[ale] firewalls... illegal? Cany anyone read legalese?

[Jason Day]

On Mon, Mar 31, 2003 at 07:32:56AM -0500, Jonathan Rickman wrote:
> Ed points out that this boils down to 'use a firewall, go to jail,'
> but we really think he's not being nearly ambitious enough here. It
> strikes us that, as the proud owner of Internet Connection Sharing,
> Bill Gates develops, distributes and licenses a communications device
> which is used to conceal "the existence or place of origin or
> destination of any communication." So we say, 'use a a firewall, go to
> jail, but also send Bill Gates to jail.' Ah, decisions, decisions...

I was thinking about this in the shower this morning, when it hit me,
that this might be a dream come true for Microsoft.  Why?

- They can leave NAT functionality out of the latest version of Windows.
- All prior versions of Windows would become illegal, forcing users to
  upgrade.
- Since users will be legally forced to upgrade, Microsoft can impose
  any kind of EULA they want, like Licensing 6 and Palladium.
- No more linux, or any other pesky Free/Open Source software to worry
  about.

Worried yet?
-- 
Jason Day                                       jasonday at
http://jasonday.home.att.net                    worldnet dot att dot net
 
"Of course I'm paranoid, everyone is trying to kill me."
    -- Weyoun-6, Star Trek: Deep Space 9
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