That's not exactly it. It would be like a camera company making their camera record advertisements along with your video.
The television stations have the right to run ads because they own the infrastructure and the broadcasting equipment. The camera companies don't get to run their ads for free on someone's TV station simply because they made the camera.
The same should hold true for EA. The fact is, these ads are being run on servers who's hardware was paid for by a third party and who's bandwidth is being paid for by a third party. And I'd be willing to bet that at least some of the game server's code is dedicated to managing those ads for all it's clients.
Then there is also the fact that the price of the game is still $50 US. If they are going to put in-game advertising the least they could do is reduce the starting price of the game.
[quote]Not to mention the fact that they are hosting in-game ads on servers that are run on hardware that is not paid for by EA and on bandwidth which is also not paid for by EA.
Having ads in the lobby where it is EA's bandwidth is one thing, having ads in games that are not being hosted by them, on their hardware or on their bandwidth is another.
I don't understand the argument. When a commercial plays on your TV, isn't that taking your broadcast bandwidth? Does anyone question this? I know, you don't pay for network TV, right? But if you have cable or sattelite, you do pay for extended programming, and yes, the cable and sattelite companies are responsible for some of the advertising featured on those channels (not the networks).
I'm not saying it's right or it's wrong, but it's already a part of the society we inhabit. If you like the fact that we have free markets and competition, part of that process is advertising, and there are many ways to go about it. The fact that they're utilizing a medium that you're not accustomed to seeing advertisements in is really the issue I think. But as long as it's done tastefully, I'm not opposed to seeing advertisements in games. As long as they're not releasing a Middle Earth game with Gandalf drinking a Coke... :P
Back on the original topic though, I wholehartedly agree that neither EA nor anyone else has the right to deploy spyware onto your computer. Unfortunately this is another ploy by marketers to watch over your interests and online shopping habits. This may be very helpful information to them, but they must not be allowed to spy on people to obtain it, or as others have said, this will be just the beginning.