The World According to Nick |
My take on Software, Technology, Politics, and anything else I feel like talking about. |
Monday, January 17, 2005
I Hate Spammers TooBut I don't think this is actually legally binding:
You can view a sample of the generated web page here, which looks like a legally binding license. A license is really just a contract... so does this web page work as a legitimate contract, binding the creator of the spider to it's terms? Granted I'm not a lawyer, but I did take a Business Law in college, and we did talk about contract law, so here is my take. This is not legally binding for at least one reason (and probably more). A contract requires both an offer and acceptance of that offer. These are two distinct entities. The maker of this contract is stating that merely reading the offer (the web page itself) denotes acceptance of its terms. This is like a software manufacturer placing its license agreement inside of a sealed package, and then in the agreement saying that breaking the seal binds you to its terms. In order to even get to the agreement, you have to have agreed to it. It's a catch 22. By doing this, the maker of the web page is not offering any consideration for the contract, which would seemingly make it invalid. I hate spammers as much as the next guy, but I don't think that this agreement is actually legally enforceable as claimed by Security Focus. With that said, using this as a tool to find spammers and block them seems to be a good idea. Using this type of webpage as a tool to drag them into a specific court would seem foolhardy. Any lawyers out there with a more informed opinion then mine?
|
About Me
Name: Nick Home: Wauwatosa, WI, United States I'm a Software Consultant in the Milwaukee area. Among various geeky pursuits, I'm also an amateur triathlete, and enjoy rock climbing. I also like to think I'm a political pundit. View My Profile Archives
Home PagePrevious Posts
Blog RollingRequired Reading Confidence You Don't Know Squat Pajama Blogging Fornicator! Now That's Cool I Own That Blog Rolling The Nerd Quotient Personal Links
Carnival of the Badger
The Coding Monkey del.icio.us Links Flickr Photos Blog Critics Reviews Blogroll Me! music books video culture politics sports gaming www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from Nick_Schweitzer. Make your own badge here.
Credits
Design By maystar |