Microsoft targets auctioneers of pirated software

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As much as I hate EULAs and dislike MS tactics,

you’re not quite correct on this. “Innocent unless proven guilty” only applies in criminal court cases, not contract law (which EULAs would fall under) nor general day-to-day life, neither business nor personal.

The walk-through RFID scanners at store exits would also violate that principle, and so would airport security systems, and even the locks on your car and house doors. After all, until that shady-looking person walking through your neighborhood is proven to be guilty of car theft or home burglary, you must presume him to be innocent, right? Don’t lock your doors until then.

And Michael Jackson was never proven guilty, so you should presume him innocent and have no problem letting your young sons sleep over with him unsupervised, right? Same logic.

WGA is analogous to a door lock or RFID scanner, verifying compliance. Yes, it’s faulty, but this is not a problem with the concept, and it does not inherently violate “innocent unless proven guilty” in and of itself.

Now, if it inflicted punishment (which in a very strict sense it does by denying updates, but by that logic a door lock denies access and that could just as easily be considered punishment), then it would violate the principle that punishment is to be meted out only by judicial authority after guilt (or liability, in the case of civil cases) has been established.

What the not-so-honorable Senator Orrin Hatch [R - RIAA / MPAA / BMI / BSA / ADAPSO] has proposed would indeed violate that principle mightily. It would be no different than installing physically harmful if not lethal booby traps in your home, which has already been declared illegal in nearly every American jurisdiction.

EULAs, on the other hand, do violate the most fundamental principle of contract law, in that a contract is supposed to be the result of give-and-take between two legal parties, each contributing equally to the final contract that becomes acceptable to both parties. Only then is the contract signed, and only then does it become enforceable.

The very existence of EULAs even as a concept flatly contradicts that most basic principle of contract law.

Posted by: Joel R   Posted on: 11/01/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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