I too am a long-time New Yorker subscriber, and I bought a copy of "The Complete New Yorker" when it first became available (Sept. 2005). However, I never even got as far as installing the software on my computer, because of the following provision of the license agreement:

"Collection of Viewing Information. You acknowledge that you are aware of and consent to the collection of your viewing information during your use of the Software and/or Content. Viewing information may include, without limitation, the time spent viewing specific pages, the order in which pages are viewed, the time of day pages are accessed, IP address and user ID. This viewing information may be linked to personally identifiable information, such as name or address and shared with third parties."

I clicked "Decline," put the disc back into the box, and sent the whole thing back to Amazon for a refund. (I figured that I probably could have used a firewall to block the software from transmitting my information, but I objected in principle to The New Yorker spying on me as I read their magazine.)

The New Yorker's general counsel was later quoted in the New York Times (1/16/2006) as saying that "the magazine had no intention of accessing that information, and that user agreements in future releases of the DVD set would not include that provision."

So now I have to figure out when the "future release" (the one without that clause in the license agreement) will appear so I can order one.


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