The Gripe Line | Ed Foster

What's eating you? Keep sharing your gripes

Galen Gruman — 2008-08-04T05:00:00-08:00

Ed Foster has passed on, but let's keep his legacy alive. Gripe on, and give Ed's successor a leg up on continuing his mission. READ MORE

In memoriam: Ed Foster

Galen Gruman — 2008-07-28T17:21:16-08:00

We at InfoWorld are sorry to announce that Ed Foster, InfoWorld's venerable The Gripe Line blogger died this past Saturday. READ MORE

Yahoo plays defunct DRM tune

Ed Foster — 2008-07-24T17:45:45-08:00

It's getting to be an old song. This week the Yahoo Music Store sent a message to customers saying they will turn off their DRM servers after September, thus joining MSN Music, Sony's Connect music store and other online music services in eventually cutting off customers who purchased DRM-wrapped tunes. And readers have no doubt it's a song the movie, e-book, and software publishers are also going to be singing in the future.

"At least the music industry is starting to get the message that DRM doesn't really work," wrote one reader recently. "What scares me is all the different DRM initiatives pushed on the device manufacturers by the MPAA and TV industries. Half of those things have been forgotten even by the people who proposed them, but that doesn't mean the various attempts to implement them won't come back to bite us at some point. Heck, most of them are probably built into Vista."

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Dell notebook turns into a Bad Buy

Ed Foster — 2008-07-22T00:24:05-08:00

The reputation of Dell's support has certainly had its ups and downs over the years. But the experience of one reader who recently bought a Dell notebook at Best Buy makes me wonder if company executives just don't care anymore what people think of Dell support.

"Well, I have seen it all now," the reader wrote. "One month ago, I bought a new Dell XPS M1530 from Best Buy while my other Dell was unavailable. It turns out the fingerprint reader did not work on the new notebook, and when the dust settled on a family and office move, I logged on to Dell support. The Dell website accepted my service tag, told me I had 300-plus days of warranty service available, but when I tried to have an on-line chat with a tech, I was told the warranty had expired. I then called Dell and a live person told me the reason for this apparent conundrum is that Dell computers now purchased from Best Buy are not covered by Dell at all, and I needed to call Best Buy for service."

Since there had been no mention of this when he purchased the computer, the reader wasn't ]]> READ MORE

Of Apple, Psystar users, and copyright

Ed Foster — 2008-07-18T08:44:03-08:00

I don't know whether or not Psystar is guilty of the many charges Apple makes in the lawsuit it recently filed against the Mac clone maker. But in looking over Apple's filing, there is one particularly dubious argument that I think should concern us all. According to Apple, Psystar users who obtained legal copies of Mac OS X are themselves guilty of copyright infringement, and Apple wants them deprived not only of the software but the computer system as well.

Many of Apple's charges revolve around the fact that the OS X EULA contains a term saying the software cannot be used on any non-Apple-labeled computer. Because Psystar encouraged consumers to acquire Mac OS X to run on their systems, Apple argues that "the Defendant has induced, caused or materially contributed to the infringing conduct of the purchasers." Apple goes on to demand that the court require Psystar to recall all its Mac clones from the public and turn over all the money it received plus penalties to Apple.

But are Psystar users who obtained a legal copy of Mac OS X guilty of copyright ]]> READ MORE

The suspicious death of XP support

Ed Foster — 2008-07-15T00:39:31-08:00

As Microsoft slowly kills off Windows XP itself -- over the protest of many users -- it's still unclear exactly when Redmond will formally cut off all support for its old OS. But one reader's experience in dealing with a series of update fiascos over the last few months suggests that XP support may actually have expired already, and under suspicious circumstances.

"I lost my XP system near the middle of May, and it took me until the end of June to get it back," the reader wrote. "What happened was that, suddenly, all of my hardware disappeared from the Windows device manager as did my administrator privileges. I had a lot of licensed apps on my system, and the prospect of starting with a fresh install was too daunting, so I decided to recover instead. During this time, I spent over eight cumulative hours talking to Microsoft's Indian 'support technicians.' I was at least six hours into that ordeal before I finally spoke with one that had a small clue what he was talking about."

Microsoft support led the reader on a merry chase]]> READ MORE

Is the Do-Not-Call list not working?

Ed Foster — 2008-07-11T00:27:54-08:00

Readers increasingly fear that the Do-Not-Call Registry is losing its effectiveness as telemarketers come up with more and more tricks to avoid being penalized. A reader's recent experience left a trail back to one culprit -- his cable company, Charter Communications.

"I'm on the Do-Not-Call list, but in the last month or so I'm getting calls non-stop," the reader wrote. "What I'm really curious about is who are these call centers that ring my phone off the hook, never leave a message, and call four or five times a day when they start blanketing my number? Are they legit? Why do they not leave a message, and why do they call non-stop when you're obviously not going to talk to them? Who is hiring them? Have they found a legal way to get around the Do-Not-Call list, making it the phone equivalent of yes-you-can-spam for cold calls?"

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Threads of copyright abuse

Ed Foster — 2008-07-08T00:06:53-08:00

How far will copyright "protection" organizations go in threatening end users with highly-questionable infringement claims? Far enough to claim that victims of counterfeiters are infringers themselves, as the continuing practices of the Embroidery Software Protection Coalition (ESPC) demonstrate.

A few years ago (see "Embroidering on a Copyright Shakedown Theme") I wrote about letters the ESPC was sending to users of computerized embroidery machines. The letter recipients were informed that a CD of digitized designs they'd purchased on eBay contained material that infringed on ESPC members' designs. Far from commiserating with the letter recipient on having been victimized by a design pirate, the ESPC asserted that the very act of purchasing the CD was itself copyright infringement and could carry civil penalties of $30,000 to $150,000 per design. Those who called the ESPC rather than throw the letter away were then told that they must pay $300 or they would be sued.

It's rather dismaying to discover that the ESPC is still sending out]]> READ MORE

Google should defy court order

Ed Foster — 2008-07-07T00:42:01-08:00

Has it struck anyone else that Google has been rather weak-kneed in its response to the court order requiring it to turn over YouTube viewing logs to Viacom? Google's entire business is built on our trust that the privacy of all that personal information they have about us will be protected. Yet in this situation, one in which legal experts have pointed out that the judge is actually ordering Google to violate existing privacy law to our detriment, the company appears to be rolling over with a feeble plea that Viacom allow them to "anonymize" the data they yield.

As this controversy raged the last few days, Google tried to assure us all that it "will ask Viacom to respect users' privacy and allow us to anonymize the logs before producing them under the court's order." And Viacom apparently is trying to be reassuring as well, saying that "we will not use any of this information to enforce rights against end users" and that they don't really want any personally identifiable information, even though that's what the court in its technical ignorance ordered Google to deliver.

Frankly, I'm not willing to buy the assurances of Google, Viacom, or the court that our privacy rights are going to be honored with ]]> READ MORE

Bill Gates and PC history

Ed Foster — 2008-07-01T00:19:02-08:00

With Bill Gates stepping down from his day-to-day role of running Microsoft, he's been receiving a great number of accolades about the role he played in history of the PC. Much of it is deserved. But some of it definitely ignores the reality of how the PC industry evolved and the effect that Bill Gates and Microsoft had, for good and bad, on technology innovation.

At the Microsoft farewell to Gates last week, successor Steve Ballmer is quoted as saying: "Bill was really there at the birth of the modern personal computer. Bill really designed the IBM PC. That's my non-revisionist history." Ballmer is unquestionably right about Gates being there from the earliest days with his implementation of Basic for the Altair 8800. And that was in and of itself a significant contribution.

Nonetheless, Ballmer is definitely revising history when he says Gates ]]> READ MORE

Borderline searches and seizures

Ed Foster — 2008-06-27T09:48:48-08:00

Should the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures apply when U.S. Customs agents seizing your laptop at the border to examine your data? Currently the Department of Homeland Security as well as the courts say that such searches are permissible even when then there are no grounds for suspicion against you. But many of my readers feel that it's not only an unreasonable practice but a dangerous invasion of privacy.

A Senate committee hearing this week looked into this issue that we've discussed before. U.S. Customs and Border Protection can and do seize computers and other electronic devices at the border, in some cases keeping them for weeks at a time even when there's no data contraband found. Unfortunately, the Senators received no meaningful answers to their questions about the extent of the program, what kind of things the CBP is looking for, and what it does with the data it obtains.

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Reader voices: Angry at eBay

Ed Foster — 2008-06-23T13:58:51-08:00

As we saw a few weeks ago, many eBay sellers are quite upset over changes the online auction giant recently made to its buyer/seller feedback system. Indeed, it sounds like the anger over this issue led to some very testy exchanges at eBay's annual meeting last week. But the comments I've been getting from readers suggest that eBay's problems go way beyond seller anger over the feedback changes.

As much as many sellers hate the new feedback system, many buyers say they were very frustrated by the old one. "I appreciate the point of view many sellers have regarding the changes eBay has made to its user feedback system - they worry that they will be at the mercy of dishonest, unscrupulous buyers," wrote one reader. "As an honest buyer, however, I think some change to eBay's feedback policy has been long overdue. EBay is entirely correct that the mutual feedback system wasn't working well because buyers were afraid to leave honest feedback. I have seen sellers who plainly post in their eBay listings statements like 'feedback will be given after it is received -- if we receive negative feedback, we will give negative feedback.' The seller has the obligation to describe an item accurately and to deliver the item in a timely fashion. If he fails either of these obligations, the buyer ought to be able to give appropriate feedback without fear of retaliation. With its revised feedback policy eBay has probably tilted the playing too much in favor of unscrupulous buyers. But after so many years of having the playing field favoring bad sellers, giving ]]> READ MORE

Teleblend's terrible terms

Ed Foster — 2008-06-20T00:11:01-08:00

In our continuing search for the worst Terms of Service (ToS) on the Internet, we've seen some pretty nasty legalese. Now a reader points out VOIP provider Teleblend's "Customer Opt-In Service Agreement," which certainly has more than its share of customer-unfriendly provisions. But what's really striking is how Teleblend takes the already laughable "contract formation" rules of the typical sneakwrap license to absurd new heights.

"I originally signed up with SunRocket, which filed Chapter 7 last July with no advance notice," the reader wrote. "As part of my one-year agreement with SunRocket, they had provided a free VOIP gateway. After the bankruptcy, Teleblend purchased some of the SunRocket hardware and customer information. Having those assets made them an easy port in a tough time, so I went ahead and transferred. No new contract was required by Teleblend, so I was only at risk of current service, which was in the toilet anyway, so it made sense."

At no point since Teleblend took over does the reader recall being informed that there was a new ToS]]> READ MORE

Spyware bill cloaks a mini-UCITA

Ed Foster — 2008-06-16T01:11:44-08:00

The holy grail for the software industry's political muscle has long been what in UCITA was called "electronic self help" - the right of software publishers to remotely disable their software on the mere suspicion that it hasn't been paid for. UCITA was ultimately stopped, but last Wednesday the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on a bill that nominally is supposed to fight spyware but seems intended to make remote disabling legal.

As I suggested last week, S. 1625 -- the Counter Spy Act -- takes an anti-spyware approach that's very similar to the way the failed Can-Spam Act of 2003 attacked spam. Its list of prohibited behaviors - like taking over computers with zombies and collecting information for identity theft -- are all already clearly illegal under existing laws. Its various loopholes would allow some bad actors to claim they're actually following the law. And actual victims would have virtually no recourse but to beg the FTC to take action.

But one aspect of the Counter Spy Act is far more troubling than anything that was in Can-Spam.]]> READ MORE

Reader Voices: Autorenewal defenses

Ed Foster — 2008-06-13T00:24:44-08:00

How can we protect ourselves from online services that employ hidden autorenewal clauses to keep charging us? Readers responded to my recent story about how credit card companies like American Express handle disputed autorenewal charges with some ideas on what we can do about it.

"I thought about this a while back while working with a client who didn't want to buy on the Internet because of credit card security concerns," wrote one reader. "The workaround was to buy a gift card, for the appropriate amount, with cash, so there wasn't a credit card number attached to allow auto-renewal. Just use the gift card once, then cut it up and throw it away. Be sure to figure the cost of the gift card into the price of the product, though. The client in question was an AAA member, though, and they apparently have a program where they waive the card charge and just issue the card for the amount of value received for members. I also thought this was a nifty idea for safeguarding credit cards while on vacation, too. At most, the thief gets the vacation spending money, and no connection to me that could be used to commit identity theft."

Another reader had a suggestion]]> READ MORE