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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."
I'm never buying anything made by Wil Wheaton again.
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.
A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
Don't buy them and don't download them.
Just don't play them at all.
Gone!
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.
IANAL
There is a principle in law that a clause in the contract can not invalidate a law. Also, you cannot waive a fundamental right that is granted by the constitution. To give an (absurd) example...
In a hidden clause of a contract (or EULA) it says that you agree to give up your first born child. If the other party tries to enforce that clause of the contract, the courts would invalidate that clause (and maybe the entire contract).
There is a difference between leaving "hey, I was here before" traces, and actual executables that continue to load and run on a machine.
Unconscionability
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
in run->services.msc, stop and disable the securom service. In the Documents and Settings, in Application Data, delete the SecuROM folder. Delete UAService7.exe from windows\system32. Run "sc delete useraccess7" from the run command on the start menu, or from a command-line prompt. Delete the key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SecuROM] from the registry.
Note: This will, of course, stop any SecuROM game from functioning until you reinstall it, and various games may put the actual files in different places....but this should give you a starting point. I haven't actually tried this...although I plan to when I get home tonight. But it looks sane enough to me.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
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?
Fight Spammers!
Also, this is not a contract. Clicking 'I agree' is not a legal way to sign a contract and it is not legal to unilaterally add conditions once a deal is done (once you gave them money, they can't force more conditions on you). They know this, this is why they call it a license. However, a license cannot only grant you rights, it cannot remove them from you.
Hence, EULAs are bogus.
Slashdot anagrams to "Sad Sloth"
Reading over the legal filing for the creature creator demo, a few very specific complaints are made.
It allegedly disables a number of semi legitimate (Any DVD, Daemon tools), and completely legitimate (Process Manager, Alchohol 120%) software tools. (10 specific programs are named) It also claims that it interferes 'in some circumstances' with having a secondary CD drive (I assume it prevents burning a copy of a CD that's in the other drive), and that all of this occurs whether the demo is running or not.
Looking at the filing, they mention process manager as its own claim, given that this is a legitimate tool used to identify rogue processes, EA can't really claim, (falsely or otherwise) that it is a piracy tool, the way they'll surely claim with the others. AnyDVD is a particularly interesting one as well, since to my knowledge, it only affects movies, and has nothing to do with any EA product at all.
I can't actually say if the claims are correct for the specific version of SecuROM in the demo game, or if a lawyer simply looked at the things SecuROM is known to do and filed those, depends on how bright s/he is I suppose.
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite (TM)
It might sound like a dumb idea and has no reason (there is no disc to authenticate with), but the DRM is present in demo versions only because crackers used to use demos to crack the retail versions of the games. They were a good starting point (especially with StarForce games) as most of the code to start the game was EXACTLY the same as what would appear in the retail version if it had not a copy protection placed on it.
One continues to affect your computer's operation while the other does not.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
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.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
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!
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
Not to mention as a PC repairman I have seen that these kinds of DRM can cause serious problems and even hardware damage. I've seen PCs that you couldn't burn anything with because the DRM would screw up the burn every time, I've replaced both DVD and CD burners because the DRM would throw them into PIO mode and burn them out,weird lockups and crashes of the entire system that magically disappear when they DRM infection was removed,etc.
Now I had no problem with the "you have to keep the CD in the drive" old school DRM. It was irritating but was easy enough to get around with a noCD and still kept Joe Average from just hitting copy in Nero. But today's DRM is just too damned nasty,and has more in common with virus infections that legitimate software. It hides from the user,it makes itself a royal PITA to get rid of,and it causes all kinds of PC screwups that are damned hard to track down. Actually I'd say some of the newer trojans actually behave better than the new Starforce and SecuROM infections,since they leach off the bandwidth without causing all kinds of errors.
It has gotten bad enough that when a customer brings in a PC for cleaning and repair I look for SecuROM and Starforce just like I look for worms and trojans. Because the "virus free" computers that are brought to me because they are screwing up always seem to have either SecuROM or Starforce on them,and its removal makes the problems go away. They are just going to have to face the fact that like Apple's iTunes DRM,the best you can do without boning your customers is stop the casual pirates. Because this new DRM infection only screws your paying customers and as we saw with Spore the pirates had their copy before it was even released.
And while I love MoH and C&C I simply won't be giving EA another dime of my hard earned money until they get rid of the infections on their products. My gaming PC runs quite stable and well and I have no intention of breaking it just for the privilege of giving EA $60. Sorry C&C and MoH developers,but you lost a long time fan and paying customer thanks to the viruses installed in your games by EA.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.