Electronic Arts, or EA for short has been supplying a demand for quality games for many years.  According to their website http://www.info.ea.com/company/company_background.php they started in 1982 so they've been around for a while.  Last year their website says they had revenue that nearly reached $3 billion. Now I'm not a stock market expert but squeaking out a small amount of profit (under $1 per share) from such a large amount of revenue would be akin to getting a gallon of orange juice from all the orange trees in Florida.  With that amount of money coming in you'd think that they could hire a team of people to ensure the company turn more of a profit than they do. 

Maybe they just did. 

This weekend I purchased Battlefield 2142, the third major title release in the Battlefield franchise.  Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2 were excellent works of art.  These titles must have made up much of the revenue that EA has generated over the past few years.  I opened up the package and there was a disturbing leaflet inside.  I read it and gasped aloud..., "The Software may incorporate technology developed by IGA Worldwide Inc....The purpose of the Advertising Technology is to deliver in-game advertisements to you when you use the software while connected to the internet."  The leaflet goes on to say what kind of private data it transmits to EA.  Of course they say it may record your Internet Protocol address and "other anonymous" information.  The thing is, well, your Internet Protocol address (IP address) really isn't anonymous.  Alright, it doesn't contain your given name or your street address (but that isn't impossible to find from an IP address) BUT it is your unique identifier on the World Wide Web and will show anyone interested your location on the globe withing 50 miles - more or less.  In other words, the software can deliver the in-game advertisements to you based on your location in the world.  It also has your computer's WWW address, which is the same as having your home phone number in my book.  I know that anyone can find out your IP address very easily but why make it even simpler by transmitting it while playing a game? 

If it was just the IP address being sent to EA during online gameplay, that wouldn't be such a huge deal but they go on to say "other anonymous information" is sent as well.  If they think that IP addresses are completely anonymous then who knows what "other" means.  It could be the type of components you have, or what software you have on your computer, or what websites you visit and therefore your interests.  They could potentially know more about you than some of your friends know. 

Now there's the part about the data only being used while you're playing the game online.  It doesn't say anything about this data NOT being used when you're online but not playing the game.  Is this a sin of omission?  Only they know but when doing a scan of my system with Webroot Spysweeper I had one lonely potential rootkit that was found.  Where was it found?  In a Battlefield 2142 folder.  There is a difference between a malicious rootkit and this but the invasion of privacy is a concern nonetheless.

To find out more about rootkits visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootkit

I paid nearly $50 for this title and so have a multitude of other gamers, making this game probably another profitable one for EA.  The advertising seems greedy to me.  I wouldn't mind if they had two versions of a game, one version for full price without ads (even if it was $60) and a half price version that contained this technology. 

The ending of the leaflet states that if you don't want your information transmitted then don't install the game.  Of course you can't take back the game because it's now opened - slick move. 

EA, we're your customers and if you offend your customers then who'll look at all those ads that you've sold?

Will I still play the game?  Yes - but I don't have to like it.