Windows Media Player user license extensions

Charles Lindsey Charles Lindsey <chl at clw.cs.man.ac.uk>
Tue, 2 Jul 2002 17:57:42 +0100 (BST)


	On Tue, 02 Jul 2002 15:19:26 +0100
	Markus Kuhn <Markus.Kuhn@cl.cam.ac.uk> said...

> a recent security bug fix update in Microsoft's Windows Media Player
> changed the End User License Agreement displayed during installation of
> the patch. It now apparently requires users to agree to any future
> security updates related to "digital rights management", i.e. preventing
> copyright infringement:
> 
>     In order to protect the integrity of content and software
>     protected by digital rights management "Secure Content", Microsoft may
>     provide security related updates to the OS Components that will be
>     automatically downloaded onto your computer.
> 
> Do lawyers and consumer protection experts here have a view on the legal
> validity of changes to a software licence agreement that are sneaked in
> as part of a security bugfix?
> 

Could it even be argued that Microsoft are aleady guilty of conspiracy
to contravene the Computer Misuse Act? It would make an interesting test
case :-) .

Charles H. Lindsey ---------At Home, doing my own thing------------------------
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