more on Genuine Advantage lawsuit

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: June 29, 2006 3:14:40 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: lauren () vortex com
Subject: Re: [IP] Genuine Advantage lawsuit


Dave,

Both "What is Spyware" issues and EULA consent issues are complex.

In this case, Microsoft has admitted that they should have noted
the WGA connection behavior in the original EULA, and that not
doing so was a mistake.

(See http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000178.html for my original
discussion of WGA "phone home" behavior, and later linked
blog entries).

I do not feel that the WGA download in question should have been in
the normal Windows Update cycle -- especially given its "prerelease"
status.  And I believe that the manner in which the original
EULA/consent form was displayed left a great deal to be desired
(unfortunately, this has become all too common among various
vendors, and most people tend to click right through without reading
the details).  *Informed* consent issues are indeed vital.

However, I am very unenthusiastic about this kind of litigation in a
case where the actual damage done (compared with destructive or
personal information stealing spyware sneaked onto systems by
crooks) is very low.  We risk diverting our attention from the
bigger picture.

We should instead be concentrating our efforts on a broad discussion
of computer users' rights to control their systems, vs. how far vendors
should be allowed to go in their laudable goal of preventing
piracy.  This is especially important when "innocents" may find
themselves sucked into the maelstrom of anti-piracy efforts.

We need to keep our eyes on the ball.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
   - International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com

  - - -

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: "Aleecia M. McDonald" <aleecia () aleecia com>
> Date: June 29, 2006 11:31:55 AM EDT
> To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Genuine Advantage lawsuit
>
> For IP if you wish.
>
> A suit filed in Seattle court claims that Genuine Advantage is
> spyware, and denied users the ability to make informed consent. Note
> the carefully phrased denial from Microsoft:
>
>         "Spyware is deceptive software that is installed on a user's
> computer without the user's consent and has some malicious purpose,"
>
> I've looked at a lot of definitions of spyware, and "some malicious
> purpose" is an interesting addition.
>
> Lauren Weinstein appears to believe that consent is not at issue, but
> rather the degree of damage:
>
> "It doesn't seem to me that this particular incident rises anywhere
> near the kind of damage that is normally associated with spyware,"
> said Lauren Weinstein, co-founder of People for Internet
> Responsibility. "That's not to say that Microsoft should have done it
> the way they did. ... But that doesn't necessarily make it
> illegal." [ellipses in original text]
>
> Full article: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/
> 275780_msftsuit29.html?source=mypi
>
> One of my concerns is that, politically, it is difficult to pass
> Federal legislation that bans Microsoft's standard business
> practices. It's been hard enough to approach a working definition of
> spyware (see the good work of CDT's Anti-Spyware Coalition.)
> Codifying what is, or isn't, spyware just got a whole lot more
> difficult.
>
>         Aleecia
>
>
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