The Null Device

2002/9/27

First there was spyware, and now there's diversionware; hidden add-ons to free Windows utilities/toys, which intercept the user's web requests to shopping web sites and substitute in the software maker's affiliate ID, even if someone else's ID was used. And this is completely legal, because users agree to it in the click-through licence agreements.

I suppose that's a key cultural distinction between UNIX and Windows. In the UNIX world, "free software" implies Richard Stallman's ideology. In the Windows world, "free software" implies layers of parasitic spyware and diversionware working behind the user's back. (via Techdirt)

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The Observer's Lynn Barber talks to Morrissey about his self-imposed exile in Los Angeles, his (lack of) place in the current music industry and the acrimony between him and former bandmates:

Los Angeles suits him, he says, because 'it's a particularly sexless city. Everybody's bodies are so sanitised, so caked in every conceivable exfoliation, cologne and mousse, they have no trace of any kind of sexuality, nothing real and earthy. So I blend in very well!'

And here's a review of a recent Morrissey show, which certainly sounds promising. (via Luke)

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