Ever since Electronic Arts announced that Battlefield 3 will be offered exclusively on Origin on the PC a lot of gamers have been up in arms, myself included. However someone went through the small task of reading the Origin’s End User License Agreement (EULA) and found out that Origin is “spying” on your computer (area of contention posted after the break).

Now I’ve been an outspoken opponent of Origin but it doesn’t deserve a bad rap for this. Yes, Origin, as well as all other major distribution systems (Steam, GFWL), monitors your computer hardware and software activity.

Unlike the other two systems however, the wording in Origin’s EULA is somewhat vague in areas, stating that it may share its collected information with third-parties, resulting in a recent uproar. This concern has gained traction on a few sites and someone is already suggesting that users voice their opinions to EA as a result of this “privacy-invasive software.”

While I appreciate the community’s effort to bring change to a “corrupt” system, one must first be take a look at similar EULA’s and systems already in place.

Hit the break for more of the discussion.

Voicing your opinion against a system or company is completely acceptable, so long as you have adequate proof to substantiate your claim. However this most recent complaint against Origin is unfounded and unwarranted in my opinion. They may take the monitoring a bit further than other companies, however most of the information collected will be used for advertising campaigns and advertising campaigns only.

Origin and EA will not sell your personal information to third-parties like some are suggesting, they will not report you to the FBI for illegal program installations, nor will they track your website visits (no idea where they got that last one from). The EULA for many games and services often contain revealing information on how pervasive the software is in your life but the reality of the situation is that a lot of existing services, not just Origin, have such privacy statements in place. Google, Steam, Games for Windows Live, Facebook, all are able to collect some data you may consider private.

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