{"id":1656,"date":"2008-05-12T11:00:44","date_gmt":"2008-05-12T16:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=1656"},"modified":"2008-11-13T02:01:58","modified_gmt":"2008-11-13T07:01:58","slug":"mass-effecttrust-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=1656","title":{"rendered":"Mass Effect and SecuROM:Trust Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you were to take the official Mass Effect DRM thread<\/a> and distill it into a conversation between the fans and EA, it would flow something like this:<\/p>\n

What info does the installer send during registration? Anything private?<\/b><\/p>\n

No. Nothing private. We can’t tell you what is sent, but Trust Us, it’s nothing bad.<\/p>\n

I have to “use up” on of my three installs every time my hardware changes? What exactly is a “hardware change”?<\/b><\/p>\n

We can’t tell you. But Trust Us, it’s not unreasonable.<\/p>\n

But only three installs? What if I run out?<\/b><\/p>\n

Just call EA tech support, as it’s evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Trust Us, we’ll let you play your game.<\/p>\n

But what if you’re out of business? Or you turn off the authentication servers, like Microsoft did with their<\/em> DRM system?<\/b><\/p>\n

We aren’t Microsoft. Don’t judge us by what other companies do.<\/p>\n

I’m not a pirate, don’t judge me by what other consumers do.<\/b><\/p>\n

Fine. If we ever shut down the servers, we’ll release a patch that removes the need for registration.<\/p>\n

Put that in writing?<\/b><\/p>\n

No, but Trust Us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The hypocrisy has now reached toxic levels. Being repeatedly asked for trust from a company which refuses to trust its own customers is weapons-grade audacity<\/em>. The entire crux of the matter is a lack of trust on their<\/em> part, and reasonable customer concerns are met with the outrageous request for more trust on our part<\/em>. Some of us still remember the circle of stupidity from last year:<\/p>\n


\n
bioshock_securom.jpg<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n

And speaking of trust, I visited the SecuROM site. I found their n-CD “solution”, which sounds like what Mass Effect is using. It offers the following tidbit of info<\/a>:<\/p>\n

With SecuROM\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcs Product Activation concept, Sony DADC offers software publishers the possibility to secure their content either distributed via the physical or electronic sales channel with one solution. Only legitimate customers who have purchased the product are able to unlock the program which is bound to the hardware after activation. This ensures that once activated, it cannot be transferred to another PC and therefore not being mass pirated. SecuROM\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcs Product Activation can be easily combined with Sony DADC's n-CD solution. Let your end-customers register first and collect important market information prior allowing them to use your software products.<\/strong><\/div>\n

Emphasis mine. “Trust Us” indeed. This could be rephrased as, “Hold their purchase ransom until they cough up the personal data you want”. Asking for trust when proposing such a transaction is insulting. They try to soften the blow by playing the victim, saying that they need to take these steps to fight piracy, but all of these measures… only effect… paying… augh!<\/p>\n

No, I just can’t say it. If I have to write it one more time I think it will kill me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you were to take the official Mass Effect DRM thread and distill it into a conversation between the fans and EA, it would flow something like this: What info does the installer send during registration? Anything private? No. Nothing private. We can’t tell you what is sent, but Trust Us, it’s nothing bad. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[30,71,86],"class_list":["post-1656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-drm","tag-mass-effect","tag-securom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1656\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}