[FYI] Licensing time bomb (InfoWorld)

[Kristian Köhntopp <kk@netuse.de>]

http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayStory.pl?/features/990531ucita.htm

Licensing time bomb

Software-law dispute explodes as enactment draws near

By Jessica Davis

Imagine the horror of walking into work one day to find your
software vendor holding your company hostage by threatening to
shut down your mission-critical systems unless you concede to its
terms.

Sounds illegal, right? Perhaps not.

Although many IT professionals are unaware of it, that practice
will become legally defensible if new legislation called the
Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act, or UCITA, is
approved.

UCITA is a proposed law for applying consistent rules to computer
software licenses across all 50 states. It would

* give vendors the right to repossess software by disabling it
remotely;

* make the terms of shrink-wrapped licenses more enforceable;

* prevent the transfer of licenses from one party to another
without vendor permission;

* allow vendors to disclaim warrantees; and

* outlaw reverse engineering.

Proponents of the law, primarily software vendors, say it is time
for a uniform law that applies directly to software licenses.
Critics, including technology consumer groups such as the Society
of Information Managers (SIM), say UCITA is fatally flawed and
should be killed. Other trade organizations representing the
motion picture industry, newspapers, magazines, and the music
recording industry, have joined SIM in opposing UCITA.

[ ... ]


-- 
Kristian Köhntopp, NetUSE Kommunikationstechnologie GmbH
Siemenswall, D-24107 Kiel, Germany, +49 431 386 436 00
Using PHP3? See our web development library at
http://phplib.shonline.de/ (GPL)