Not quite sure why you insist on ranting against a straw man, instead of actually trying to understand libertarian doctrine and its position on a number of the issues that you write about. Misrepresenting the libertarian position so you can attempt to hold it up to ridicule is pretty much the same thing that idiots like Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh do with the left; maybe it scores a few points with an unsophisticated audience, but it does not hold up to any sort of factual analysis, and they just end up looking like buffoons. You're much more intelligent than that, and this type of rhetorical appeal is, shall we say, less than flattering.
Again, libertarians do not, under any circumstances, condone fraud, and the prohibition against the use of force or fraud to achieve economic or political goals is the most fundamental libertarian principle. Tricking people into installing malware through hidden disclaimers and fake click-through "agreements" is fraud; no valid contract is formed.
Since contract law and theory is central to libertarian principles, it is especially important to determine the actual intent to form a contract. While libertarians believe that people should be free to agree to all sorts of things, including things that the government might not approve of, that is by no means license to defraud people. And what's worse, I'm sure you actually know that, but have chosen to overlook it in order to attack a straw man. Come on; you can do much better than that.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2006-09-07 04:36 pm (UTC)Again, libertarians do not, under any circumstances, condone fraud, and the prohibition against the use of force or fraud to achieve economic or political goals is the most fundamental libertarian principle. Tricking people into installing malware through hidden disclaimers and fake click-through "agreements" is fraud; no valid contract is formed.
Since contract law and theory is central to libertarian principles, it is especially important to determine the actual intent to form a contract. While libertarians believe that people should be free to agree to all sorts of things, including things that the government might not approve of, that is by no means license to defraud people. And what's worse, I'm sure you actually know that, but have chosen to overlook it in order to attack a straw man. Come on; you can do much better than that.