Malware authors turn to EULAs to protect their work

[w1z4rd]

Selling botnets for particular attacks, black markets for stolen identities, and malware construction kits are all now par for the course for the increasingly commercial malware industry. Discovering that malware authors have actually turned to End-User License Agreements (EULAs) in an attempt to protect their own intellectual property, however, most definitely qualifies as something new, different, and beautifully ironic.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...hors-turn-to-eulas-to-protect-their-work.html

"The authors of the Zeus malware have added an end-user license agreement to their product. The buyer is, of course, permitted to infect as many computers with Zeus as they please, but they have no right to distribute it for 'any business or commercial purpose not connected with this sale,' and they can't examine the source, use it to control non-Zeus botnets, or send it to anti-virus companies. Oh, and they commit to paying for future upgrades, too

http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/29/0057236

Well.. you think thats bad... look at what SONY have in their EULA!!!

1. If your house gets burgled, you have to delete all your music from your laptop when you get home. That's because the EULA says that your rights to any copies terminate as soon as you no longer possess the original CD.
2. You can't keep your music on any computers at work. The EULA only gives you the right to put copies on a "personal home computer system owned by you."
3. If you move out of the country, you have to delete all your music. The EULA specifically forbids "export" outside the country where you reside.
4. You must install any and all updates, or else lose the music on your computer. The EULA immediately terminates if you fail to install any update. No more holding out on those hobble-ware downgrades masquerading as updates.
5. Sony-BMG can install and use backdoors in the copy protection software or media player to "enforce their rights" against you, at any time, without notice. And Sony-BMG disclaims any liability if this "self help" crashes your computer, exposes you to security risks, or any other harm.
6. The EULA says Sony-BMG will never be liable to you for more than $5.00. That's right, no matter what happens, you can't even get back what you paid for the CD.
7. If you file for bankruptcy, you have to delete all the music on your computer. Seriously.
8. You have no right to transfer the music on your computer, even along with the original CD.
9. Forget about using the music as a soundtrack for your latest family photo slideshow, or mash-ups, or sampling. The EULA forbids changing, altering, or make derivative works from the music on your computer.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2005/11/now-legalese-rootkit-sony-bmgs-eula


The Russian Business network with its spam nets? Sony? Riaa? All the same thing. Capitalism at its best.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

bleh

what next? an EULA prohibiting the "end user" from having any antivirus/antispyware/antirootkit stuff on their PC's?

sorry, but ppl who try to drop software surreptitiously onto my PC without my knowledge and consent, deserves only one thing - a swift kick in the goolies with steel-capped boots.