[OT] EULA and legality

[Bob Sneidar]

To be fair, I don't think anyone is saying that we can do whatever we want with what we buy, and still expect the manufacturer to honor it's warranty! No one here is suggesting that. What we are suggesting is that if I want to put my iPhone in a blender to see if it will blend, I damn well can, and no one, not even Apple, can tell me I can't. What people get upset about is having to agree that the manufacturer can reach into our lives and limit, alter or nullify the thing we paid for without any recourse on our part, in order to use the thing. 

In the US the courts decided that Apple can void a warranty if someone jailbreaks one of their devices, but they cannot restrict people from actually jailbreaking the device! I agree I ought not be permitted to take the software they wrote and copy it to something else (supposing it would work). I do NOT agree however that I should be prevented from putting whatever software I want on a device I paid money for! But such is the state of affairs today, and if I want to use their device, I have to click OK. 

The real point to copyrights and patents is to keep people from taking what someone else produced and profiting from it without some agreement being struck with the person who created it. If people didn't do such things, if they all honored each other's natural rights of property as a matter of course, I suspect we wouldn't be having this conversation. 

I'm not implying anything is going to change, I just think it is useful for all of us to remember why such things are necessary, and why lawyers will always exist in this age of man. 

Bob


On Sep 9, 2012, at 7:30 PM, Kay C Lan wrote:

> Buy a car and use it to carry goats was mentioned. Really? Try buying a
> brand new car, with a 200 bhp naturally aspirated engine, then on day 2 rip
> out the induction system, add a whopping great Garrett turbo, re-chip the
> Electronic Engine Management system so you get 400 bhp at the rear wheels
> and 1 month down the track when you've blown the engine see how receptive
> the Dealer is to repairing it under warranty.
> 
> Not a fair comparison. Buy a sedan, rip out the backseats, remove the
> protrusion bars that separate the boot from the passenger compartment, also
> the rear seatbelts and airbags so you can fit more goats in the car and
> when you have an accident and are severely injured by a flying goat, see
> how receptive your Insurance company is to paying your claim.