EA Being Sued For $10m Over SecuROM
Is the inclusion of SecuROM with games such as Spore actually illegal? It looks like we may soon find out as two more individuals have joined Melissa Thomas and filed class-action lawsuits against EA.
In the first case, Richard Eldridge, on behalf of anybody in the US who downloaded the Spore Creature Creator free trial, is attempting to sue EA based on the way SecuROM came with, and was secretly installed along side, the free download.
As well as the fact that a free trial of a game doesn’t really need any form of DRM, Eldridge points out that neither the game’s advertising or EULA (end user licence agreement) came with any mention of SecuROM. He also adds that the inclusion of the software creates a significant security vulnerability on any machine it’s installed on.
In the second case, EA are being sued over the inclusion of SecuROM with The Sims 2: Bon Voyage. Dianna Cortez claims that once SecuROM was on her PC, all kinds of things started breaking. After two months of struggling with a wide variety of problems, identified via EA’s own Sims forums as the fault of SecuROM, she had to reformat her PC.
Again, the case seems to hinge in the fact EA made no mention of SecuROM.
EA does not disclose, at the point of sale or otherwise, that to use its games SecuROM must and will be installed. SecuROM is not mentioned in the CD packaging (including the CD, CD case, user’s guide or warranty), in EA advertising or promotional materials, when a game or demo is downloaded from the Internet, or at any point during the software installation process.
This complaint also points out how hard it is to actually remove SecuROM once it has been installed, citing the fact it’s hidden from the “Add/Remove Programs” utility. Something in direct contradiction to what the Federal Trade Commission dictates must happen.
In both cases, the Plaintiffs are looking for an impressive $5million from EA. Whether they will be successful or not however is very debatable. The EULA, whilst not talking about SecuROM, does go above and beyond to cover EA’s asses from any damages which may occur.
On the other hand, if Take-Two can be forced to pay out over the Hot Coffee scandal, EA cant be too confident in holding on to their money.
The free creator had SecuROM? Jesus, wtf is wrong with EA?
Hopefully the millions these individuals are after will ease the trauma of looking their saves files on the sims.
Isn’t there a way of getting EA to sort out the SecuROM BS without fuelling the sue-happy society?
Yet another company that does give a shit about consumers. When will they get it? They may be at the top of their game right now, but that will only last as long as they actually show us they care.
I’ve got an article http://www.thehonestgame.org/?p=113 about the shitstorm on Amazon over SecuROM. EA needs to learn from its mistakes. Instead they brush off those with concerns as a minority and keep heading down the a troubled path.
If you want one of these big companies to fix something, you’ve got to go after their money. Sad but true
Eh, I don’t see EA paying out a cent. They only encroached on individual rights and privacy. It’s not like they violated standards of decency or anything. :P
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:’(