How can the market respond to a problem that is almost entirely opaque? Yes, there are some terms, buried in pages and pages of EULAs and Legal speak, that consumers can read and try to decipher.
The truth is that people are not educated about the problem. I have no idea the scope of information about me that is truly out there being used, and I doubt anyone else here does either. As a UCD practitioner, I find it difficult to just blame every end user and be done with it. Loren ----- http://acleandesign.com On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 10:11 AM, pauric <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dan, > I accept that we, users/consumers, often get a raw deal. Especially > given the new ground being broken in the information economy. > Suppliers currently have the upperhand in a number of aspects; we're > not well educated on how we can get shafted, its a cool new world and > we forgive 'abuses', etc. > > I reject that we do not have a choice in all but a few exceptional > cases. (I do not understand the insulin pump reference) > > To take the iPod as an example; Top notch industrial design, good > interface design, terrible DRM. The marketing of the device plays to > our desires and blinds us to our needs. A little research clearly > demonstrates the significant abuses Apple make on the consumer; You > dont 'own' the music you purchase, you cant move your library, Apple > encrypts unknown information in to your music, etc, etc. This is > publicly available information and I suspect people would more readily > consider alternatives if they did a little more than make impulse > purchases of this trendy must-have device. But, I believe people will > eventually learn, once bitten and twice shy. > > The real issue, as I see it, is not one of nefarious design, delivery > & support... the onus should be on end users to inform themselves > about what they're buying or signing up for. You wouldn't buy a house > or car without doing some homework - the value of your personal data > is currently greatly underestimated. I expect that to change as the > information economy/age continues to mature. While pure 'market' has > its flaws, over-regulation can be even worse in stagnating innovation. > > I've taken your list of Articles and reframed it to an _actionable_ > set of items that will enable users to make purchasing decisions based > on their interests not what they were told in the advertising. > > Article 1: I have the right to do my own research and avoid bad products > Article 2: Ultimately I am the sole guardian of my own data. I need > to be careful before trusting others. > Article 3: My data is of value to others, I should regard it as > personal property and protect it as such. > Article 4: It is my responsibility to understand what a vendor plans > to do with my information when I chose to give it to them. > Article 6: I have rights under common law for recourse against a > vendor who abuses my http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_rights. > Article 7: Based on Article 1, I should avoid products and services > that aim to lock me in and make it difficult to move my data at a > later date. > Article 8: I should give preference to products and services that will > help and support me after I purchase or subscribe. > > I agree on the problem and appreciate the motivation behind creating > the list. However, is the model of a 60 year old document borne out > of egregious abuses the right one in the information age? I see your > list as a good problem statement but I'm not sure how we move towards > encouraging these practices. > > This a battle between end-users and Manufacturers/Providers trying to > maximise profit with minimal delivery. Do we ask them to start > playing nice or do we educate and support ourselves? Our information > is of value, as with monetary value, we should place our > information/data with vendors who respect it. In doing so we > collectively lead the way and let the 'market' bear its forces on > those who mistreat our information. > > /pauric > > (p.s. apologies if this has been posted multiple times, I'm having > trouble with the website) > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
