======================================================================== THE GRIPE LINE: ED FOSTER http://www.infoworld.com ======================================================================== Tuesday, November 16, 2004
LATEST WEBLOG ENTRIES ======================================================================== * Censorship Picture Comes Into Sharper Image * Bank Transfers Kick in When PayPal Limit Reached * Technology-Constraining Patents/Intellectual Property ADVERTISEMENT -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- HOW BMC SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS ADDRESS GENERAL IT CONTROL REQUIREMENTS Get ready for your Sarbox IT audit! With BMC Software, you can ensure your IT resources are fully aligned with your financial processes. Our leading enterprise management solutions improve general IT controls and ease the Sarbox audit process. Find out more in this complimentary white paper! http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E69:2B910B2 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- CENSORSHIP PICTURE COMES INTO SHARPER IMAGE ======================================================================== Posted November 16, 1:33 AM PST Pacific Time Be it a database server or an air purifier, do you have the legal right to publicly criticize a product you've purchased? The good news is, yes, you apparently still do. The bad news is that we can't be sure for how much longer. We owe the good news to Consumers Union's success ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E6B:2B910B2 ) last week in getting a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) lawsuit by Sharper Image thrown out of court. Sharper Image had accused Consumers Union of product disparagement due to reviews it published in Consumer Reports of the Ionic Breeze Quadra air cleaner. Consumers Reports deemed the product "ineffective" and said it produces "almost no measurable reduction in airborne particles." Sharper Image argued that the reviews were flawed and unfair because Consumer Reports failed to take into account how "vastly different" its technology is from other air purifiers. Under California's anti-SLAPP law, a federal judge ruled there was no reasonable probability of Consumer Reports' statements being proved false and dismissed Sharper Image's case. (For more background on the case and similar lawsuits Consumers Union has had to fight off in the past, visit their www.consumersrighttoknow.org ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E67:2B910B2 ) website.) Reading over Sharper Image's arguments, though, I was struck by how similar what they were saying is to what we we've just been hearing from those who defend censorship clauses in software license agreements. (For a taste of the pros and cons on those, see the reader commentary on my recent "Getting the Facts on Microsoft Benchmarks" story. ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E5F:2B910B2 )) Like the Microsofts and Oracles, Sharper Image was essentially claiming that only they can judge how, where, and by whom their technology can be assessed. Only we understand our technology, so anyone who criticizes our products is unfairly disparaging us. Now, as far as I know, Sharper Image doesn't have a EULA on its air purifiers saying you have to get their permission to publish reviews or benchmark performance results. And I don't know of any software companies that do have such EULAs ever having gone so far as to actually try to file a lawsuit against a customer for violating the censorship clause. Still, I have to believe it's only a matter of time until we see the combination -a SLAPP-type lawsuit based on violating a EULA censorship clause. What I don't know is whether the first one will be over middleware or a household item. More and more, SLAPP lawsuits are standard operating procedure for any number of corporate giants that care less about whether they win or lose the case than they do using their legal muscle to harass critics however they can. And EULAs have shown up on toner cartridges and woodworking tools, so why not air purifiers? The bad news is that such a lawsuit almost surely won't be filed against Consumers Union or someone else with the ability to fight back. SLAPP lawsuits and censorship are identical in the respect that they are at their most effective in silencing those who don't have the legal means to resist ... For the full story: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E62:2B910B2 BANK TRANSFERS KICK IN WHEN PAYPAL LIMIT REACHED ======================================================================== Posted November 15, 8:53 AM PST Pacific Time When I first wrote about PayPal's $2,000 spending limit ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E5D:2B910B2 ), I must admit I was a bit puzzled by the policy. Why would eBay's payment subsidiary force long-time users to add bank account "verification" to their accounts? Unfortunately, the reasons are becoming all too clear as more readers report what happens when their total PayPal credit card charges reach $2,000. "I've just experienced -- and become a victim of -- becoming a PayPal Verified member," one reader wrote recently. "After dozens of PayPal transactions now totaling their $2000 limit, my account was frozen with two transactions pending. I had only one credit card account registered with them, because I did not want to submit bank account information or have one accessible for transactions." To complete the pending transactions, the reader reluctantly provided PayPal information for one of his bank accounts. "It seemed logical that this would be limited to verifying my identity only," the reader wrote. "But upon completing the two pending transactions, I later found that PayPal attempted to draw money from this account. I had only a small amount of money in the account for my protection against misuse. I had no reason to believe my transaction would ... For the full story: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E60:2B910B2 TECHNOLOGY-CONSTRAINING PATENTS/INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ======================================================================== Posted November 13, 11:06 PM PST Pacific Time If you're so old-fashioned as to think that TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, you might be a bit irked by the title of this column. But, hey, that just shows you aren't paying attention to what's going on. In the technology world these days, IP stands for Intellectual Property, and the first and foremost protocol on the Internet is to take out a patent on everything you do. We've talked about dumb patents ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E5E:2B910B2 ) before, but the examples just keep coming. For instance, last week a small company called ConnecTel announced ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E5B:2B910B2 ) it is suing Cisco over alleged patent infringement of its intelligent routing technology. ConnecTel never actually released a product implementing its technology, which was originally developed to help deliver "faith-based inspirational faxes." After filing for the patent in 1996, the company says it subsequently offered a license to Cisco. Allegedly, Cisco declined the license but then incorporated the technology in many of its routers. Which is pretty remarkable when you consider the fact that Cisco already knew a thing or two about routers by 1996. At least routers represent a form of technology that we can agree might be patentable. Last week it was also learned that ... For the full story: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E61:2B910B2 Contact Ed Foster at [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Ed Foster's "Reader Advocate" column, http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E63:2B910B2 , can be read exclusively at his GripeLog Web site: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E6A:2B910B2 ======================================================================== INFOWORLD PRODUCT GUIDE Get the latest reviews, news, product specs, and information on the products essential to your business today! http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E65:2B910B2 ======================================================================== ADVERTISE ======================================================================== For information on advertising, contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] UNSUBSCRIBE/MANAGE NEWSLETTERS ======================================================================== To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your e-mail address for any of InfoWorld's e-mail newsletters, go to: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E5C:2B910B2 To subscribe to InfoWorld.com, or InfoWorld Print, or both, or to renew or correct a problem with any InfoWorld subscription, go to http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E68:2B910B2 To view InfoWorld's privacy policy, visit: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=9F7E64:2B910B2 Copyright (C) 2004 InfoWorld Media Group, 501 Second St., San Francisco, CA 94107 This message was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
