M$ cleared up

[Frank Carmickle]

If any of you don't get the point now then you must have something very
wrong with your brain.  I suggest that we all block hotmail.  Read this.


     4 April 2001
     Updated: 19:33 GMT
   The Register Biting the hand that feeds IT
   
   
   Microsoft alters Passport Terms to stem Hotmail defections By: Andrew
   Orlowski in San Francisco Posted: 04/04/2001 at 19:21 GMT
   Microsoft is to amend its Passport Terms of Use within the next day, a
   spokesman told The Register today. Corporate spokesman Tom Pilla
   said:-
   "People are confused, and rightly so. The Passport Terms haven't been
   updated to reflect our privacy policy. We're sorry."
   The existing Terms of Use to Passport - the authentication hub for
   Hotmail, MSN Instant Messenger and many other Microsoft web services -
   appear to entitle Microsoft to users' copyright and patents. We first
   covered this in a story last week here.
   However each Passport service has its own Terms of Use, although this
   muddies rather than clarifies the waters. For example, under the
   Hotmail conditions, Microsoft says it does not claim ownership of your
   material.... Er, except when it does.
   Specifically, when information is posted in a public area, "in
   connection with the operation of [Microsoft and its affiliates and
   sub-licensees] Internet business." That sounds like a whole different
   kettle of fish, but we're sure we could find lawyers to argue that
   Passport conditions apply to Hotmail - since Passport is the
   authentication mechanism for Hotmail - and that email can be construed
   as public.
   Of course neither of these is a sensible position - but that hasn't
   prevented bad law being made - as the US DMCA Act and the British RIP
   Act demonstrate.
   Pilla said the Terms were being revised to bring them up to date with
   Microsoft's TRUSTe privacy policy, claiming that the privacy policy
   "trumped" the Passport Terms.
   But that isn't actually the case, as the privacy policy covers data
   about you, not what you say. When pressed, Tom advised us to "ask
   TRUSTe".
   Pilla also denied that Microsoft had seen users defect from the
   Hotmail in the past week. But our mailbag tells us otherwise. Although
   the Passport Terms of Use are in likelihood unenforceable, Register
   readers are leaving nothing to chance.
   Passport to hell
   We've had letters from Hotmail users ranging from IT consultants to
   Hollywood screenwriters vowing never to use the service again. (We'll
   post a selection shortly). And some websites are reciprocating
   Microsoft's Passport terms, by beginning to block Hotmail email too.
   Steve Litt of Troubleshooters.com revised his own terms to block
   Passport services. Moongroup simply blocks incoming postings from
   Hotmail, MSN, or Microsoft itself.
   Pilla also denied that Passport subscribers were being told they
   couldn't unsubscribe from the network. That seems to be as legally
   unenforceable as the original Terms Of Use, but we'll return to that
   one. ®


     Frank Carmickle
phone:     412 761-9568
email:     frankiec at dryrose.com