[free-sklyarov] MSNBC story

Peter D. Junger junger at samsara.law.cwru.edu
Tue Jul 31 17:20:06 PDT 2001


"Jon O ." writes:

: > This reminded me to post about another angle I've been
: > thinking about, which is getting in consumer advocacy groups
: > involved. Consumers Union (http://www.consumersunion.org/aboutcu/about.htm),
: > for example, tests many consumer products for safety,
: > reliability, comfort, etc. The results are published in the
: > U.S.-based magazine Consumer Reports. Note here: They are a
: > non-profit and do not benefit commercially from any of their
: > findings and they do not accept advertising. They are also a
: > fairly powerful and popular group in the U.S.
: > 
: > One of their main tasks is to test product claims. They have
: > been sued by companies in the past for pointing out problems
: > with products. The most recent, I believe was a lawsuit
: > brought on by Isuzu
: > (http://www.consumersunion.org/products/verdict.htm?Isuzu),
: > which CU won. 
: > 
: > I wonder how they would feel if they found out that they
: > couldn't test the encryption claims on consumer products
: > unless they got the company's permission first?
: 
: 
: Do they test encryption? I think part of the problem is no
: large agency tests this stuff except for the FBI, NSA, etc...

You may have identified an important need here.  One way of satisfying
it would be to have the Consumer's Union do security testing and
related checks of software ahd hardware.  Another way would be to form
a new organization doing such checks and reporting on them for the
benefit of consumers---rather than systems administrators.

Since most commercial software is sold inside a shrinkwrap and cannot
be tested for functionality---let alone security---it would seem that
such an organization would perform a very valuable service for the
public.

Would the DMCA outlaw it?

(Would responsible software and hardware companies fund it?---and
not try to control it?)

--
Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland, OH
 EMAIL: junger at samsara.law.cwru.edu    URL:  http://samsara.law.cwru.edu   
        NOTE: junger at pdj2-ra.f-remote.cwru.edu no longer exists




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