Marketing subtlety and formal malware…
David Weinberger on his attempts to learn more about Microsoft® Expression® Media:
The popup conscientiously informs me that once installed, Silverlight “updates automatically,” where “update” means I am giving Microsoft the right to load stuff onto my computer without asking or informing me. In addition, the privacy statement says Microsoft will only transfer information it gathers about me and my computer to third parties if it really wants to. (The privacy statement puts it a little more formally than that.)
I’ve never bothered to read the Flash Player EULA, but I doubt it’s much better. Rich Media® can suck my © — I’m glad I jumped ship for unobtrusive javascript and the open web when I did!