Two New Class-Action Suits Against EA Over DRM

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."

Comments

I prefer another form of protest

[thermian]

I've just stopped buying any of their games. Simple yes, but the easiest form of protest, and it works because they are right now down about £200 in lost sales from me.
I don't download them from piracy sites either, I just completely ignore their products.

Re:I prefer another form of protest

[Paradigm_Complex]

They can just attribute your loss in sales to piracy. There's just not enough people willing to stop buying EA's games in protest to actually change EA's minds. If a successful legal attack is practical it may be the best option.

Re:I prefer another form of protest

[Gorgonzolanoid]

In a similar way, I stopped buying CD's as a protest against the RIAA. I've got over 200 albums on my iPod: no downloads, all imported from CD's I own, of which exactly *one* was bought less than so many years ago.

Some time after I stopped buying, I read that they were suffering from a loss in revenue (not that I think my personal bit was of any visual influence in that), and they were attributing it to piracy. Not to displeased customers like me giving them the middle finger, only to piracy.

So in a way, they were using my protest to "prove" that their actions - the same ones that made me stop buying CD's - were right all along.

Best way to get back at them

[schnikies79]

Don't buy them and don't download them.

Just don't play them at all.

Re:Of course the installer must leave something

[davidphogan74]

I'm not sure that's really a great defense. If I uninstall software, I don't expected phantom memory use by something I'm not using anymore.

I know it's not realistic, but it doesn't change that uninstalled programs should not leave shit all over my hard drive.

Re:Of course the installer must leave something

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a difference between leaving "hey, I was here before" traces, and actual executables that continue to load and run on a machine.

Should not have to.

[www.sorehands.com]

Why should I have to run Deep Freeze, or any type of software to return my system to a state before a program is installed?

Unless I give explicit permission for a program install something, then it should not be installed.

How is EA doing this different from anyone installing trojans, spyware, or virus?

Re:Should not have to.

[houstonbofh]

If you can only read it after purchase, and there is no way to return it for full refund, you can use unconscionable demand, and informed consent defenses. Also, if it is not clear that it can not be removed (and I have never seen a clear EULA) you have another club to hit them with. The Amazon reviews were the canary dieing in the coal mine. EA missed that, and I think it will hurt them.

Re:Of course the installer must leave something

[Just Some Guy]

One continues to affect your computer's operation while the other does not.

Re:This ain't going anywhere

[Khyber]

Umm, BULLSHIT.

SecuROM revokes some of your administrator priviledges and disables other legitimate programs on your computer. This is anti-competitive behavior (interfering with other products from other companies/individuals,) and a violation of my property rights. I own this computer, you do not have the right to revoke some of my administrator priviledges and make it to where I cannot delete files from my own goddamned system.

Maybe in YOUR bizarro world this wouldn't go anywhere, but then again facts always fly in the face of the bizarre.