EA's New User Agreement Bans Lawsuits

An anonymous reader writes with this snippet: "Electronic Arts has updated its Terms of Service Agreement for the Origin platform. Following Sony's steps, and taking it even further, EA has added a new clause that prevents users from suing them in both class action and jury trial forms."

Re:A sincere thanks to Sony and EA

[wwphx]

My likelihood of buying a Sony product is pretty much zero. I sold their electronics for a few years and overall it was overrated crap. I have a vague interest in a couple of their MMO's, but I'm just not going to bother with them. I'll never own a Play Station because of structural difficulties of my right hand making console game controls painful to use. Using your food analogy, unless you buy 100% organic and never eat in restaurants, you're supporting Monsanto at some level, and they are pretty high up on the evil food pyramid along with ADM.

A certain amount of evil in your life is unavoidable if you live a modern lifestyle. Sony/EA aren't going to miss my dollars because they weren't going to get them in the first place, my post was meant as humor. And you're absolutely right, writing to my congresscritter would be much more effective, it's something that I really should do on a more regular basis. I actually got to insult one of my congresscritters to his face, that was a very fun day at work!

Binding arbitration == The Corporate Holy Grail

[oDDmON oUT]

This has been a corporate stealth agenda in the US since the late 1980s.

Don't believe me?

What's your immediate reaction to the following phrases:
            McDonalds coffee lawsuit
            Jackpot justice
            Frivolous lawsuit
            Tort reform
No need to reply, just hold the thought.

Now go to http://hotcoffeethemovie.com/ [hotcoffeethemovie.com] and watch the trailer (if you have HBO watch the full film there, or rent the DVD after November).
Now consider the sheer number of companies that have, or changed, EULAs, warranties, or other consumer contracts to preclude anything other than "binding arbitration".
Guess who pays for the "arbitrators"?
The company whose product or service you, the consumer, have had a problem with.
Since said arbitrators are paid for the company, how many adverse rulings do you think you're going to see against the company?

EA is just following suit of AT&T, Verizon, FINRA, auto dealers, and many others looking to minimize their "attack threshold", which is a good thing, right?

PS: For extra credit research and discuss ALEC, and enjoy your weekend.

Lets test if this EULA en masse

[ukemike]

Everyone go to the local retailer and buy an EA game. Open it (don't be gentle with the packaging) begin to install it. When the EULA comes up stop the process return the store and tell them that the EULA is unacceptable and you want your money back. If they don't take it back the the EULA is not a valid contract, if they have to take back hundreds or thousands of partly used games then it'll cost them a fortune.

Re:Binding arbitration == The Corporate Holy Grail

[izomiac]

The point of the documentary seems to be that propaganda from large corporations has made people think these are much larger problems then they actually are. People on both sides abuse the system. In the case of the coffee, the woman nearly died (Baux score of 95, with 140 being "comfort care only") with third degree burns to 6% of her body (16% burned total), and medical bills of $10,500 for her 8 day hospitalization, and over two years of treatment including skin graphs. Here [blogspot.com] is a picture of her burns, if you're still doubtful.