[COMP] The UCITA

I feel this is appropriate, since a lot of us around here use software
(duh).  If you've read any news today, you may already know that this
bill has passed the House in Virgina, which as I'm about to illustrate,
is a very bad thing.

The UCITA is an act/law that was designed by and is heavily pushed by
folks like Microsoft and AOL.  Why is that?  Don't worry, it'll become
quite obvious.

First though, what is it, exactly?  Basically, it's a law that allows
commercial software companies to do whatever they want to their buyers,
and I mean that almost literally.  Those not in the know see it as
beneficial, since it supposedly "protects" consumers, by holding
software makers liable for things their software does, or usually, does
wrong.  However, it also allows big companies to sell their software
under "shrink-wrap" licenses (if you buy it in a store, they already
come with one) that do some tricky [read: Scary] things.

To start with, these licenses would allow companies to completely avoid
liability for their mishaps.  As we all know (especially from the Win2K
discussion over the last few days), software (all of it) has bugs.
Usually, you can say "look what your software did, now fix it."  Under
the UCITA though, companies would be able to avoid this altogether.
Nice for them, eh?  Bad for you.

Second, these licenses give developers the right to prohibit reverse
engineering.  That may not sound like such a bad thing, but consider
this: Tomorrow, Microsoft could release MS Office 2001, making all
formats completely incompatible with previous formats (hmm, they've done
this before, remember), and under their "new" license, prohibit you (by
law) from reverse engineering that format to do things like write
conversion filters.  Thus, developers can clamp down on protocols and
formats, making everything proprietary and incompatible, and we'd be
powerless to fix it.  Remember the Halloween documents?  Microsoft
explicitly laid out a plan to use secret formats and protocols to
destroy things like GNU/Linux.  It'd only be a matter of time before
things like MacOS fall too, so don't think you're safe just because you
don't yet use Linux.

About the GPL: The GPL ensures that the software you obtain will always
have the source code available, as a matter of freedom (Linux and
thousands of other pieces of software are released under this license).
It also states that there's "no warranty for this software."  Under the
UCITA?  Forget it- I could be sued for millions tomorrow because some
user screwed up his network, and my software didn't prevent him from
doing so.

Here's another big twist: Let's say you pay $399 for MS Office tomorrow,
at Staples or something.  Well, next month, under the UCITA, Microsoft
may send you a letter stating that they've changed their EULA (end user
licensing agreement), and that you now owe them another $199 to continue
using the product, and if you don't pay up, they can a) "Reposess" the
software, b) Remotely disable the software (that's right, you'll now be
paying for them to develop ways for them to take the software away from
you), c) Take you to court/jail for violating a legally binding
agreement.  Yes, it can all be retroactive.

Do you like the software you're using?  Wanna tell a friend about it?
Hey, maybe you dislike something about it, and you feel like writing an
article?  Did you find a bug, and feel that others should know about
it?  Well for get it: the UCITA allows companies to prohibit you from
even TALKING about their software in whatever context they see fit.
After all, doing so might damage their image.  That's absolutely
unconstitutional (my apologies to folks outside the US, but I suspect a
majority of CTS members are in the states).  And think you're covered by
the license you bought/downloaded the software under?  Think again: they
can retroactively change the license.

The UCITA applies to not only software, but to any computer-readable
content.  Like that article you read on cnet.news.com this morning?
Don't you dare post it to a mailing list- that may be a violation of the
licensing agreement they put at the bottom of the article.  Forget it.
Again, anything they wish to impose on you can be completely
retroactive.  You'll be breaking laws you didn't even know existed.

Again, this bill has already passed the house in Virginia.  Through
lobbying, which the likes of Microsoft and AOL (remember the class
action suit for 8 billion?  They have lots of good reasons for this
thing to pass) have plenty of, the decision was actually unanimous.  If
you live in Virginia, CALL YOUR SENATORS (and any other reps you can get
a hold of) NOW.  Then write them.  Write any newspapers you can think
of.  There may only be a few days before this thing becomes a law.  Call
your governor.  Call your friends, and read this to them.  Pass this
email on.

To those in Maryland: you're next.  Call your representatives right
away.  Call and write whoever you can think of that might be able to
help.  Illinois, California and Oklahoma: you're on deck--get ready to
fight this too.

If you have any other ideas, or would like to help on other fronts, feel
free to email dfc@xxxxxxxx  Much of my information on this topic came
from Richard Stallman, founder and head of the GNU Project.  His
thoughts can be found at http://www.linuxtoday.com/stories/15948.html.
And if you haven't had enough of my opinions, go ahead and email me too.
:)

John



--
# John Madden  weez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ICQ: 2EB9EA
# Sys-Admin / Webmaster, Avenir Web: http://avenir.dhs.org
# LANdb: Network Admin Database - http://avenir.dhs.org/landb/
# "A kernel compile a day keeps the blue screens away."



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