On 01/06/2011 12:04 PM, Joshua Lutes wrote: > Is it a kill switch? I thought it just didn't allow updates and gave you a > certain amount of time to work out your genuineness. This wouldn't affect > getting your data off. I will confess ignorance here. Or are we talking > about a slippery slope? What they COULD do?
For MS Office, it certainly is a kill switch. And with Windows 7, if you fail to validate your windows install after a major hardware update (dependent on passing WGA of course), it is also a kill switch. Windows will go to "reduced functionality mode". We should remove the phrase "slippery slope" from the public discourse. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope > Which it doesn't do very often and it isn't (at least according to my > understanding) that crippled and about which you can presumably call some > hotline and chat with them about the mistake. Of course but why do you have to prove your innocence? One big difference between the new republican ideas of the founding fathers and the old common-law system was that you are innocent until proven guilty. What MS does might be legal, but it's not morally right. >> I don't want my OS phoning home on a regular basis. I should be >> innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around. >> > > I thought that you had to prove it was yours when you installed it and > whenever you updated. Is that not true? If it is then you are phoning home > anyway. Yes, and this is a reason I don't like using windows unless I have to. > I don't know what to think about the innocent until proven guilty > statement. It is their walled garden. I don't have a hissy fit after > people ask to see my id card when I pay with my debit card just because it > IS mine. And some folks use cash to avoid this. Whatever. > I recognize that maybe folk could get their hands on it and I'm > glad that at this store at least they wouldn't be able to use it. I don't think that would be what makes privacy advocates upset. /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
