Matt,
Thanks for your message:
> As a linguistic exercise, you might reconcile this message, which you
> get when you refuse to grant their applets read/write/delete/execute
> access to all your files:
>
> In order to run the Wimba forums application, you will need to
> grant our applet a certain number of privileges. Our applet is
> signed to reassure you of its authenticity and safety. You can
> trust our applet.
>
> with their terms of use:
>
> c.ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF
> THE SERVICE IS DONE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK...
When is the last time a so-called "self-extracting archive"
(more and more of which are actually unsigned installer applications)
asked and respected your permission to read your files? The
microphone in Java is probably in the same category of file sources
as the file system. I wish Sun would have the good sense to make
microphone input a seperate sandbox security category so that systems
like Wimba wouldn't have to ask for multiple seemingly unrelated and
forboding-sounding permissions.
How do you reconcile the use restrictions at www.tutor.com (e.g.,
against Cuba and wherever else the U.S. State Department says) with
articles 26 and 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
Cheers,
James
