beware

[renegade600]

beware of doing illegal stuff or doing anything on your computer that could cause problems in the future either in a divorce or whatever while using vista. Vista makes it easier to create activity timelines through its indexing or shadow copying.

See this article (http://www.abanet.org/journal/ereport/jy13tkjasn.html)

Available since late January, Vista offers a host of new security and built-in backup features. But from a litigator’s perspective, the interesting point is that it keeps a lot more information—and more detailed information—about what a person does with a PC. This means lawyers can potentially discover more forensic evidence about what is on a computer and construct more detailed time lines about what was done with that information.

[Snurfen]

God bless Vista - at last we can find out which tosspot on Assembly Line 5 spent the whole afternoon shift on kiss-my-whip.com and foofed up the logs on the IIS device!

I thought this was going to be a post about clothing for our little honey making chums.

[oracle128]

Vista keeps logs about user activity without permission from the user...wouldn't this make it inadmissible in court?

[renegade600]

Vista keeps logs about user activity without permission from the user...wouldn't this make it inadmissible in court?

however you gave consent when you installed it and accepted the eula.

[jmtjet]

Still sounds illegal to me.

[dammit]

Still sounds illegal to me.
Me too. What choice do you have.. if you don't accept the eula.. you can't install it. :disgust:

[PurestLight]

So no choice then.....is it a bit like that bugging phones thing? There has to be a sound that indicates said bugging is taking place,(or used to be) or it constitutes a set-up (or whatever the phrase is)and therefore isnt admissable as evidence. :hmm:

[dammit]

To me this sounds like an invisible system of spyware. M$ knows everything you are doing. They are against others promoting spyware because they want to be world dominators. Eventually they will hold a database of everyone with a computer and what they do online. What will they do with it I wonder? Ohh yes.. I think I know the answer.

[oracle128]

I checked through the EULA. It doesn't contain any notes regarding history logs. The log keeping itself is would be legal (since it's stored under your control), but since you haven't given explicit consent, it's inadmissible.

Unless you can turn that feature off at will, in which case, keeping it on would be considered consent (in the same way that any document you possess is admissible).

IANAL

[Ned Seagoon]

I think we all need to be very careful what we do anywhere. There is an Indian Doctor here in Australia who has been locked up because he gave the SIM card, with unused credits, to his cousin in the UK, when he left the UK for Australia, and the cousin was involved with the attempted bombing of Glasgow airport. The Doctor spent 12 days locked up while they questioned him, was then released on bail only to be immediately locked up again as the Government canceled his visa, declared him an illegal immigrant and now know one knows what will happen to him.

Don't make typos folks, you might get locked up if big brother comes looking over your shoulder.

[dohray]

...IANAL

Hey oracle, I hope that stands for "I Am Not A Lawyer" and not referring to yourself as being retentive. :D

[oracle128]

Hey oracle, I hope that stands for "I Am Not A Lawyer" and not referring to yourself as being retentive. :DHey, you're right, that DOES stand for I Am Not A Lawyer. I guess it works both ways.

[renegade600]

I checked through the EULA. It doesn't contain any notes regarding history logs. The log keeping itself is would be legal (since it's stored under your control), but since you haven't given explicit consent, it's inadmissible.

Unless you can turn that feature off at will, in which case, keeping it on would be considered consent (in the same way that any document you possess is admissible).

IANAL

you completely missed the point of the article. The eula is not going to specifically say anything about logs but by agreeing to the eula and allowing vista to be installed, you are giving consent for any logs to be created and any indexing to be done since they are a part of the operating system. Some you can turn off, some you cannot so use vista at your own risk if you are doing anything illegal.

As far as the logs being legal in court, they are legal as long as the were taken from the computer legally through a court order or whatever is required in your country to make the logs admissible in court.

[Snurfen]

Well the logs in question are not being sent back to MS, are they? No problemo.

We are covered by a User Acceptance Agreement in work - reams and reams of legalise nonsense. When asked for a precis, I usually turn into Catbert and say "YOU ARE MY *****, YOU ONLY USE THE NETWORK COS I LET YOU MUWAH HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAA". Those that don't agree "loose" things randomly.

[oracle128]

As far as the logs being legal in court, they are legal as long as the were taken from the computer legally through a court order or whatever is required in your country to make the logs admissible in court.If it's not documented, either in help files, manuals, or EULA, you can't give your permission for it to run, and hence its use as evidence in the legal system would not be acceptable. The logs not only have to be acquired legally (eg with a warrant for your hard drive), but they need to be recorded legally too.

[Snurfen]

That's a reasonable argument in a normal court of law, Ora, one that would be judged "reasonable" and therefore a valid argument.

Sadly, the old ace up the sleeve of prosecutors at the moment, as brushed on by Ned, is "anti-terrorism laws". Sadly, in most jurisdictions at the moment, there are cases erroneously using this argument. Fine and dandy when it's valid, but you know lawyers, more slippery than a greased eel.