The private servers are technically in violation of the game's EULA/TOS but Origin/OSI and now EA have been happy to let them go unmolested as long as they don't charge players to play.
Of course many servers have gone around this barrier by incentivizing them to donate money to cover bandwidth and server costs and offering in-game benefits in return (skills, items, titles, etc.).
Of course many servers have gone around this barrier by incentivizing them to donate money to cover bandwidth and server costs and offering in-game benefits in return (skills, items, titles, etc.).