Gamemaker Electronic Arts dismissed a rumor on Tuesday that its download client called Origin secretly collects data from users’ computers.
A supposed screenshot, posted on Reddit, claimed that Origin is “still snooping files.”
Origin collects a limited amount of information from its users in order to improve its services, but does not “access information such as browser files and other private files located on user machines,” wrote EA spokeswoman Sandy Goldberg via email.
“The screenshots circulated recently do not reveal information collected by Origin,” she wrote. “Instead, they reflect typical Windows processes indicating registry paths.”
The screenshot shared on Reddit. (Click to enlarge.)
Origin’s code does not “enumerate keys under files such as ExplorerUserAssist. Running Origin’s code, alone, cannot replicate these screenshots,” she continued.
EA contested allegations in 2011 that Origin improperly collected information about users following a story by the German publication Spiegel Online.
However, the company subsequently revised the terms and conditions of its end user license agreement, according to gaming site Kotaku.