sábado, 30 de abril de 2011

Phoning Home, Spying, and Individual Rights: Where Are We Going?


As I'm currently extremely busy, I'll just make a quick post about something I read that struck me:

I read an article about tracking technologies in a CAD trial software that let vendors contact a person to demand US$10,000 in licensing fees plus recurring maintenance fees or face a $150,000 lawsuit.

That led to the victim suing the vendors because he was not told he would be tracked.

While I think companies have the right to protect their privative software, the question is if companies can extend DRMs (Digital Rights Management) that far. Is it ethical and legal to track users without letting them know about it?

According to the article, companies could save themselves by stating in the EULAs (yes, the contracts that Windows users seldom read!) their intention to track users. That means companies will have the right to make software with malware imbedded! Isn't it great? I wonder how that will fit in Microsoft's plan to remove from the Web computers infected with malware...

Wow! It seems that the post I made some time ago about Science Non-Fiction was not so far off the mark!

4 comentarios:

  1. Wow...that's scary. This is getting awfully close to Stallman's short story...

    ResponderEliminar
  2. You can say that again! What I find especially scary is if the domestication level reaches a point to which people actually see that as "natural" and even worse, "necessary."

    ResponderEliminar
  3. I'm so furious about this new behavior from MS about placing the fault into the users!!! Who made them owners of the internet????

    ResponderEliminar
  4. @Vanargand,

    While this behavior is certainly enraging, it is nothing new, for MS has always placed the burden on someone else: "PC viruses" (Windows viruses), "PC security holes" (Windows security holes), "infected computers" (Infected Windows OSs)

    As you can see, MS are NEVER guilty! PCs equal Windows only for their sales numbers, it seems. Not for the serious issues.

    ResponderEliminar