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Politech is the oldest Internet resource devoted to politics and technology. Launched in 1994 by Declan McCullagh, the mailing list has chronicled the growing intersection of culture, technology, politics, and law. Since 2000, so has the Politech web site.
Okay, so Borland says that if you accept its software license, its copyright enforcement goon squad will "have the right to enter your premises" to snoop through your records to verify that you're not lying about how many computers you have the software installed on. The Internet's self-annointed privacy watchdogs are already savaging Borland. The author of the freshmeat piece says: "We forfeit our right of privacy at our facilities or our homes -- a right which we are guaranteed under the Constitution." (Never mind that the Bill of Rights only limits the power of government, not Borland.) The Slashdot crowd and maybe EPIC will be all over this soon too. But what's wrong with this license? In exchange for something of value, you give up something of value. It's called a contract, folks, get over it. By granting Borland that right, you arguably gain software at a lower cost because of reduced piracy. What's more, people give up rights all the time -- if I take a job at Newsweek, I give up my right to freelance for Time. If I license a photo to ABC News, I might sign a contract giving up the right to sell the photo to NBC News. It is true that my privacy right may be more important to me than a few hundred or a few thousand dollars -- though for the right sum, I'll be delighted to let Borland do an "ls -lR / | fgrep -i borland" on my PC once a month. But nobody's forcing me to sign on the dotted line -- or click on the "I accept" button. Any sufficiently sentient person will be able to weigh the costs (snoopy auditors) against the benefits (possible increased productivity) gained from the Borlandware. If the costs outweigh the benefits, I still have three obvious choices: (1) Tell Borland to go to hell; (2) Negotiate with Borland to excise that clause from the contract, perhaps in exchange for a higher price; (3) Take my business to a competitor. If Borland's auditing clause becomes perceived as sufficiently onerous, its competitors will be quick to capitalize on it. When Yahoo/Geocities announced that it would own all your content in perpetuity, competitors announced they would not. Geocities members left in droves. Yahoo realized that they had made a braindead decision and backed down. It took all of 72 hours or so. True, many people don't read shrinkwrap agreements, and there are the usual jokes about the next version of Microsoft Windows requiring you to give up your firstborn to Bill Gates & co somewhere in the fine print. I don't have a good answer for that -- either these are contracts which are binding, or they are not. I think we're probably better served by considering them to be contracts, while simultaneously encouraging the industry to move to a more-or-less standard one that consumers will become familiar with. Additions can be highlighted and will be easier to spot. That approach will encourage the industry to stick with just the standardized contract, I think. Personally, I wouldn't agree to Borland's deal, unless I could save so much through productivity gains it would be worth the hassle. (Saving "enough" would be roughly defined as the price of a Lotus Esprit Turbo.) But in the fuss over Borland's contract, let's not lose sight of the fact that agreeing to it is our choice: Not everyone values privacy so much, or might sign off in exchange for the cost of a Honda Civic. :) -Declan PS: I haven't read the license on Borland's website; my comments are based on the mirrored copy on freshmeat. ********** From: "John Cieciel" <uselesseater@msn.com> To: "dec" <declan@well.com> Subject: freshmeat.net: Editorials - An Open Letter to Borland/Inprise Concerning Licensi Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 00:41:46 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 Borland licensing agreement which allows a Borland representative to enter your house to check your computer to verify you've paid the amount agreed upon. <http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/369>http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/369 If true, very newsworthy so... John Cieciel ********** http://freshmeat.net/.misc/borland-license.txt 12. AUDIT. During the term of this License and for one (1) year thereafter, upon reasonable notice and during normal business hours, Borland or its outside auditors will have the right to enter your premises and access your records and computer systems to verify that you have paid to Borland the correct amounts owed under this License and determine whether the Products are being used in accordance with the terms of this License. You will provide reasonable assistance to Borland in connection with this provision. You agree to pay the cost of the audit if any underpayments during the period covered by the audit amount to more than five percent (5%) of the fees actually owed for that period. ********** ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. 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