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EA's obnoxious privacy agreements

Skyfox

Member
I loaded up Apex legends on my switch recently and was asked to share my date of birth, yada yada with EA.

Newer EA games seem more intrusive with data demands than older ones. I tried the knockout beta on my xbox today and it had 42 pages of how EA was going to take my personal data before they would let me play at all.

Same with need for speed most wanted on my switch.

At what point do we start to reject this shit? I dont trust all these companies with my personal details. At all.

I havent agreed to any of these terms and I dont intend to.

This bother anyone else or am I fighting to protect rights no one else gives a crap about? Is it better to just sign it all away on Facebook and twitter, upload my ID photos, phone number, home address, etc.?
 

xrnzaaas

Gold Member
Congratulations, you're 1 of a million people who actually read user agreements. Just input fake data if you don't want anyone getting your personal info, disable all optional telemetry from the options menu and don't link your account with facebook, twitter etc.
 
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Skyfox

Member
Congratulations, you're 1 of a million people who actually read user agreements. Just input fake data if you don't want anyone getting your personal info, disable all optional telemetry from the options menu and don't link your account with facebook, twitter etc.
It doesn't ask you to enter your date of birth. It asks for permission to access your account data to get this information. I'm assuming people are just clicking ok without reading.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Just set up burner accounts for everything. Nothing is attached to my xbox profile at all. New email address was set up. Blag name and Dob. Only buy codes and don't link payments.

New twitter for sharing screen shots etc. One drive linked to the new account. And so on.
 

xrnzaaas

Gold Member
It doesn't ask you to enter your date of birth. It asks for permission to access your account data to get this information. I'm assuming people are just clicking ok without reading.
Yeah it's the same with other stuff like when the sites are asking you about cookies. Most people don't read what information is being gathered or they don't care about their privacy.
 

Skyfox

Member
Just set up burner accounts for everything. Nothing is attached to my xbox profile at all. New email address was set up. Blag name and Dob. Only buy codes and don't link payments.

New twitter for sharing screen shots etc. One drive linked to the new account. And so on.
That tactic doesnt work any more because
A. Twitter pushing for phone number confirmation etc. now
B. You could lose your xbox library if you cant prove you are the owner

I believe the only way forward is not to use them. I've been off twitter since they forced phone number verification on me and because EAs terms are sooo invasive Im going to hold off buying their online games.
 

TransTrender

Gold Member
Activision is also really bad at this.

24 pages for their 'Privacy Policy'

20 pages for their 'Software License and Service Agreement'

All just to play a cute dragon or a cartoon marsupial game.

Fucking gross and reaffirms why I stay far, far, far away from those companies whenever possible.
 
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I loaded up Apex legends on my switch recently and was asked to share my date of birth, yada yada with EA.

Newer EA games seem more intrusive with data demands than older ones. I tried the knockout beta on my xbox today and it had 42 pages of how EA was going to take my personal data before they would let me play at all.

Same with need for speed most wanted on my switch.

At what point do we start to reject this shit? I dont trust all these companies with my personal details. At all.

I havent agreed to any of these terms and I dont intend to.

This bother anyone else or am I fighting to protect rights no one else gives a crap about? Is it better to just sign it all away on Facebook and twitter, upload my ID photos, phone number, home address, etc.?

You're way, way too late to push against that. Data collection has become the norm. You'll be hard pressed to rip it away from those who harvest it.

People severely underestimate how much money your private data is worth (or what its being used for, for that matter). But, hey, those 1$/"free" subscription services/platforms are totally all worth it, right?
 
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Soodanim

Member
The only advice I can give, which I should probably take myself, is that when you falsify information given you should probably make a note of it somewhere in case account recovery ever becomes necessary.

With regards to data collection, I don’t really play anything by these companies anyway but if it’s strictly game related data (play time, completion level etc) I have no problem with it. They just want to know more about their games. If they’re making profit from user data on top of the ever rising price of games and DLC that squeezes every last drop, that’s nefarious.
 

Miles708

Member
You're way, way too late to push against that. Data collection has become the norm. You'll be hard pressed to rip it away from those who harvest it.

People severely underestimate how much money your private data is worth (or what its being used for, for that matter). But, hey, those 1$/"free" subscription services/platforms are totally all worth it, right?
Europe pushed GDPR regulations exactly to fight the rampant data theft and reselling.

These companies suck but that doesn't mean everything is already lost. I'd say, on the contrary, people perception on the matter it's becoming more critical every day, especially for people usually out of the tech loop
 
Europe pushed GDPR regulations exactly to fight the rampant data theft and reselling.

These companies suck but that doesn't mean everything is already lost. I'd say, on the contrary, people perception on the matter it's becoming more critical every day, especially for people usually out of the tech loop
You're right in regards to the European GDPR and the seemingly growing public awareness about it and its utilization.

However, don't think these companies don't have their ways to legally bypass or circumvent certain formulations even if the GDPR has been instated. Data bulk collection has been going on for far longer than the GDPR has been in effect. Most modern software like the Games-as-a-service model can exist due to it. Its borderline integral by now.

Big data has become a thriving business and you can bet your boots they'll pull at all stops to keep it as profitable as possible. But, I digress.
 

Miles708

Member
You're right in regards to the European GDPR and the seemingly growing public awareness about it and its utilization.

However, don't think these companies don't have their ways to legally bypass or circumvent certain formulations even if the GDPR has been instated. Data bulk collection has been going on for far longer than the GDPR has been in effect. Most modern software like the Games-as-a-service model can exist due to it. Its borderline integral by now.

Big data has become a thriving business and you can bet your boots they'll pull at all stops to keep it as profitable as possible. But, I digress.

You're totally right, but (even if technically is the same thing) the situation is radically different if you gather all user data because no-one made a regulation, and if you still gather it but by using all sorts of loopholes.

The second case implies actual, active effort to operate in bad faith, and it's much easier to prosecute.
 

Inno

Member
If you're in EU/EEA you can contact your local Data Protection Board for breaches of GDPR.
Remember that cases don't have to be prosecuted, the national branches can and will issue fines themselves.
So just sending a tip to them doesn't mean you are comitting to anything.

The list of national boards is here:
 
Have some random email and spare profiles with fake data. Share that instead.
A few years ago there was a Facebook promotion for some in game item that I wanted, but I don't have a Facebook account. I set up an account with a fake name, address(in a different country), date of birth, everything. As soon as I logged in it gave me a list of people I might know, 90% of them were my family. Being random won't necessarily help.
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
A few years ago there was a Facebook promotion for some in game item that I wanted, but I don't have a Facebook account. I set up an account with a fake name, address(in a different country), date of birth, everything. As soon as I logged in it gave me a list of people I might know, 90% of them were my family. Being random won't necessarily help.
Did you share your contact list?
 
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