ELECTRONIC ARTS HAS RESPONDED TO MY LATEST PLEA
by Alphaville Herald on 05/12/03 at 1:22 pm
As sad as I was to have to report the “indifference” EA had displayed after frequent attempts to contact them on a matter involving possible harm to a child encountered on TSO that I felt very strongly about (See Below “EA’s INDIFFERENCE),” I am delighted to have finally received a reply from the them. The message I received this afternoon is as follows:
Dear Ms. Bolter,
Thank you for taking time to pursue this matter. On the issue of privacy, we try to strike a balance between a member’s privacy rights and our responsibility to the community. Like other online hosts, we do not monitor each conversation but try to take appropriate action when a problem surfaces, even though we are under no legal obligation to do so.
In this instance, we were petitioned about a discussion between players that may have referenced a personal and harmful situation outside of the game environment. In response to concerns raised by a petitioner, and after careful review of our web log, we contacted local authorities and identified the player. Resolution of his incident now lies with the local authorities.
I understand your frustration with the lack of specific communication that has been offered to you and the petitioner on this matter. However, I hope you understand that we cannot provide any further detail. The player’s identity and any action taken by local authorities will remain confidential.
Again, thank you very much for your concern.
Respectfully,
Jeffrey Brown
Vice President,
Corporate Communications
Electronic Arts
Peter Ludlow
Dec 5th, 2003
Wow! Great job on this Kale, I guess once in a while it pays to be unrelenting. and thanks to Maxis for finally turning this over to the local law enforcement agencies.
kale
Dec 5th, 2003
Not at all– thanks goes to you and anyone else that took an interest in helping to get some action. EA pointed out in their correspondence that they had no “duty” to report this and I think (like it or not, in a strictly legal sense that is true). They do indeed deserve “kudos” on this one for taking some action that could stop a person from suffering possible further harm. It was you that received the upsetting communication (which some people may have just chosen to ignore) and had the integrity to point out something may be very wrong here and it *needs* to be checked into. So, thank you, good sir!
Peter Ludlow
Dec 5th, 2003
Here is the letter that *I* got from EA on this topic.
Dear Professor Ludlow,
Thank you for taking time to pursue this matter. On the issue of privacy, we try to strike a balance between a member’s privacy rights and our responsibility to the community. Like other online hosts, we do not monitor each conversation but try to take appropriate action when a problem surfaces, even though we are under no legal obligation to do so.
In response to concerns raised by you, and after careful review of our web log, we contacted local authorities and identified the player. Resolution of this incident now lies with the local authorities. The authorities may want to contact you for your input. We have not provided your information to them but would like to do so if they request it. Please let us know if this would be a problem.
I have read the logs, and I understand your acute frustration with the lack of specific answers provided earlier. However, I hope you understand that we cannot provide any further detail. The player’s identity and any action taken by local authorities will remain confidential.
Again, thank you very much for your concern. We appreciate your quickness in identifying a potential problem and your diligence in seeing that action was taken.
Respectfully,
Jeffrey Brown
Vice President,
Corporate Communications
Electronic Arts
MMO player
Dec 15th, 2003
And this Peter guy has a PhD and teaches at a top university? How exactly did you want Maxis to respond? And you do realize that actually discussing any steps they might have taken, even seconds after receiving your first comment, most likely is completely against their player privacy policy, right?
In addition, if the 8 year old were hospitalized, one would assume that the parents/guardians already know about the violent situation in the home – and the authorities as well.
How can any company be responsible for absolutely everything said within it’s MMO? It can’t. This whole thing sounds like a griefer baiting to the nth degree. Grow up. It’s not a social experiment, it’s a game.
The Blue Spider
Dec 15th, 2003
A bit mildly dismissive, eh?