They never learn...

[pam123]

You'd think the Sony/BMG deacle would be sufficient warning but no : http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1926917,00.asp

The thing is that this won't have any effect on pirates but if you're actually the paying customer you should read this from the guys at Princeton : http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/pub/sonydrm-ext.pdf

[TwoRails]

I don't understand why that kind of stuff is not illegal. It is evasive, to say the least. (I didn't read the 27 pager yet...)

[David M]

The solution is simple but I do not think the politicians have the guts to do it. Laws need to be written that make it illegal to do certain things to peoples computers...period. This is regardless of what any EULA might say. People cannot write agreements that provide for an illegal activity....this makes it an illegal and invalid agreement. The same needs to start applying to these EULA's which place rootkits, spyware etc on ones computer. People need the option of being able to pay for and use software without malware.

It is beyond me why it is legal for a company to sneak malware onto peoples computers. The only penalty Sony got for doing such a thing is a bad reputation. Sony did not get fined and nobody went to jail...because it is legal!

Obviously any new laws to curtail malware would need to define malware. This should not be to hard if you define malware as anything which reveals private information or anything which runs in the background that might be to the benefit of a party other than the user. Or anything that reveals information contained in a computer, or the activities of the user, to a second party.

If a company feels it is necessary to add rootkits or spyware to its software for it to work, then too bad, maybe they should not be making this software in the first place? At the least, software with malware, needs to have significant warnings about the content...just like cigarette packs have warnings about getting cancer. A law like this would make perfect sense and would stop these companies from sneaking malware into peoples computers.

If people want malware in their computer then fine, at least they would know it is there and hopefully any new law would require that there be a no hassle and quick way of removing the malware.

[pam123]

DITTO

[faulkner132]

I love Linux!