September 2008
Electronic Arts, one of the world’s leading videogame publishers, is being sued by videogame fans for the way it has handled the digital rights-management software built into its new game, Spore.
The class-action lawsuit , filed in California, claims that the game disk contains a hidden digital rights program, SecuROM, which is "secretly installed to the command and control center of the computer (Ring 0, or the Kernel), and surreptiously operated, overseeing function and operation on the computer, preventing the computer from operating under certain circumstances and/or disrupting hardware operations".
The lawsuit states that this software cannot be uninstalled, even when the game itself is, and as such, contravenes Californian consumer rights' laws.
EA was criticised by gamers over its decision to build DRM software into Spore, a game in which players create a creature and control it through the evolutionary process.
The digital-rights software was designed to prevent illegal copying and piracy of the game by limiting the number of times the game can be installed on a computer. It meant gamers could only install the game three times on a single machine before the game's 'certificate', which acts as proof of purchase, expired.
This meant that Spore fans would have to buy a new copy of the game in order to continue playing it. The rule also posed problems for families who each wanted to play the game under separate user accounts.
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But following huge online protests, EA has issued an apology, and has said that the game can now be re-installed an unlimited number of times, as long as it is not installed on more than five separate computers.
Critics have welcomed the move, saying that all DRM serves to do is punish legitimate consumers, as determined hackers can easily circumvent the restrictions.
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