Origin is under fire in Germany, here’s some info from the Spiegel (via Eurogamer) – they mostly bash EA for (allegedly) accessing other programs without notifying users and giving “partners” free rein to collect information on “IP addresses, usage data, software, equipment, software usage and existing hardware peripherals” fingor marketing purposes. According to the Spiegel, these things may even violate German (and probably most of other European countries) privacy laws.

But EA defends itself, and says it absolutely isn’t what it looks like:

“We have updated the End User License Agreement of Origin, in the interests of our players to create more clarity,” EA Germany said in a statement. “Origin is not spyware. Neither do we use nor install spyware on the PCs of users.”

“We do not have access to information such as pictures, documents or personal data, which have nothing to do with the execution of the Origin program on the system of the player, neither will they be collected by us. EA takes the privacy of its users very seriously. We have taken every precaution to protect the personal and anonymous user data collected.”

To conclude, EA noted that its EULA sticks to the “industry standard” where privacy is concerned – but added that it’s certainly open to addressing any concerns the German government might have.

I dunno about you guys but I actually try to read some bits of EULAs before clicking accept, you never know what you might be agreeing to.

In other Origin news, Mass Effect 3 is probably going to use Origin somehow…on consoles – source.