Both Mass Effect PC and Spore are to use SecuROM as copy protection for the retail versions. The controversial anti-piracy software requires an internet connection to connect to an EA server and verify every ten days. Derek French, technical producer at Bioware clarified the news,

“An internet connection is not required to install, just to activate the first time, and every ten days after. You can be completely connectionless for nine days and encounter no problems playing Mass Effect. And you don’t need the disk in the drive to play.”

While PC security and privacy issues aren’t at stake here, this will obviously pose a problem for those that haven’t got round the clock internet access and It also flies in the face of EA’s claim that Spore can be played as an offline game.