[ Thanks to Kelly
McNeill for this link. ]
“For several decades now, computer users across the world have
been able to enjoy the benefits of software with the security of
knowing that should that software fail to perform, it would be
fixed or replaced with something that does work. We’ve come to rely
upon publishers and developers to “do the right thing.”
“Enter UCITA.”
“For those of you living outside the US, or those oddities who
read osOpinion and other tech-related sites regularly but missed
this one, UCITA is a bill being examined by several US state
congresses. UCITA is an acronym for Uniform Computer Information
Transactions Act, which seems innocent enough on the surface,
promising to create a set of laws that apply universally to all
software, across all state boundaries. These new laws would create
a better standard for control of software, UCITA’s proponents
claim.”
“Beneath that innocent demeanor, though, lurks a malevolence of
such overwhelming and terrifying potential that it sends ice cold
fingers of fear dancing up and down the spines of every red-blooded
geek.”