From: Reason (reason@exratio.com)
Date: Tue May 21 2002 - 16:38:36 MDT
-->Harvey Newstrom
> On Tuesday, May 21, 2002, at 02:15 am, Reason wrote:
> >
> > Whatever happened to caveat emptor?
>
> It was discarded by the Magna Carta when fraud was made illegal.
> Vendors are no longer allowed to lie about what they are selling.
Oh, how terrible. People who lie about things they sell. Monsterous. Can't
allow that, now can we. Newsflash: next to every company in the world lies
about what they sell. Some push it further than others, but legislation
can't and shouldn't replace simple common sense on the part of the buyer. Do
you people enjoy living like sheep?
> > The evil "they" aren't forcing anyone to
> > install anything that they can't check out, read reviews of, or
> > generally
> > act responsibly about.
>
> Wrong. This stuff gets bundled and installed without notice of its
> function to the user. See
> <http://news.com.com/2100-1023-801599.html?legacy=cnet> as an example.
> The software distributors themselves claimed to not know what the
> software installers on their disks were installing!
No, I think I'm right. Even if this happens, a small proportion of people
get hit. The vast majority can then make use of the expert groups that will
be warning people about the software. The same goes for installing things
with automatic updaters from companies that have previously done this sort
of thing.
Again, this is common sense. Life is risky. You can reduce that risk by
acting sensibly. I don't have and have never had P2P software on my
machine -- because I considered the companies that produce it less than
reputable and so did the expert groups that I normally concur with. So I
avoided this problem through five minutes of diligence here and there.
It's a very modern thing to try and remove all risk from your life. It just
encourages you to sleepwalk and incur costs on others through their
carelessness.
> > Would you randomly go out and put third party wheels
> > on your car without doing at least a little checking?
>
> Go do checking of Kazaa at <http://www.kazaa.com/en/privacy/spyware.htm>
> and tell me if it sounds like they are going to install spyware and
> record your personal information. It reads like a promise that they
> won't do that. Can you catch the legal loophole that allows them to do
> it anyway? Many people can't.
Hmm. So you'd only check the third party tire seller information when
installing their gear? What if they're unethical and smart? How would you
know? That's what the expert groups are for. There have been plain english
articles and commentaries for a long time now on the security risk of P2P
software and the less than forward business practices of these companies. If
you choose not to expend the small amount of time to choose a trust network
and reference expert groups on these matters, then you're vunerable to
getting taken -- simple as that.
This isn't to deny ethical responsibility resting on the evildoer, but it's
your responsibility to protect yourself, not the responsibility of the State
to spread the costs of your lack of responsibility to others.
Reason
http://www.exratio.com/
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