changed the wording of their Privacy Policy.

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