[Jeku]

"Do you have verifiable source of evidence, or is that an anti-rumor rumor?"

Like I said, I work at EA so I did my own little investigation when the game was released. I didn't want to be associated with a company that installs adware or spyware. There are also articles on Gamespot and IGN that distill the incorrect rumour as just that, a rumour.

"Even if it doesn't track sites you visit, it is still a despicable practice (ad banners in products you explicitly paid for)."

Actually it's not. Think about it. World of Warcraft charges you what, $10 a month? The Battlefield franchise charges you a one-time fee of $50, in which you can play *forever* without another cost. EA has to pay to keep their servers on, and given there is almost 100,000 players logging on every DAY, you can imagine that this gets expensive.