[LINK] Microsoft Live Mesh

[Craig Sanders]

On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 08:22:04AM +1000, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:
> Richard Chirgwin wrote:
>> Sucker punch number 2: the governing law for Australian users is in  
>> Singapore. Hardly accessible for the user, should a legal dispute 
>> arise.
>
> If you are in Darwin, or Perth, Singapore is probably more physically
> reachable than Sydney or Melbourne.

if you have a passport and a visa and are willing to go through the
hassle of customs and are willing to subject yourself to the rules and
quirks of a foreign jurisdiction.

> This is contract law, so I would guess the laws of the land are not
> relevent.

of course the jurisdiction is relevant.  jurisdiction is ALWAYS
relevant.

different countries have different laws and regulations about what is
allowed or enforcable in a contract and what is not.

some countries, for example, allow you to waive all your statutory
rights in a contract. some countries allow you to sign yourself into
indentured servitude.  some countries have inadequate or non-existant
consumer protection legislation.

and some countries are more or less likely to have bribable judges.

and a million other less dramatic examples.



> However, why is this any different to Google, myspace, youtube,
> amazon, and no doubt a range of other sites offering all kinds of
> services.

correct. it's no different. the whole concept of trusting some third
party with all your data & documents is completely broken. it's dubious
even when they have a statutory duty of care and confidentiality (e.g. a
lawyer), but it's absolutely insane when it's just some company in some
other country with nothing but a take-it-or-leave-it, non-negotiable
contract.

this idea keeps on getting pushed by software companies and internet
startups and the public keep rejecting it - BECAUSE there's little or
no benefit to the end user, little or no protection for them, and the
benefits are almost entirely in favour of the service provider.

in any case, computers are cheap. this reincarnation of the time-share
idea might have made sense decades ago when computers were expensive but
it makes no sense at all now.

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>