Removal of SecuROM from Spore

To:  Electronic Arts

Dear Electronic Arts,

It is the purpose of this message to petition you to remove the proposed Digital Rights Managements (DRM) solution, SecuROM, from the upcoming release of Spore in September. Echoing the strong opinions already voiced by the Mass Effect and BioShock communities, this DRM solution limits the rights of legitimate consumers of your software. It is not fair to those who pay for the software to be more encumbered by it's copy protection than those who will obtain it illegally. It is no secret that this kind of copy protection is easily cracked, often within days of initial release.

The proposed protections measures of a three install limit and online authentication are unfair to the legitimate consumer of the game for the following reasons. The install limit does not take into account the major hardware changes occurring every 2-3 years. that may lead to SecuROM into using one of the three installs. Including reformatting or installing a new video card. The online authentication is a problem because it relies on the current and future stability of your servers. What if EA is bankrupt in 10 years. How will we be able to play? When we purchase a game, we expect to be able to play it when and how we want whether it's now, or 20 years from now. The proposed DRM does not facilitate these expectations.

We refuse to be treated like criminals for supporting a unique and creative game. And if we are treated like criminals with the above mentioned methods of copy protection/DRM, we will not support this game, or future EA products that make use of this or similar methods of copy protection/DRM.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Removal of SecuROM from Spore Petition to Electronic Arts was created by and written by Mark Buddemeyer (buddemeyer@gmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.