Another reason to love EA. Did you know this.

[dbrandon]

I did not know this cause I didn't take the time to read the entire agreement.
What do you think?

http://xbox360.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3152782

[MassNole]

Re: Another reason to love EA. Did you know this.

Yeah I am pretty sure this will one day lead to a lawsuit against EA, like around the time someone hacks their system and gets those credit card numbers. I know you are technically agreeing to this, but they know no one reads these things and as such you can argue you never agreed to it. I know that works against insurance companies who have weird or oppressive terms, which I would certainly argue this qualifies as.

[TJdaSportsGuy]

Re: Another reason to love EA. Did you know this.

Yeah I am pretty sure this will one day lead to a lawsuit against EA, like around the time someone hacks their system and gets those credit card numbers. I know you are technically agreeing to this, but they know no one reads these things and as such you can argue you never agreed to it.

You can argue you never agreed to it? Sorry...but once you click that "I agree" box or click "Yes" when it's asking you if you agree to it, you are legally agreeing to it. A lawsuit would have no legs because of this fact.

[MassNole]

Re: Another reason to love EA. Did you know this.

You can argue you never agreed to it? Sorry...but once you click that "I agree" box or click "Yes" when it's asking you if you agree to it, you are legally agreeing to it. A lawsuit would have no legs because of this fact.

That is actually wrong for a whole plethora of reasons, the most successful being that taking your credit card information is unconscionable since they have no need to have it at this time. Those user agreements aren't air tight and some states have held not reading an insurance policy, even though you contractually agreed to it, provided a defense against the oppressive terms of the policy. Now we also have people under the age of 18 'agreeing' to this without their parents' knowledge, which would again void the agreement.

§ 2-302. Unconscionable contract or Clause. (1) If the court as a matter of law finds the contract or any clause of the contract to have been unconscionable at the time it was made the court may refuse to enforce the contract, or it may enforce the remainder of the contract without the unconscionable clause, or it may so limit the application of any unconscionable clause as to avoid any unconscionable result.
(2) When it is claimed or appears to the court that the contract or any clause thereof may be unconscionable the parties shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to present evidence as to its commercial setting, purpose and effect to aid the court in making the determination.

This is probably the best argument that would void EA's user agreement and effectively open up the law suit against them.

[p_rushing]

Re: Another reason to love EA. Did you know this.

That is actually wrong for a whole plethora of reasons, the most successful being that taking your credit card information is unconscionable since they have no need to have it at this time. Those user agreements aren't air tight and some states have held not reading an insurance policy, even though you contractually agreed to it, provided a defense against the oppressive terms of the policy. Now we also have people under the age of 18 'agreeing' to this without their parents' knowledge, which would again void the agreement.



This is probably the best argument that would void EA's user agreement and effectively open up the law suit against them.

I don't believe being a minor would have any effect, as the minor is posing as >18. Its been a few years since my law class, but I think as long as the person/company enters into the contract without any reasonable doubt, then it would be fine. The Judge would rule the contract void, but nothing would happen to EA. The minor could get in more trouble than EA would, as they would basically be using a "stolen" credit card and knowingly enterering into a void contract.

[MassNole]

Re: Another reason to love EA. Did you know this.

I don't believe being a minor would have any effect, as the minor is posing as >18. Its been a few years since my law class, but I think as long as the person/company enters into the contract without any reasonable doubt, then it would be fine. The Judge would rule the contract void, but nothing would happen to EA. The minor could get in more trouble than EA would, as they would basically be using a "stolen" credit card and knowingly enterering into a void contract.

Okay, EA is pulling the credit card information from MS. When I sign up for XBL I give MS my credit card, and presumably I would be doing it for my child. I haven't read MS's user agreement, but I'd be surprised and appauled to find out they gave themselves permission to hand out your credit card information to a third party, but back to my main point. If I buy XBL for my kid, I did just that, I didn't give them permission to then release my credit card info by agreeing to EA's user agreement themselves. But the bigger issue would be the clause I am sure is in EA's user agreement that absolves them from liability for what may happen, that is what would be voided by them taking credit card information in a rather unconscionable manner. As such, I could void the entire contract with EA and then take action against them if my credit card was later hacked. As it stands, I am surprised this isn't prohibited by some privacy law covering credit cards.

[tenth]

Re: Another reason to love EA. Did you know this.

"They're getting the info from Microsoft to build a profile on the people playing their games, and you have to wonder why EA needs the 411 on Joe Gamer. We contacted EA for comment on the issue yesterday, and are still awaiting an official response from the company."

Not sure why the article is even asking this question. Information like this is extremely valuable nowadays. It's no different than Safeway having a Safeway card designed to track your purchasing and spending habits. Companies want any and all information about consumers to best market their products.

The credit card bit I don't understand why they need. Maybe they get information from in-store and online vendors, and match that up to the information? Either way, seems weird and sketchy.

[ODogg]

Re: Another reason to love EA. Did you know this.

So we should be angry at EA because they're like any other company out there and want to get a marketing profile of the customers that use it's products? Riiighhhht...

[dkgojackets]

Re: Another reason to love EA. Did you know this.

and you have to wonder why EA needs the 411 on Joe Gamer

Try thinking for two seconds moron.

[ndeezlo]

Re: Another reason to love EA. Did you know this.

Try thinking for two seconds moron.

is that really necessary

[billmatic]

Re: Another reason to love EA. Did you know this.

is that really necessary

yeah, I read it like that too until I saw he was quoting the article and not a poster.

[ObiWanJenkins]

Re: Another reason to love EA. Did you know this.

That is actually wrong for a whole plethora of reasons, the most successful being that taking your credit card information is unconscionable since they have no need to have it at this time. Those user agreements aren't air tight and some states have held not reading an insurance policy, even though you contractually agreed to it, provided a defense against the oppressive terms of the policy.

I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one. Credit card information is one of the best ways for a company to track purchases and buying habits. No court in the US is going to rule that a company is using unfair business practices to track your buying habits through a credit card.

Not reading a contract that you agree to has never been successfully won in court. States have upheld decisions where the court felt the terms were intentionally difficult to understand or the terms were incredibly unfair to the individual. Not being able to understand the legalese and just not being willing to actual read what you're signing beforehand are two totally different things.

The agreement in the article seems very straightforward to me.

Now we also have people under the age of 18 'agreeing' to this without their parents' knowledge, which would again void the agreement.

It is the general policy of every credit card company to not give credit cards to minor mainly because they cannot be held to any contract they sign. I have seen court cases where parents have sued over billing for internet service as the minor could not give consent, and the parent never agreed to the terms. Much of the time, the parents were found to have agreed to the terms by allowing access to the credit card or bank account by the minor.

[dkgojackets]

Re: Another reason to love EA. Did you know this.

is that really necessary

Fully.

Lets see, why would a company want to know about its market? Surely gamers and their decisions dont have any effect on EA's bottom line. Toughie here. Pretty stupid line to include in that article.