🚀 go-pugleaf

Nick FitzGerald <nick@virus-l.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>Second, that is a generic warning from your Word
>processor, not a specific, pre-installation contract
>between you and a service provider.  Although the
>programmatic outcome can be the same, the liability
>issues are somewhat different.

	Right.  GoHip's installer could only be considered a 
	virus in the fluffy, theoretical sense that a meme is a virus.
	Well, it's a lot closer to a meme than a Melissa.

	Now, if the signature contained a bit of javascript which
	auto-directed readers to the page, and didn't have a license
	agreement, _then_ it would clearly be a virus.

>GoHip's installer does what it says it will, *after*
>the user assents to having agreed to its terms.  

	This is kind of an oversimplification.  Clearly the user
	clicks assent to the terms---legally, the user assented
	(altho this kind of agreement hasn't been thoroughly tested
	in a court of law.)

	The issue, however, is one of burying these terms in deceptive
	packaging.  The program does not in any way enhance your 
	browser's video.  Even if it fesses up in the license agreement,
	after you download it, the practice is still deceptive.
	
>> Additionaly it replaces your sig ...
>
>...*after* you assert that you accept it doing so.

	Yet more proof that the practice is deceptive.  People press the 
	"Accept" button, indicating agreement, but don't really agree with 
	the terms.  It's a stealth clause.

	Now, people could be more perceptive, considering that they're
	signing a contract and all.  OTOH, they ahve to sign these things
	all the time.  If you had to sign a page of legalese every time
	you bought food, you wouldn't read it either, and couldn't be
	criticized for missing an evil clause.

>No -- what D L Smith did was wrong *and* illegal.
>What GoHip is doing is "only" wrong and moderately
>deceitful -- that is, typical business practice.  

	Legal?  I'm pretty sure.  A stunt like this might be _made_ 
	illegal in the future, as the sheer number of license agreements
	(and evil stunts) gets attention.

	Typical business practice?  Naw, I think GoHip is getting a 
	bad reputation from this stunt, and typically companies are
	smart enough not to try something like this.  A typical business 
	practice might be more along the lines of RealNetworks, who 
	actually provides a piece of software, an actual utility, with their
	mountain of advertisements.

>Nick FitzGerald

							-S