The Trouble with Gerrold: The Software User Bill of Rights

By David Gerrold

September 1, 2012 — (Page 3 of 4)
I view that behavior as a criminal act. It was an act of deliberate sabotage. It damaged the way I set up the software in my machine. It interfered with my privacy and with my right to use my machine according to my personal preferences. But according to the EULA, I have no right to sue the publisher. I have no legal redress.

If customers had the right to sue the publishers of a product that mucks up their machine—or if they had the right to sue malware authors—it would certainly change the software landscape. A couple of class-action lawsuits would send a very strong message to companies that have so far profited from the users’ inability to seek legal recourse.

But so far, there hasn’t been any strong push to challenge the restrictive terms of software EULAs. There hasn’t been any effort to create a Software User Bill of Rights. (There is an Internet Privacy Bill of Rights, but that’s not what I’m talking about here.) Probably because there’s no money at stake. It’s just not cost-effective. Establishing the appropriate legal precedents would be time-consuming, expensive, and would run into serious corporate resistance. Not a lot of lawyers want to climb that mountain right now.

At the time of this writing, the consumer is still pretty much on his own and doesn’t have an easy avenue for seeking redress. While it won’t undo the damage suffered, a consumer who has been burned can and should use the power of the Internet to warn other users. Write about it in your blog, post a substantial review on Amazon, start discussions on Facebook, create an internet meme: Watch out for this product. It’s not safe.

Consumers can and should protect themselves ahead of time by seeking out accurate information on any unknown piece of software before installing it. If enough people spread the word about scams and Trojans, perhaps some of the damage can be minimized.

But the larger issue—that the legal system has yet to provide serious punishments for publishers who distribute software for the sole purpose of invading and damaging the workings of the computer—remains an unexplored continent.

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