[conspire] A bit more on that "worm"

[Tony Godshall]

According to barton,
> Don Marti wrote
> 
> >Users are vulnerable to security risks not because
> >they're insufficiently "educated" but because the IT
> >industry has "educated" them to click through software
> >installs and other counterintuitive, scary things in
> >the first place.
> >
> >http://zgp.org/~dmarti/blosxom/freedom/user-education.html
> >
> >http://zgp.org/~dmarti/blosxom/software/usability-and-transactions.html
> >
> Interesting articles. Thanks.
> 
> I think the biggest problem is the EULA's are not the right place for
> messages about loading UNWANTED software on ones machine. This type of
> invasive activity should be very visible not hidden in some unreadable
> legal jargon that is five or six pages long. License agreements have
> gotten entirely out of control -- and ridiculous. No one reads them
> because most of the time they make no sense and are probably not
> enforceable in the long run.
...

In my opinion, this is yet another reason (though largely
unreported- might make a good article or book, Don!) that
people are switching to open source software.

Without a corporate entity whith huge intellectual property
concerns and legal departments, there's just no need for a
EULA more complicated than the GPL.  And the licenses are
standardized.  So you know what you are getting, legalwise.

And of course the source code is inspectable, so chances of
people sneaking in malware is negligible and quickly
corrected.

Tony