Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

UCITA Committee Disbanded

Posted by michael on from the three-cheers dept.

linuxwrangler writes "As noted in Ed Foster's InfoWorld Gripe Line blog, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws committee on Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA) has been disbanded. The UCITA proposal, a darling of the software industry, would have validated shrink-wrap and click-through licenses and legalized "self-help" or remote disabling of software by manufacturers. It's "developers are completely liable for defects...unless overridden by the shrink wrap license" provisions were of grave concern to open-source. The badly flawed proposed legislation was condemned by everyone from Librarians and InfoWorld editors to the American Bar Association, the Federal Trade Commission and Richard Stallman. Only two states (Virginia and Maryland) adopted it while twice that many passed Anti-UCITA laws. Although UCITA is not officially dead, at least it has been taken off life support which certainly qualifies as great news."

3 of 16 comments (clear)

  1. Why not front page? by Cutriss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Considering the scope and ramifications of UCITA-like bills that had been pushed through in other states, I find it odd that this didn't make front-page news. It's clearly great news, and something we can all breathe a little easier about hearing.

    Additionally, Slashdot didn't post anything about Senator Hollings announcing his retirement next year, which is also very good news for the /. community. Surely we can find room to insert this between the SCO stories, right?

    --
    "Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
    1. Re:Why not front page? by neitzsche · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I agree - it is so freaking rare to get GOOD news, this really really ought to be on the front page.

      Doesn't particularly generate a lot of discussion, but man is it refreshing!

      --
      "God is dead." - Frederik Nietzsche
  2. what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
    why did you put some link to a spam^H^H^H^Hblog, when there was an actual, real news source reporting it?

    get the fuck out, blog virus!