I just got around to installing iTunes so I can cash in my 18 'free songs' bottle caps (and my mother said that my addiction to Mountain Dew would bring me nothing but trouble. Ha. Guess I showed her.). I learned some things co-writing a paper on spyware for my Info Systems Security class this semester that scared the hell out of me - so much so that I'm actually reading End User Licensing Agreements now (because you explicitly consent to a lot of 'piggy-back' spyware by clicking Yes on an EULA that has a clause on, say, page sixty-something which says "We can install whatever the hell else we want to on your machine, so go pound sand if you don't like it").
How do the previous two sentences tie together? Behold the iTunes EULA, page sixty-something:
THE APPLE SOFTWARE IS NOT INTENDED FOR USE IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS, LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES OR OTHER EQUIPMENT IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF THE APPLE SOFTWARE COULD LEAD TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.Sigh. I guess it's back to the store with it, then. That bastard salesman promised me that this version would actually control nuclear power plants. I need to get that model they used on 24.
So YOU'RE the one! I KNEW someone out there was reading those EULAs, but I never expected to find out who it was.
It's really funny, since it's iTunes. I mean what, exactly, would iTunes do in a nuclear facility? Fiddle while Rome burns, I suppose.
The life support machines part is funny too. Maybe iTunes could play that beeping noise that the monitors make...
Ummmm....
Did it not occur to anyone that it's a joke by some of the remaining subversive employees at Apple?
'Cause that's how *I* am reading it.
Good point. I think my recent research on spyware may have impaired my sense of humor in this area.