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UnFairUse
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By Ed Foster, Section Columns
Posted on Thu Oct 23, 2003 at 08:57:05 AM PDT
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"You may use the Product in only one shop by the original purchaser only ... You may not allow individuals that did not purchase the original license to use the Product..."
Typical verbiage from a software sneakwrap license? Well, perhaps, but this happens to be from a license agreement attached to a woodworking tool. And it's one of the things - along with the flood of DRM, UCITA-like court decisions, software re-licensing fees for used hardware, etc. - that have prompted me to inaugurate a new section on my website this week: the UnFairUse page.
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It seems like everywhere we turn these days, companies are trying to place limits on how we use their products. Often customers have no way of knowing what usage restrictions the vendor is claiming until after they make their purchase, or it requires considerable research to discover the vendor's true policies.
And then there's the often vast gap between official policies and real world practices. As we discussed last week with DRM, vendors will promise "it will only take a minute" or "minor hardware changes will not require reactivation," but the reality users encounter is often quite different. And as with all sneakwrap licensing, when and how a vendor chooses to actually enforce their nastier terms is an open question.
The point is that we as consumers need more information about all the attempts to restrict our rights so we can make information decisions about the products we buy. And providing more of that information is what we're going to try to do with the UnFairUse page.
What kind of things will be on the UnFairUse page? Just about anything, from software to woodworking tools, as long as it's news about usage restrictions you might want to know. We'll try to keep the items short and product-focused, providing links where we can to source material. To start out, we've mostly posted items about the big names from stories I've done in recent months, but we'll be including the little guys too.
This is an experiment, and we'll see how things go before we lock into any one approach. I'm not certain my weblog engine is the best vehicle for this, but it does have some advantages. In particular, I'm hoping readers will make use of the ability to post comments (anonymously if you wish) on a particular story so we can get more feedback on what customers of these products are really experiencing.
Of necessity, we'll be starting small, since it's just me and my Webmaster putting the section together. But we've also got thousands of gripe-prone readers to help, and that's who I'm counting on to make this work. So keep an eye on my UnFairUse pages, and keep an eye out for examples of unfair usage to tell us about. At least this way you'll have one tool you are free to share with your friends.
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