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General Public Realizes KaZaa is Spyware
blankmange writes "CNet is reporting the slow dawning of the general public to KaZaa and spyware. "Virginia Watson unwittingly authorized a company she'd never heard of to install software that would help turn her computer into part of a brand-new network. The software, from Brilliant Digital Entertainment, came with the popular Kazaa file-swapping program. But the 65-year-old Massachusetts resident--who has a law degree--didn't read Kazaa's 2,644-word "terms of service" contract, which stated that Brilliant might tap the "unused computing power and storage space" of Watson's computer. " " Fortunately the helpful
graph in the article compares the complexity of IRS tax forms with Brilliant's
terms of use... guess which one is harder to read?
Kazaa Lite is without spyware:
http://www.kazaalite.com
It replaces one of the spyware DLLs Kazaa requires with a do-nothing version.
Dan East
Of course, the whole point of the article (if you've read it, though I'll guess that you haven't) is that the complexity of most EULAs are absurdly difficult : The type of convoluted, circular, impossible to read verbage that virtually no one could read through and understand even if they were truly committed to reading the EULA for every single piece of software that they installed.
Personally, I think that there should be basic laws governing software just as there are in the rest of society (i.e. There is a 20 page EULA every time I go to a variety store and buy a can of coke, because there are certain expectations and societal and legal standards that govern the experience : i.e. Drinking a coke doesn't make them own my liver) : For instance, no software can communicate over the internet without explaining, in simple English (not intentionally vague legalize) why it is doing it, and who it's really benefitting.
It's called AdAware, and it seems capable of nuking most nasty little apps installed by websites and applications like Kazza. Grab it here from Lavesoft USA and be very afraid at how many spyware components it finds!
You should also download their reference file update utility too. This lets you keep up to date with the latest spyware programs out there.
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If you read many of your EULA's carefully, you'll find that you have a right to use the software, but you don't actually own the software... Really depends on the software company, but this is fairly common.
Hmmm...
Popups? Go into Mozilla, under Advanced, and Scripts & Windows, there's a checkbox for allowing web pages to open up unrequested windows. Bye-bye popups!
is a yes/no button a legally binding clause?
t iv es/hotmail.html
From http://www.techlawonline.com/internet.htm#about3:
The Internet variant of "shrinkwrap" licenses are "clickwrap" licenses which are standard-form contracts entered into online; for example, Terms of Service posted on a web site, under which the purchaser signifies his assent to the terms simply by clicking on a box marked "I Agree." Like shrinkwrap licenses, the terms are non-negotiable. Unlike post-payment shrinkwrap licenses, however, the purchaser's consent to the posted terms is usually obtained before the exchange of funds.
While the courts have not explicitly upheld the enforceability of clickwrap licenses, in at least one recent decision, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California implicitly ruled that such an agreement was enforceable. Hotmail Corporation v. Van$ Money Pie Inc., 47 U.S.P.Q. 2d 1020, 1998 WL 388389 (April 1998, N.D.Cal.). It remains to be seen whether other courts will similarly find these types of agreements enforceable.
The court's decision in the Hotmail case above can be found here:
http://eon.law.harvard.edu/h2o/property/alterna
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
When all this blew up znet produced some manual removal instructions which are here
-- Vagnerr - (www.vagnerr.com) Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Pointing people there could save hours of explanation...
Not exactly true. If you're a minor, you can opt out of a contract unless it's for essentials. But you can choose to keep the contract and bind the other party.
If the parent's authorizing it, though (by giving the disk to install, and using the software), they're probably going to be bound (as much as anyone else, anyway) even if they get their 10-year-old to click on the agreement.
(As usual, not legal advice or a recommended course of action.)
I don't understand why someone would use a large general-file-sharing app when all they want is music. If you download the audiogalaxy client, you get access to a far superior collection, and with creative searches, find anything for download.