Origin’s Invasive EULA Could Meet Legal Opposition in Germany

Spiegel Online is reporting that EA's Origin service, a digital storefront and DRM platform that's required to run popular titles like Battlefield 3 and FIFA 12, is facing staunch opposition from privacy advocates in Germany, who claim that the service's end-user license agreement is in violation of German law.

The EULA in question includes provisions that allow EA to automatically check licensing rights without notifiying users, gather information about the hardware and software its customers are running, and even share this data with its partners.

In response to consumer outrage in the US, the company updated the agreement last month to remove language explicitly allowing collected data to be used for marketing purposes, though many of the more contentious aspects, including the ability to monitor software unaffiliated with EA's products, remained intact. That very long leash has led some to peg the service as glorified spyware.

The strict terms also might put EA in violation of German law, which includes a provision that states no contract shall override the laws of the state in which a customer resides. If the data the company is collecting conflicts with federal privacy laws, the EULA would be rendered null and void until it had been revised to meet the proper legal standards.

While EA has refused to comment publicly on the matter, they might not have a choice for much longer. The State Commissioner for Data Protection of North Rhine-Westphalia has reportedly taken an interest in the case, as EA Germany's Cologne heaquartes are located within his jurisdiction. The Comissioner is expected to conduct a full inquiry on the matter, beginning with a subpoena for the information being collected about consumers, the purpose it serves, and who it is being distributed to. If EA's answers aren't satisfactory, they may be forced to change their practices, update the EULA, or potentially even face legal action from the state.