Spying on spyware

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They bury them

Often, spyware gets installed when you install some other software, and it gets disclosed in a license agreement somewhere.

The bigger issue is whether it's enforceable, and that's where a lawyer can come it.

In terms of contract law, you receive software for consideration (i.e. you pay for it) and that's a legal contract. They can stipulate such things as how many machines you can copy it to, because the product is protected by copyright laws. You have the right to use the product as designed, and they can broaden the scope through an agreement.

But once they go beyond that and start restricting you, they are trying to renegotiate a contract after the fact and there is no legal basis for that under general provisions of contract law. I suppose I could sell you software and bury a clause in a license agreement saying that if you click on "agree," I get the deed to your house. But if any clause in there has nothing to do with what was disclosed before the sale, those other provisions are probably meaningless.

So if they say that by using the software, you agree to install something that lets them capture data about you, and that's not a necessary part of the program's functionality, then I can't see how claiming that they buried it in a license agreement that you didn't get before you bought the product is any more valid than if GM stuck a note in the glove compartment of your new car saying that you had to drive the President's mother in law to church as a condition of owning the car.

Posted by: wresnick   Posted on: 06/18/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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