http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...ion-of-Privacy
The important part:
You agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online services. EA may also use this information combined with personal information for marketing purposes and to improve our products and services. We may also share that data with our third party service providers in a form that does not personally identify you. IF YOU DO NOT WANT EA TO COLLECT, USE, STORE, TRANSMIT OR DISPLAY THE DATA DESCRIBED IN THIS SECTION, PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THE APPLICATION. This and all other data provided to EA and/or collected by EA in connection with your installation and use of this Application is collected, used, stored and transmitted in accordance with EA's Privacy Policy located at www.ea.com. To the extent that anything in this section conflicts with the terms of EA's Privacy Policy, the terms of the Privacy Policy shall control.
Interesting. I know it's not uncommon (in fact, just about everyone does this) for a service (Facebook, Steam ect.) to gather information that exists on that platform (or Google getting all the information about your internet usage ect.). I think it's a bit much, but for the most part I'm alright with it because there are ways to limit what they can see (except Google...dirty devils). However the clause is just insane. You HAVE to give them full access to your computer (more or less) and any/all information on it in order to use it.
Curious as to what other people think about this. At this point (the initial rage) I'm not going to get BF3 when it comes out, but we'll see once I've calmed down and thought about this some if I change my mind. I think it's SERIOUSLY screwed up and am afraid of this because it essentially sets a new precedent for what access companies can have to your personal information (i.e. the stuff you don't enter in their websites or do in their games/services).