Re: Ethical Database Practice?

"Larry Linson" <bouncer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
Oh_Wf.13916$VL2.6074@trnddc04:">news:Oh_Wf.13916$VL2.6074@trnddc04:

"LB" <lorilynnb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote

I want to have the upgrade send me an email
silently whenever a user upgrades. . . . Now,
I am independent so there's no boss, and I'm
remote. I want to have the email sent to me
BUT I don't really want to tell the clients before-
hand, because I don't want them to feel that I'm
"babysitting" them; it's just for my own
information, as this factor will become important
when troubleshooting. These clients are
management-level and very busy.

Ethics aside, what you propose is likely to lead you into a severe
customer relations problem.

You'd better tell them in advance that you need to have on record
the update level of your clients, and that you have included an
e-mail back to you on successful installation of updates _with an
option for them to opt out_!

If some software tried to "call home silently," I'd immediately
wonder why. If I had been warned, and had the ability to opt out,
I might or might not agree to let it "call home" but you wouldn't
have a "suspicious customer".

I have no software on my machine that tries to call home that ever
exceeds, because if it's not authorized to connect out through my
software firewall, it just silently fails.

--
David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/
usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/
.

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