, 2005-11-14
Last month I wrote about a dispute between the Federal Trade Commission and a spyware distributor where the FTC alleged that an End User License Agreement, which essentially told downloaders that they were downloading spyware, was a false and deceptive trade practice. Two events cause me to revisit this issue. First, the FTC has gone after another spyware distributor, and second, Sony Corporation has caused the surreptitious installation of a rootkit-type program to enforce its digital rights management on its music CDs, claiming authority to do so under an End User License Agreement.
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Sony's legal issues
2005-11-14
fatman (2 replies)
fatman (2 replies)
Sony's legal issues
2005-11-15
Anonymous (2 replies)
Anonymous (2 replies)
Sony's legal issues
2005-11-16
Steve (1 replies)
Steve (1 replies)
But what are the consumer's remedies?
2005-11-17
HavaCuppaJoe (2 replies)
HavaCuppaJoe (2 replies)
However, if I disagree with the EULA and attempt to return the product to the store, the store will refuse to refund any money because the product has been opened. This makes the EULA contract very one sided - the consumer get stuffed if they don't agree! I thought contracts had to be equitable to both sides to be legal?
In fact, is this not an anti-trust issue? The manufacturer and distributors probably colluded to enforce the non-returnable policy, otherwise, why could not the store simply run the return up the distribution chain to be compensated for the return.
It's about time someone from the Justice department looked into this!
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Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/columns/369/32705#32705