SIMPLIFIED COMPUTER SOFTWARE LICENSE

	We, the developer,
	have the right to screw you.

	Technically speaking,
	we have the right to change any software feature,
	collect any information from your computer,
	do anything to facilitate our sales,
	without liability.

	You, the consumer,
	have no rights:
	you are a digital serf
	whose only value is to buy our products
	or press a SNS «like» icon

	Technically speaking,
	you have the right to push the "agree" button
	to our Terms of Service
	or press the "cancel" button
	at which point
	this software will cease to work

___ Yes! I have read the above and "I agree."



Nadya: 	If this weren't so close the truth, I'd laugh.

Gus: 	Yeah. Multinational software companies such as Abode, Apple, and Microsoft 
        are creating a sort of "digital serfdom." Ordinary people are like landless 
        peasants at the whim of their digital overlords.

Liao: 	(nodding) It's ironic. At one time people hoped that computers would bring about 
        greater democracy. In fact, often they are tools to promote a sort of cyber-slavery.

Tim:    When there is a power imbalance, people are often easy to dupe - at least in the short term.

=====================================================================================
from _Cyberpoems: Exploring the Human-Machine Interface_ by T Newfields
SUMMARY: An all too typical lopsided licensing agreement between a software company and a consumer.
KEYWORDS: digital serfdom, asymmetric agreements, corporate power, crooked software licenses

Author: T Newfields [Nitta Hirou / Huáng Yuèwǔ] (b. 1955 - ?)
Begun: 2013 in Tokyo, Japan  / Finished: 2024 in Shizuoka, Japan
Creative Commons License: Attribution. {{CC-BY-4.0}} Granted

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