Germans claim Origin EUA allows EA to spy on Battlefield 3 players

EA has denied accusatory complaints out of Germany it's using its Origin digital distribution end-user license as a legal way to spy on users.

According to various images posted online by German gamers, the shots show what appears to be Origin accessing "external programs and data synced from mobile phones," according to Eurogamer.

The Spiegel newspaper in the country also printed a list of items from the license agreement, which could be in violation of the country's privacy laws.

Those items included the right for EA to access other EA products installed on user systems without notifying the user first, and to use the PC's "information combined with personal information for marketing purposes and to improve our products and services. We may also share that data with our third party service providers in a form that does not personally identify you."

Some German Battlefield 3 players have returned purchased copies of the game to stores, and are slamming the game on Amazon.de.

Due to the outrage, EA has updated Origin's terms of service in response, and have denied it's using Origin as spyware.

"We have updated the End User License Agreement of Origin, in the interests of our players to create more clarity," EA Germany announced 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."

The firm stressed that its Origin license agreement is in line with "industry-standard privacy policies" and it will continue to work with the German government to "ensure that our policies are and remain legally compliant."

A similar worry surfaced over the services' end-user agreement back in August.