Free Copy of the Sims 2 Contains SecuROM 234
dotarray (1747900) writes By now, everybody should know that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Let's apply that to EA, shall we? The publisher is giving away copies of The Sims 2: Ultimate Collection, for free... and not mentioning that it includes the controversial SecuROM anti-piracy software.
Nobody likes SecuROM.
SecuROM racket (Score:5, Funny)
Despite how you stack it
Like a beard on a girl
They just want to hack it
Burma Shave
Anti-piracy (Score:3, Insightful)
So, tell me, what do you mean with anti-piracy? Does it help against evil people in boats comandeering unarmed trade ships? So then must be something good.
Or have you meant Digital Restrictions Management?
Re: Anti-piracy (Score:4, Funny)
I don't need a boat analogy. I need a car analogy.
Re: Anti-piracy (Score:4, Funny)
I don't need a boat analogy. I need a car analogy.
Yeah, but you wouldn't download a car analogy, would you?
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"quit whining about how the meaning of words change in everyday use. Other wise we would have to send all Americans back to elementary school to learn to spell colour and that it's an 's' and not a 'zee' in most words."
The last letter in the English alphabet is a Zed
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Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead.
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"Z" (zed) has a half-rhyme (or vowel rhyme) with "M", which when recited using iambic heptameter, with a missed soft beat at the beginning so the letter A has the first heavy beat on it, and when pronouncing "W", no beat is allocated on the schwa in the middle, this half rhyme becomes evident, and may reminds one slightly of old english rhymi
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Colorize (Score:4, Interesting)
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There aren't any "s" (how do you write the plural form of that? "s's" just looks stupid...) in any greek root, because the greek language (ancient or otherwise) didn't use the latin alphabet to begin with.
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Thief implies that there is a theft occurring, which is legally false. They are guilty of copyright infringement, nothing more. If they share copies they become an unauthorized distributor, but that's still something with no legal relationship to theft.
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Forget the "mantras", I'm not trying to justify piracy - I'm talking law. By law copyright infringement is a crime unrelated to theft, only the major publishers are busy trying to blur the line. But they'd probably be dissapointed if they managed it - after all something can only be stolen from you once...
I quite agree that artists deserve to be compensated for their work if they can manage it, but if you're going to call copyright infringement theft, then you should call imprisonment murder - afte
Does anyone have a link (Score:5, Insightful)
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https://ThePirateBay.se
ftfy if you are in india (:
So what? (Score:4, Insightful)
Is there any convention about mentioning anywhere which protection softwares your software is using??
i get it that some people don't like securom, but is it any surprise that even free versions contain it because the probably couldn't be bothered to remove it before making it free?
Re:So what? (Score:4, Insightful)
You know, after the Sony rootkit issue, I do kind of expect vendors to be up front about this.
Because, "hey, here's our software, oh, it might wreck your computer" is kind of a big deal.
These companies feel entitled to install all sorts of crap on your machine. But, this being EA, it's already crap.
They really should be required to tell you the extra crap they're installing, because it has the potential to really fsck up your computer.
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"Is there any convention about mentioning anywhere which protection softwares your software is using??"
Well, one of my settlement agreement terms with EA was that they're supposed to inform every consumer upfront about SecuROM.
If they're not doing that, they're in breach of our settlement agreement and I'm going to fucking end them in court.
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Well, there's always any other cracked game installed that the "anti-piracy" software could affect. This IS malware , first, DRM, second. Free isn't free, sweet pea.
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You're missing the point entirely.
The problem is that it is there. Period. End of story.
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Look to play it, you must run Windows, to run Windows means that you almost certainly have malware already.
Oh? Please expand on that logic. What malware am I currently running?
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and can currently account for the origin of every piece of software using resources on his system.
Fixed that for ya... First of all, the OSS crowd might get confused and call you out for implying that he's reviewed the source for Windows (even though that's not what you were actually saying). Second, and perhaps more importantly, we're talking about EA, so Origin is definitely the correct term.
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That being the case, what prevents the DRM from raiding the cracked games in your Wine partition?
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why in the fucking fuck do they need DRM on something they're giving away for free.
answer that, please.
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I'm guessing that it was already there and they aren't going to spend money to remove it, even though someone out there has probably already done it for them.
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Because they are only giving it away for free for a limited time.... it's a promotion for the software... they aren't actually making the software freely available in general.
The alternative would require that they prepare a special version of the software that doesn't come with the DRM solely for the promotional period... which because of how short it is, it probably wouldn't be worthwhile.
Not that I agree with bundling this software with their game... I remember having it on my system once with some
Anybody know? (Score:5, Interesting)
Does anybody know how deeply baked-in SecuROM has to be? Would the developer/publisher have a 'clean' version that is then put through some sort of SecuROM conversion step, or would you have to go further back, and deeper, into the development process to cleanly rip it out?
I'm baffled at why including it would be worth much (especially if the license agreement involves any sort of volume-based payment, which would likely wipe out any minor benefits in audience tracking); but if it is sufficiently difficult to rip out then it would be understandable why EA wouldn't bother doing so(aside from just being evil).
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AFAIK it's a wrapper. It loads itself in RAM, decrypts the actual game binary, and runs it's code. I think there are hooks available for use, as well (think "level 25 boss has infinite health if integrity check fails")
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It's enough of a pain in the ass that it's not worth doing another build without SecuROM, especially since they'd also need to do another QA cycle to make sure they didn't break it for paid customers. It's far easier to just distribute the last version as-is and generating extra keys to hand o
Re:Anybody know? (Score:5, Interesting)
So... genuine question...
What does SecuROM actually do to your system and what are the implications?
The wikipedia article, beyond a floating comment that SecuROM isn't uninstalled when the game is uninstalled, is basically silent on this. In fact, let's break it down into a series of further questions?
- Does SecuROM cause security vulnerabilities on PCs on which it is installed?
- Does SecuROM prevent applications - other than pirated copies of the game it is supposed to "protect" - from functioning on PCs on which it is installed?
- Does SecuROM create any kind of "always on" background process that consumes resources and potentially reduces performance on PCs on which it is installed?
If the answer to any of the above is "yes" then obviously there is a fairly major problem here. If the answer to all of the above is "no", then I'm not quite sure what people are getting upset about given that we are talking about a free game (SecuROM being bundled with paid-for games is another issue entirely).
And to emphasise, I genuinely don't know the answers to the above and can't work them out from the links in TFA.
Re:Anybody know? (Score:5, Insightful)
- Does SecuROM cause security vulnerabilities on PCs on which it is installed?
Adding a method to hide processes running on your system may be considered a security vulnerability. Such systems are usually used only by malware and legitimate software should NOT use any technology to counter the work of anti-virus software. Either your antivirus is weakend (which should be considered a security vulnerability) or "real" malware might also hide under the "invisibility cloak" set up by SecuROM to hide itself.
SecuROm may not be a security threat in itself, but it uses typical malware patterns and generally weakens your system security.
- Does SecuROM prevent applications - other than pirated copies of the game it is supposed to "protect" - from functioning on PCs on which it is installed?
OK, I'm recounting a user report on forum from years ago from the back of my memory here, so take this paragraph with a grain of salt: (may have been a similar copy protection system, if not exactly SecuROM)
I remember a user reporting a broken DVD writer. He bought a new one and replaced the "malfunctioning" drive only to find out that the new drive was also "broken". Turned out it was a DRM system that blocked the DVD writer and that user threw away a perfectly functioning DVD writer. Actual monetary damage here.
- Does SecuROM create any kind of "always on" background process that consumes resources and potentially reduces performance on PCs on which it is installed?
If it is not uninstalled with the software, it permanently eats up ressources that can't be reclaimed by the legitimate owner by uninstalling, as it is hiding itself from the computers software/process management system. (see "rootKit" in #1) As it is hidden, there is no indication that any problem showing up years after the deinstallation of a computer game (#2) might still be connected to a residual software component (read: garbage) from a casual game from a few years ago.
If the answer to any of the above is "yes" then obviously there is a fairly major problem here. If the answer to all of the above is "no", then I'm not quite sure what people are getting upset about given that we are talking about a free game (SecuROM being bundled with paid-for games is another issue entirely).
No. ESPESCIALLY for free games. Why add copy protection to free stuff anyway? It's free to begin with! No one needs or wants to "pirate" it. Unless of course you need a "pirated" copy of the game to keep the negative SecuROM effects from your system.
Re:Anybody know? (Score:4, Interesting)
Firsthand experience here: I ended up with SecuROM I think from one of the Prince of Persia games, and from that point forward no DVD drive would work with that computer until I nuked the HD flat and completely reinstalled windows. I didn't throw my DVD drive away, but I probably did spend 20 ro 30 hours trying to diagnose it and reinstalling windows.
Re:Anybody know? (Score:4, Informative)
No. ESPESCIALLY for free games. Why add copy protection to free stuff anyway? It's free to begin with! No one needs or wants to "pirate" it. Unless of course you need a "pirated" copy of the game to keep the negative SecuROM effects from your system.
Because everyone and their mother didn't pay attention to what actually happened. EA provides The Sims 2 through Origin at a cost. They are currently giving copies of the game away, through Origin, if you use a redemption code which is only valid through July 31st. After that date, you will have to go back to paying for the game if you want to acquire it. You could also acquire the game right now without the redemption code, you'll just have to pay for it. So the game isn't permanently free, it's temporarily free, and it's using the exact same distribution method and version that the not-free version of The Sims 2 uses.
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thx
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OK, I'm recounting a user report on forum from years ago from the back of my memory here, so take this paragraph with a grain of salt: (may have been a similar copy protection system, if not exactly SecuROM) I remember a user reporting a broken DVD writer. He bought a new one and replaced the "malfunctioning" drive only to find out that the new drive was also "broken". Turned out it was a DRM system that blocked the DVD writer and that user threw away a perfectly functioning DVD writer. Actual monetary damage here.
This may have been me on /. a few years ago, but it was with StarForce rather then SecuRom.
PC started running like crap after installing X3, so I decided to backup my music, photos and game files onto DVD. Every one failed. After much searching I found a website with an answer - a StarForce remover. Used that and my DVD started working again. Also my PC started running normally again. I have never bought a game with this kind of intrusive DRM since. The only way to get the message across is stop giving the
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This is the difference between "free as in beer" and "free as in speech" / copyleft. In the former case, maybe the company offered the program "free" for a limited time or "free" to a certain group of people or "free" as long as some other particular condition w
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It's ordinarily a valid question, and honestly the very first thing I thought of as well, but the most obvious reason in this case is because this game isn't really free. It's being given away for free, and only for a limited time. When the promotion ends, people will have to pay for it aga
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I don't know about all versions of windows, but in at least some of them you can see all the processes, you just can't directly affect ones from other users.
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I don't know about all versions of windows, but in at least some of them you can see all the processes, you just can't directly affect ones from other users.
Not when a root-kit is in the kernel and masking certain processes from the standard APIs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootkit#Kernel_mode
"Kernel-mode rootkits run with the highest operating system privileges (Ring 0) by adding code or replacing portions of the core operating system, including both the kernel and associated device drivers. Most operating systems support kernel-mode device drivers, which execute with the same privileges as the operating system itself. As such, many kernel-mode rootkits are d
Re:Anybody know? (Score:4, Insightful)
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- Does SecuROM cause security vulnerabilities on PCs on which it is installed?
Yes. Absolutely. Any additional software, especially ones that embed themselves so deep into the OS, provides additional exploitable bugs.
Let he who codes without bugs cast the first stone.
Re:Anybody know? (Score:5, Interesting)
I remember when Crysis came out it was secured with SuckROM. The idea was you inserted the DVD and SuckROM would verify the DVD was in the drive and the game would start, most of the time.
During the process of running crysis.exe securom would start and your mouse cursor would have this colorful CD icon attached to it. If securom failed to work properly (crash) which was every 1 in 3 or 4 times, the mouse cursor would stay a disco ball looking CD and your CD/DVD drive was rendered inoperable. A reboot was the only solution to solving it.
After a week of that I downloaded a cracked exe for a game I legally bought with my hard earned cash. And you wonder why the consumer hates DRM. That is part of the reason intrusive, rootkit like DRM needs to die in a fire.
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No, SecuROM does not damage a computer in any way.
SecuROM Frequently Asked Questions [securom.com]
There's absolutely nothing to worry about here; move along, now.
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No, SecuROM does not damage a computer in any way.
SecuROM Frequently Asked Questions [securom.com]
So, if the a copy of SecuRom installed on my machine does any of the things that the FAQ specifically claims it does not, can I bring charges against the company under the unlawful computer access act (or however it is called)?
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"Root your system" not as in "rooting your cellphone to get privileged access to do it's job" as your cellphone backup app or filemanager does.
"Root your system" as in applying stealth technologies used to hide malware from your antivirus software, as a so called "RootKit" (special class of malware using said stealth technologies) is doing.
And no, my video driver isn't doing that.
Who cares? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's free. If you don't like SecuROM, don't install the game. If someone hates SecuROM so much, they probably hate Origin even more, so this seems kind of moot.
Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Interesting)
No kidding. And sims 2 has ALWAYS had SecuROM in it. They just didn't feel like taking the time to patch it out. While I'm a firm believer that DRM is a waste of time and money on the game company's part, there's no massive conspiracy here. They used SecuROM when they released Sims 2 (it was released in 2004, they used SecuROM a lot with games then) and they haven't bothered to redo it because, well, it is old and they just don't wanna spend the time.
Fair enough, particularly for free.
Plus the nerd rage over it is really overblown. Turns out when there's a problem with something, sometimes companies listen and fix things. So last SecuROM game I played was Battlefield Bad Company 2. It was not problematic at all in my experience. You had to activate it one time online and it then ran without checks or ever going online again. You got a certain number of activations, 5 or 10 I think, but not only could you deactivate it, with a tool or automatically during uninstall, but they would replenish automatically over time. So unless you were doing a ton of reinstalls and not deactivating it was really unlikely you'd have an issue.
Silly to include DRM in my opinion, particularly for a game mostly played online, but not at all onerous on the user.
People seriously need to chill about this shit. Support DRM free games when there's a version available (GOG is a good site, please not Steam is not DRM free, Steamworks is DRM) but don't rage and whine if there's DRM and the DRM isn't a problem. Yes it is silly and a waste of money, but don't act like it is some massive issue if it is not.
If a game has some "always on" DRM bullshit that shuts it off if the connection goes down? Ya that's a reason to get mad and not buy it. If it has a DRM that wants to activate once and then fucks off? Oh get over it, you probably have to get online ones to patch the thing anyhow. Just jump through the hoop and go on about your business.
Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Insightful)
YES!
There is no right to a game designed the way you would want to design it. Your right is to vote with your wallets. If the second companies instituted DRM everyone stopped buying their products, then companies would not see DRM as a valid business model.
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I don't think anyone is arguing they have a right to DRM free games, just complaining loudly to EA about their product. Constructive criticism you might call it.
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The question is, do you have an obligation to follow a corrupt law enacted solely to protect corporate interests?
Copyright law, along with the Prohibition and the War on Drugs, are interesting case studies about the limits of law.
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There is no right to a game designed the way you would want to design it. Your right is to vote with your wallets.
Until we decide that there is because we vote with our votes. For example the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act regulates how you can provide consumer warranties. If we wanted to ban certain DRM behaviors or even ban it entirely, we could do that. There's a difference between free market capitalism (equal opportunity for companies to provide competing products) and laissez-faire capitalism (companies can do anything and consumers will weed out bad behavior).
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NO!
The game designer have no right to take away my rights, and adding DRM is taking away my right of re-sale, fair-use and entering into public domain. Copyright is a compromise, we allow you to have a monopole on your software for a certain period of time so you can reclaim money lost on creating the software, inciting you to create software. But always under the premise that we have certain rights on the bought product. If you remove unilaterally my rights, why should I give you any rights back?
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The difference between Steam and SecuROM is that when Steam fucks up, I can't play my game.
When SecuROM 7 fucked up, I couldn't use my DVD burner.
It's not as bad as Starforce, but that's not saying much.
Re:Who cares? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's free. If you don't like SecuROM, don't install the game.
It would be a valid argument if there were a clear mention of SecuROM before you install the game.
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There's probably some license thingy hidden away somewhere that mentions it in a vague fashion.
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The settlement terms of my lawsuit against EA included that they're supposed to inform UPFRONT of the SecuROM DRM.
If they're no longer doing that, I've got standing to sue the fuck out of them again.
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Does the windows licence agreement say that Balmer won't throw a chair at you? Does that give him the automatic right to do it?
Licence agreements are globally inclusive, not exclusive.
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And if you really don't like DRM but want to play Sim City again, shell out 6 bucks and buy SimCity 2000 from GOG (http://www.gog.com/game/simcity_2000_special_edition). No DRM there...
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Aww crap; showing my age here. I saw the discussion about Sim and EA, and thought Sim City. Oh well...
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Software freedom is worth caring about (Score:3)
People who care about controlling their computers care, as should all computer users care. This is another instance in a long line of great learning opportunities to distinguish between 'free as in price' and 'free as in freedom'—software proprietors get away with malware because how the software works is kept secret from its users. TFA tells us that Electronic Arts didn't tell prospective users SecuROM was a part of the gratis Sims 2 install, probably because EA knew users wouldn't install Sims 2 if
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Citation needed, otherwise you're a hateful hatemongering hater.
Just enjoy the game (Score:2, Insightful)
Other websites: Celebrating the free release of a classic game.
Slashdot: Angry DRM rant.
Re:Just enjoy the game (Score:5, Insightful)
Other websites: Celebrating the surrepitous distribution of DRM malware.
Slashdot: Angry DRM malware rant.
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Slashdot: Er, this isn't shiny, it's shit with sugar on.
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different comments by different users. sometimes they putin FTFY to point out something was changed.
Nude Patch (Score:2)
Look, you can all argue over SecureROM, but I downloaded my free Sims 2 and I of course, am going to do what everyone else who isn't bitching is doing, Nude patches.
https://www.google.com/#q=sims... [google.com]
There's a google link to get you all started. First 2 links they want you to pay, screw that.
'First hit is free' model (Score:2)
Lets be real here, the only reason they're releasing this for free is because The Sims 4 is coming out in a few months. With EA, there's always another motive.
Someone should write a limerick that highlights all the good game companies EA has killed or corporatized, it wouldn't be hard but it'd sure be lengthy. Oh how I miss the old Maxis.
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4chan's video games board has a growing image titled "Victims of EA" that's been circulating for quite a while. Off the top of my head:
Bullfrog (Dungeon Keeper)
Origin Systems
Westwood (C&C)
Visceral Games (Dead Space)
Bioware
Maxis
DICE (Battlefield)
There were more, I just don't remember them all.
DRM (Score:2)
In this day and age, I don't really care.
I prefer Steam because, generally, programs don't put more DRM on than the default Steam stuff (which is non-intrusive, as far as I'm concerned).
Origin, I can't stand the poorly-designed program that once downloaded something like 40Gb and took nearly a day to install one game, because every update was applied sequentially and every update updated every file, sometimes 9Gb per update.
But the end-point DRM on the game? You either care what that is and Google it, or
VMware Player (Score:2)
I have a VMs that runs windows xp and 98. They is specifically for old games that won't work on newer operating systems or have stuff like tages or securom. VMware player supports 3d passthrough so on a modern system those older games play perfectly without any frame drop.
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I have a VMs that runs windows xp and 98. They is specifically for old games that won't work on newer operating systems or have stuff like tages or securom. VMware player supports 3d passthrough so on a modern system those older games play perfectly without any frame drop.
Jesus... they run. They are. Coffee hasn't kicked in yet :/
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Indeed it hasn't, because the correct corrections would have been to write "I have VMs that run..." and to capitalize Windows since it's a proper noun.
Average EA customer's take on the issue (Score:3)
Re:Could be worse (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Could be worse (Score:4, Insightful)
They could add DRM to the ISO at any time during production. So, I wouldn't count StarForce out, just yet.
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Re:Could be worse (Score:5, Insightful)
Nice logic, man.
Re:Could be worse (Score:4, Insightful)
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Dude, you missed a trick with that one.
"Here's a free ice lolly. So what if it's made of frosty piss, it's free isn't it!?!"
Would have been even better if it was the frosty piss, I mean frist post, I mean first post.
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Re:Could be worse (Score:5, Informative)
you got it for free if you had the promo code so can't really bitch about the DRM in it.
If I have not been (clearly) informed of it's presence and implications by the publisher I certainly can and so should any person that consider themselves the owner of their machine when it is DRM that is known to:
- Generate false positives on authentic discs.
- Create files and reg keys that you cannot access/remove as admin.
- Snoop on your software usage 24/7.
- Conflict with debugging software and in some instances even require debuggers to be un-installed in order for you to play the game.
- Remain installed after you have un-installed the game.
Re:Could be worse (Score:5, Interesting)
Lets see how this compares to Canada's new anti spam law [justice.gc.ca] since EA has offices in Vancouver and Montreal.
you got it for free if you had the promo code so can't really bitch about the DRM in it.
If I have not been (clearly) informed of it's presence and implications by the publisher
10.(3) A person who seeks express consent for the doing of any act described in section 8 must, when requesting consent, also, in addition to setting out any other prescribed information, clearly and simply describe, in general terms, the function and purpose of the computer program that is to be installed if the consent is given.
I certainly can and so should any person that consider themselves the owner of their machine when it is DRM that is known to:
- Generate false positives on authentic discs.
- Create files and reg keys that you cannot access/remove as admin.
- Snoop on your software usage 24/7.
- Conflict with debugging software and in some instances even require debuggers to be un-installed in order for you to play the game.
(5) A function referred to in subsection (4) is any of the following functions that the person who seeks express consent knows and intends will cause the computer system to operate in a manner that is contrary to the reasonable expectations of the owner or an authorized user of the computer system:
(a) collecting personal information stored on the computer system;
(b) interfering with the owner’s or an authorized user’s control of the computer system;
(c) changing or interfering with settings, preferences or commands already installed or stored on the computer system without the knowledge of the owner or an authorized user of the computer system;
(d) changing or interfering with data that is stored on the computer system in a manner that obstructs, interrupts or interferes with lawful access to or use of that data by the owner or an authorized user of the computer system;
- Remain installed after you have un-installed the game.
11 (5) A person who has the express consent of an owner or authorized user to do any act described in section 8 must
(a) for a period of one year after any computer program that performs one or more of the functions described in subsection 10(5) but not referred to in subsection 10(6) is installed under the consent, ensure that the person who gave their consent is provided with an electronic address to which they may, if they believe that the function, purpose or impact of the computer program installed under the consent was not accurately described when consent was requested, send a request to remove or disable that computer program; and
(b) if the consent was based on an inaccurate description of the material elements of the function or functions described in subsection 10(5), on receipt within that one-year period of a request to remove or disable that computer program, without cost to the person who gave consent, assist that person in removing or disabling the computer program as soon as feasible.
20 (4) The maximum penalty for a violation is $1,000,000 in the case of an individual, and $10,000,000 in the case of any other person.
Any Canadians affected by this feel like filing a complaint?
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Or to use a car analogy, if the fact that it was given away to everyone else when I already owned it was kind of a slap in the face, the DRM was a slap in the face with a s
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DRM is a slap in the face with a smelly fish [youtube.com].
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I'll give a damn about the Sims when it becomes a FPS w/ nade launcher.
Urban Terror; still free, no DRM.
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They don't need to re-engineer it out, but it serves no purpose any more. What's the point of having DRM to prevent piracy of something you're giving away for free? Given that Securerom is often a source of technical problems, and that removing it should be trivial for the company that developed the game and still has access to the source and pre-DRM build, there is no good reason for them not to do so - simply as a gesture of goodwill and convenience to their customers.
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Well, I'm guessing you don't know the offer they're making. You can get The Sims 2 free if you enter a promotional code (which is only good for one week) when purchasing The Sims 2 in Origin. So the copy of the game is simultaneously available for $X and $0 depending on whether you enter that code. It doesn't make sense to re-engineer it out, when the same copy is being distributed to people using the code and people not using the code and the code will become invalid in August.
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That makes more sense.
It's still pointless though, because you can probably get it on every major torrent site.
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The only way to educate this company would be by wallet.
How does that work with a free game?
Re:Which Anti-Virus Suites detect that Trojan Hors (Score:4, Informative)
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I hope there is a special place in hell reserved for every EA employee (yes, even the guys in the warehouse)--preferably one where Hannibal Lector runs the place and the rednecks from Deliverance are the guards.
Re:I know it's cliche but... (Score:5, Insightful)
No, this is EA, assume malice, because EA are assholes who don't give a rats ass about their customers or what they do to them.
Re: (Score:3)