This week, people finally got around to reading the end user license agreement for EA's download service Origin, and found that it allowed EA to collect personal and usage data for marketing purposes. This contrasts with Steam's EULA, which allows Valve to collect and store information related to Steam and other Valve software only.

In response, EA issued a new, much softer-sounding version (PDF link here) of Origin's EULA. The new version no longer mentions marketing, but maintains the right to collect "nonpersonally identifiable data, including computer configuration, software usage, and peripherals connected. EA specifies that this data collection is done "for purposes of improving our products and services, providing services to you, facilitating the provision of software updates, dynamically served content and product support as well as communicating with you."

EA also added a note that seems directly inspired by the outcry over the last EULA. "EA knows that you care how information about you is collected, used and shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly," the document now reads. "Information about our customers is an important part of our business, and EA would never sell your personally identifiable information to anyone, nor would it ever use spyware or install spyware on users' machines."http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/26/ea-revises-origin-eula-data-collection-is-still-in-collection/