[NTLUG:Discuss] FW: motivating shady clients to payup

[Aaron Goldblatt]

> If I were an 'unsavory client' - I'd simply unscrew
> the hard drive from the PC and place it into another
> PC as Drive #2 and voila!  All secrets may be revealed
> without worrying about passwords, BIOS's, CD-ROMS 

It has been my experience that a client sufficiently skilled to pull 
this off (and modify such files as /etc/passwd or /etc/shadow to 
permit access once the machine is setup again) doesn't need one 
of us to set up a traffic analysis tool.

That said:

Full disclosure is the key.  Never, ever lie to a client, or "forget" to 
tell him something he needs to know.  The limitations outlined 
seem reasonable to me.  The only twix I noticed was the 14-day 
shutdown.  My suggestion is to make this 30 to 45 days.  Some 
companies (depending on how organized and rigidly stratified) can't 
or won't pay in less than that.

When I worked as a contractor for the Star-Telegram, I was told 
that they paid contractors in 45-60 days, with no late fees, no 
exceptions, even though my contract called for a 14-day turnaround 
and really ugly surcharges ($25/day) to encourage them to pay 
promptly.  And like clockwork, I always got paid.  A month and a 
half late.  And I never saw a penny of the late fees.

Check with the accounts payable guys, and don't shoot the client's 
machine because the AP guys are sticking to their (stupid, wasteful, 
useless, heavy-handed, unfriendly) procedures.  If you don't do this, 
you won't get any repeat business (assuming you want any).

ag