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Two New Class-Action Suits Against EA Over DRM

Posted by Soulskill on from the ea's-chickens-have-come-home-to-roost dept.

In September, we discussed a class-action suit filed against Electronic Arts over the DRM in Spore. Now, two new class-action suits have been filed that target the SecuROM software included in a free trial of the Spore Creature Creator (PDF) and in The Sims 2: Bon Voyage (PDF). If this sort of legal reprisal continues to catch on, EA could be seeing quite a few class-action suits in the future. One of the suits accuses: "The inclusion of undisclosed, secretly installed DRM protection measures with a program that was freely distributed constitutes a major violation of computer owners' absolute right to control what does and what does not get loaded onto their computers, and how their computers shall be used ... [SecuROM] cannot be completely uninstalled. Once installed it becomes a permanent part of the consumer's software portfolio ... EA's EULA for Spore Creature Creator Free Trial Edition makes utterly no mention of any Technical Protection Measures, DRM technology, or SecuROM whatsoever."

3 of 336 comments (clear)

  1. i hope they burn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    and lots of others like them should join them

  2. Re:I prefer another form of protest by roguetrick · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Lawsuits are the best option, no individual likes going to court and it gets this information out to the public who might know anything about software piracy.

    It legitimizes the whole thing as well, instead of making it look like a bunch of Corporations that are bitching because they can't make a few more million anymore it shows REAL pissed off developers that can't feed their family with verbal gratitude.

    Hopefully with enough lawsuits they'll be a law outlawing this practice. I'm really sick of how users are allowed to get away with anything they want because it's their computer. There needs to be more ethics on the internet as a whole.

    Frivolous lawsuits are bad, mmmkay?

    --
    -The world would be a better place if everyone had a hoverboard
  3. Re:No. That's not right... by panda+cakes · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Their EULA says nothing about installing hidden software that will never be removed.

    Even by agreeing to the EULA you don't agree to "all things not mentioned."

    If so where would it end? Could they search my harddrive for credit card information? Format my harddrive on a whim? Store their own stuff on my computer without telling me? Of course not!

    I would not be so sure. Especially if they've licensed their DRM from a third party, which I believe is the case with the stuff EA normally uses. And yes, they could if there were provisions in EULA allowing them to do so, not necessary in a form of "And, hey, we're gonna to install hidden software that you should not know about, gedit? Lol!" This is why EA itself clears EULAs of the software they use through their own lawyers.