[Sussex] Suing Microsoft

[Steve Dobson]

Geoff

On 07 May 2003 at 15:07 wrote:
> This is true, but the legal systems of the the western world 
> don't have a great record of understanding this when it comes
> to IT.

I agreed.  The law is to slow to react to the modern IT world.
I'm just waiting for a time when a new law comes onto the statue
books just as the last person upgrades to a replacement technology.

Just out of interest what does your legal expert (name withheld to
protect the guilty :-) think about the different speeds between the
two systems? 

> In this case I would expect them to have patched their machine,
> and indeed they do, and Lance, the sysadmin sends me e-mails
> telling me what he's doing to the machine as and when he does it.

That's fine if they are using the effect software.  But what if the
virus causes your machine to send out infected e-mails?  They've
done the correct thing - the weak link is you.
  
> .. essentially Microsoft claims it's bug reports are copyright
> so only they can publish them through their controlled channels.
> They argue that they need to control this information.  Most
> security experts think the only thing they're trying to control
> is their bad image.

Okay, Microsoft own the copyright on its bug reports, and some
publications just gave the URL to Microsoft's site.  What is 
needed is more bad publicity to shame Microsoft into doing 
the right thing (tm).

> > Then isn't a court case were a new precedent will be set?
> 
> Yup.  But the point is, you don't know _how_ it will be set.

Agreed.  If the law is ambiguous then either:

  1). You don't do something because it might be illegal, or

  2). Do it and gather evidence of why the precedent should be
      set in you favour.

Isn't this the way the system works?

> Depends on who the press is.  The register reported this in
> a fairly negative light, ZDNet (suprise, suprise) thought it
> was a  wonderful move on behalf of a company who can do no
> wrong.  I'll leave you to decide the reasons why the opinion
> differs :)

Absolutely agree.  Not all press is created equally.  I'm sure
that the "openness" about issues in the Open Source community
is something that Nik (& others) uses as a plus point.

Steve