Re: [Council] Nokia response to MyNokia subscription in PR1.2
 

I just want to stress this point out. This is the exact reason why they wanted a SMS and not any other way of subscription; and why you can't opt out of it .

If they are really, really interested, they could even ask the carriers the name and contact information of the people paying the bill.

There is no billing system as precise, complete and merciless in the world than a carrier telecom one.

Do Nokia really, really want bad publicity this much? It's not like the press and blogs are ready and willing to give them a free pass for this kind of things.

Re: [Council] Nokia response to MyNokia subscription in PR1.2
 

I guess most people are aware of this already, but MyNokia is something that is not only Meego-specific but rather appears also in Symbian devices. In multiple forms, but still. So you can probably guess that any decisions Nokia makes on it do not originate from purely 100% Meego perspective.

Re: [Council] Nokia response to MyNokia subscription in PR1.2
 

Furthermore, there are obvious regional differences. My US retail N900 did NOT even try to register (and the US box, as pointed out already, does NOT mention registration/Ovi). Did not show any T&C on upgrade/reboot and did not send an SMS. Whether this is due to IMEI/SIM mismatch, unsupported country, some of the installed software interfering or simply a malfunction of the registration software, I don't know.

Re: [Council] Nokia response to MyNokia subscription in PR1.2
 

Heh - I just got an SMS saying that registration failed, so I shrugged and ignored it. Not checked whether I've been billed extra or not though.

Re: [Council] Nokia response to MyNokia subscription in PR1.2
 

Sure. - But then: It's bad enough to do it on Symbian phones. It's not OK, not on Symbian, not on Maemo and not on MeeGo (or S40, but I think S40 won't do it anyway.)

What's odd, though, is that nobody at Nokia seems to realize how different target groups may react differently. That nobody seems to see how much this auto-registration contradicts the whole purpose of Maemo as an open system. I choose my words carefully here: I write "seems to ..." because, of course, I can't know what's being done or discussed behind the scenes. But you see, that is part of the problem:

Somebody could leave suit&tie at home for once, enter the forum in shorts, flip-flops and a t-shirt and then explain "Well, yes, we see the point. We're discussing it internally and personally, I'd want to get rid of this sms-thing in the future. Others inside Nokia want to keep it, though, so this will take some time and we're not sure if we can do it at all. I'll keep you updated."

Instead, we get this meaningless sequence of words, probably put together by a group of lawyers and marketing people who probably don't even own flip-flops.

Re: [Council] Nokia response to MyNokia subscription in PR1.2
 

Bought my N900 in HK just over 2 weeks ago. Shortly after getting it and once connected to the internet it said there were some updates (Maemo 5) available. I did the update, rebooted got the T & C notice for OVI, and a single button "DONE" and I was suckered into subscribing to MyNokia without my knowledge and permission. Luckily I was using a throwaway sim in the N900 at the time. Anyway, yesterday I received an SMS from Nokia saying

Needless to say I am ignoring it. However if someone has tried the survey and knows that you get to speak to a human at the other end then maybe I'll try it and give them a piece of my mind.

It does say on the box that "This is an Ovi service device. Registration via SMS required.", however it is in small print and on the back of the box and I doubt very many people will get to read it. I didn't even read the text on the back of the box until just now, and what caught my eye was a notice saying the FM transmitter is only enabled in certain countries and I missed the bit about OVI on my first reading. It was only when I read it again to confirm that there was no mention of OVI that I saw it :rolleyes:

Re: [Council] Nokia response to MyNokia subscription in PR1.2
 

I couldn't agree more. I am seriously considering my position in the Maemo and MeeGo community because I do not want to contribute to software and devices which will be used to abuse privacy and steal personal information. I have suspended the work I was doing to port MUD and GPE to MeeGo (and submitting bugs and patches to the MeeGo tools) while I think about this further.

I realise that Nokia employees cannot afford to make public statements which may contradict company policy. I will say that Quim seems to have done what he can to escalate the issue internally, including arranging a call for me with one of the Nokia lawyers to discuss the accusations I have made that this violates the UK Computer Misuse Act (which carries serious criminal penalties). Of course the lawyer could not admit any wrongdoing but I was given the opportunity to make my point, forcefully. The lawyer did confirm that they are relying on the text on the box to claim that the user has "authorised" the registration.

I am still hoping that Nokia will see their mistake, apologise, fix the PR1.2 problem and make a public commitment to the community that no Nokia Maemo or MeeGo device will ever again collect personal information without allowing the user to opt-out (with no impact on features). But it is just a hope -- I have not seen any evidence that this will happen unless there is either a major PR impact or a major legal impact first.

Re: [Council] Nokia response to MyNokia subscription in PR1.2
 

We know it is not Meego specific - there is no Meego on N900, but there is MyNokia crap.

Re: [Council] Nokia response to MyNokia subscription in PR1.2
 

NOKIA was never worried about bad PR in their maemo/meego decisions...

...I have no other explanation for such hard missteps we have seen the last 6 months. :confused:

Re: [Council] Nokia response to MyNokia subscription in PR1.2
 

Yes, i agree.

But for me, the proof is in how they did NOT handle the missteps.

I can tolerate companies making mistakes if they apologize and make good of their initial promise. Heck, I'm rooting for the OSS flag bearer here so I'm being extra generous and extra forgiving. They just need to say something right.