Blue Boar wrote:

>And I think this thread boils down to what can one get away with by
>telling the victim what you will do to them in the EULA.
>
>This will never be settled until there have been some court cases that
>define what is permissible. If you really want to accelerate the process,
>write a popular piece of software which license requires that the user
>remove all Microsoft software from their system, and never use it again.
>Enforce it programatically. Make a Windows version.
>
> BB

As an interesting aside, here are a few snippets from the AOL Instant
Messenger software license agreement:

BY CLICKING BELOW, YOU WARRANT THAT YOU ARE EIGHTEEN YEARS OR OLDER AND
AGREE TO USE THE SOFTWARE AND SERVICE AS PROVIDED IN THIS AGREEMENT.

*chuckle* Kid-friendly, too.

2. Restrictions on Use. You may not redistribute the Software or provide
others with access to the Service (including, without
limitation, providing third parties with access to the proprietary Instant
Messenger namespace database). You may not create or use any software
other than the Software provided by AOL to access the Service, without the
express written authorization of AOL. You may not modify, reverse engineer,
decompile or disassemble the Software or in any way ascertain, decipher, or
obtain the communications protocol for accessing the Service. You may not
adapt, alter, modify, translate, or create derivative works of the Software
(including without limitation the communications protocols for the Service)
without the express written authorization of AOL. Because AOL's ability to
offer the Service free of charge is dependent, on whole or in part, on
generating advertising revenues from the Service, you may not block,
disable or otherwise affect any advertising, advertisement banner window,
links to other sites and services, or other features that constitute an
integral part of this Software and Service. You may not register with and
log on and off the Service, send and receive instant messages via the
Service or identify when other Service members are online except through
use of this Software and Service and in conformance with the terms and
conditions of this Agreement. You may not collect or solicit screen names
or password information. Finally, you may not authorize or assist any
third party to do any of the things described in this paragraph.

Does this make sites like badassbuddy.com and subprofile.com illegal? They
do appear to be deriative works targeted specifically at AIM users? Also,
the inclusion of the Service's (*venerates name*) protocols cast some doubt
on the legality of Trillian and other OSCAR-based clients. The TOC
documentation that I have seen is rather sparse; I haven't looked at the
IETF draft mentioned in AOLTW's merger agreement docs. I don't recall
seeing any mention of ads in the TOC spec, either (please correct me if I'm
wrong, I only took a quick glance)

4. Termination. Should you breach this Agreement, your right to use the
Service and the Software shall terminate immediately and without
notice. You may also terminate this Agreement by simply discontinuing use
of the Service and the Software. In the event of any termination of this
Agreement, the restrictions on your use of the Software and Service as set
forth in Paragraph 2 ("Restrictions on Use") shall survive such
termination, and you agree to be bound by those terms.

And you thought zombie processes were only in UNIX.

17. Construction. If any part of the Agreement is held invalid or
unenforceable, that portion shall be construed to reflect the parties'
original intent, and the remaining portions remain in full force and
effect. The laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, excluding its
conflicts-of-law rules, govern this Agreement, and you expressly agree that
jurisdiction for any claim or dispute arising from the use of the Service
or Software resides in the federal and state courts of the Commonwealth of
Virginia.

I suppose this is boilerplate, but this does leave AOL a lot of wiggle room
in the legal realm.

Just my $0.02.

apl

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