Wanna use my PC? Only if you ask nicely
The peer-to-peer network under fire is Brilliant Digital Entertainment, which users discovered came bundled with Kazaa, the popular file-swapping software.
In a recent column, my colleague David Coursey outlined the controversy and offered a long list of reservations about the plan, including its distribution scheme and seemingly underhanded licensing agreement, as well as the potential for security holes. "Many of the agreements between users and their ISPs prohibit servers, file-swapping services, and sharing Internet connections. Couldn't the Brilliant network cause people to violate these agreements?" he wrote.
FOR MANY OF YOU, the Brilliant experience highlighted problems with current end-user licensing agreements for software distributed online. Most of us don't bother to read the fine print in a shrink-wrapped piece of software, and almost never for a download when our modem's meter is running.
"We have become so accustomed to these agreements that we simply click through them without reading what they say. It is common for people to sign legal agreements without reading and understanding their content. In this case, the offending clause, although not highlighted, is not particularly obtuse. It is fairly clear, at the very least, that you agree to allow Brilliant to use your machine's resources," Mark Bools observed. "If you don't read and understand a license to which you are a party, and then you realize that you have agreed to something objectionable, you cannot really cry foul. If you don't like the terms, you can simply remove the software."
"The Internet is like a very big city, in that you can find anything you choose, anything you want, or need," Warren Lockaby warned. "It's also like a very big city in that you can get mugged, if you're not paying attention."
While some of you described Brilliant's plan as "underhanded" and its software as a "military occupation," others overlooked these big-picture issues. More worrisome was the toll that the Brilliant-Kazaa combo took on system performance!
Matthew Jones explained that one of his clients recently complained about performance problems with a new P4 system. "I took a look and sure enough, found Kazaa and several other intrusive-looking applications made by Brilliant in the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs list. With the owner's permission, I removed them all and the computer started running fine. Thanks for the heads-up."
"I run software that even screensavers have been known to interfere with. To that end, I have screensavers turned off on all my machines. Sometimes, my machines run tasks that take literally hours to complete. What is to keep someone like Brilliant from screwing up jobs like this, either by running in the background or by using up more disk space than can be afforded by my processes?" James Eager asked.
ON THE OTHER HAND, some of you found a hollow ring with the many cries over Brilliant's supposed theft of processor time and Internet resources.
"I find it ironic that all of these people downloaded [the Brilliant/Kazaa] software ostensibly to trade music files, and avoid purchasing the music from its owners. They wanted something for nothing," Annie Neuman observed. "Now they are up in arms because the software they downloaded is trying to get something for nothing from them. What comes around usually goes around."
This expansion of peer-to-peer distributed computing brings another problem to consider: the potential for conflicts of interest between individual users and the clients of a company like Brilliant.
Surely, few of us could come up with a conflict for today's distributed computing efforts such as SETI@home or the Intel Philanthropic Peer-to-Peer Program for United Devices, which crunch numbers for the discovery of extraterrestrial life and cancer research, respectively.
At the same time, we would expect conflicts with business competition. A glaring example was when Microsoft discovered last week that its "We have the way out" campaign site was hosted on Linux servers.
HOWEVER, even social activities carry some potential for conflict. For most causes or beliefs you support, I bet there exists a counteracting interest somewhere in the world. No doubt, each of us will make objections to some project or company that would like to take advantage of our computing power over the Internet.
Laugh all you like about the Microsoft and Linux snafu, but just swap out those brands for the name of an issue you support and its adversary. That could be happening on your computer.
David Morgenstern, past editor of eMediaweekly and MacWEEK, is a freelance editor and branding consultant based in San Francisco.
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