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A Ham Radio Software Company Has Been Blacklisting Users For Leaving Negative Reviews (theregister.co.uk)
Gandalf_the_Beardy quotes a report from The Register: The Register reports on the story of Jim Giercyk, an amateur radio enthusiast who had his copy of the popular Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) software revoked after posting a negative review. Other radio hams have followed up with us regarding claims that this was not an isolated incident and others may have had their license keys blacklisted for being publicly critical of the company. And just to be clear: by blackballing keys, installed copies of the software stop working. Giercyk, a professional musician in South Carolina, U.S., says that after his dealings with HRD Software (which has since reinstated his software key) and the statement made by the developer's co-owner Dr Michael Carper, he takes issue with claims made by the company. Giercyk, aka N2SUB, told us on Tuesday: "The issue is not the refusal of service, the issue is that HRD disabled my software, and then offered to enable it in exchange for the removal of an online review of their product. It's extortion, not refusal of service." Giercyk also said that since he went public about his blacklisting last week, he has received messages from other users who have stories of their software keys being revoked by HRD without their knowledge for speaking up about having a bad support experience. A number of other readers pointed out a collection of bad reviews posted on hobbyist site eHam by customers who had their license keys blacklisted. HRD told us some of those users could have written their assessments after requesting a refund and deactivating their software, thus their licenses will appear revoked. Meanwhile, Reddit threads and follow-up discussions to Giercyk's catalyst forum post reveal similar stories of keys being revoked after critical comments about Ham Radio Deluxe have appeared online. Other sources allege some amateur radio forums have in the past deleted posts critical of HRD.
I had not heard this story, but that might be because I don't personally use Ham Radio Deluxe or any other proprietary ham software, certainly nothing that can be controlled in this way. Other hams are free to use whatever they want, but I personally consider proprietary software to be fundamentally incompatible with the nature and purpose of ham radio.
The concept of ownership continues to slip through our fingers. And this isn't cheap software! We always say "if you can't open it you don't own it." Perhaps it's time for "if you can't compile it, it's not really installed."
I second this so strongly that most probably won't understand how visceral this is.
Phil wrote some software used to enable UUCP over packet, way way back when. My roommate and I cobbled together a UUCP feed for a couple of BBSes in rural Idaho. While we were still figuring out the mysteries of Minix and this newfangled Linux thing, we had email before it was cool. It was made possible by software with that callsign in his email address emblazoned on the banners and docs.
I didn't understand what amateur radio was, but I'd run across the hacker/tinkerer culture in radio that eventually (only a few years ago!) brought me into the hobby. Thanks for the early introduction, Phil!
Fast forward to today and I'm packing radio gear for six weeks on a remote South Pacific island, because it's a desirable place to talk to (E51AMF, for the curious). I've met countless incredible people all over the world. Many on the radio and many of them in person. I've made lifelong friends because of a shared interest in "seeing what's possible." My only regret is that I saw it was a weird quirky hobby that "probably isn't still a thing."
Yes, it's still a thing. If you haven't explored the hobby at all, you really should, especially now. So much interesting stuff to explore and try and so many people who want to push the boundaries.
73, K7ADD
It's not unbelievable, this is the attitude with a lot of proprietary HAM software and HAM stores selling devices. They're just straight up assholes.
Unfortunately this aggressive behaviour is typical among companies selling ham-radio related hardware or software. I got into ham radio in 1980, and after a few years the so called "ham-spirit" evaporated and was replaced by money greedines. I am no more into this, and I do not regret the decision I took. Communities that grew around projects like Arduino or Raspberry PI are more open and technologically-challenging than ham radio today. I wonder why a young student should take his ham radio ticket, and get involved with this stuff, when there are so much interesting things in the SBC wolrd, that furthermore require no license at all!
Extortion is still extortion.
Even if the thing you are threatening to do is perfectly legal sans the threat.
Also:
Being an asshole is still being an asshole.
Even all was legally sound and the other guy could/should have seen your capability to screw him in the terms, securing and exercising that capability is a choice, and that choice can make you an asshole. It is perfectly legal to choose to be an asshole, but don't come whining to me or anyone else when you get called out. Those are the stakes.
If you actively piss off your customers or prospective customers enough to hurt your reputation, that is on you. It's your problem, and it's your fault.
sudo ergo sum
"by blackballing keys, installed copies of the software stop working."
Simple solution to the problem, don't pay them to begin with then you can give a review and delete it. Most of the time when I test software, if it fails my "useability" test, it is off my system long before the review is completed. I have too many things to do than to deal with useless software that doesn't meet my needs.
That's like saying you're "pushing the boundaries" by seeing how many q-tips you can fit in your ear. Sure, it's probably technically accurate. But you have to admit that it's "pushing the boundaries" of being bullshit.
I'm in the process of packing up my house, preparing to move, and I found a 5-1/4" disk in a box. The label says it's Phil Karn's KA9Q TCP/IP stack, copyright 1987. A friend of mine and I used it to learn TCP/IP networking by squirting modem tones thru radios back in 1988. It was kind of a weird time in my life. I wasn't really college ready, so I had a bunch of work to do in a junior college just to get in to a University. I could have very easily given up and wandered away and become an electrician. Ham radio kept my attention. I graduated with a STEM degree, perhaps the wrong STEM degree, but that hardly mattered. Just as I graduated Mosaic appeared, I could code C on SunOS & Linux, I knew TCP/IP networking and the core Internet protocols, and how to troubleshoot all the way down to the physical layer. My career took off like I'd been shot out of a cannon. My friend retired from Apple at age 35.
Tinkering teaches. Ham radio is very much still a thing.
And let me just take a moment to say thank you to Phil!