News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

February 20, 2008

legal

EULAs are Entirely Unfair Lousy Annoyances

Posted Feb. 20, ’08, 3:45 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi
Category | Legal

eula1.jpg…or so claims UK watchdog group, the National Consumer Council (NCC). They’ve got their knickers in a twist, charging that companies like Apple and Microsoft (and a bunch of other software firms) are misleading customers and forcing them into unfair contractual obligations in their end-user license agreements (EULAs)—a.k.a. that thing everyone agrees to when they install an app, but that no one has ever actually read.

Says the NCC:

New NCC research reveals that software rights-holders are shifting the legal burden onto consumers who buy computer programs, leaving them with less protection than when they buy a cheap biro.
Absolutely. Way less protection than when they buy a biro.

I mean, honestly. You barely get any protection with biros. Hah, hah.

The NCC attacks EULAs for binding customers into agreements they don’t—and sometimes can’t—understand, for misrepresenting the nature of the agreements, and sometimes even making it difficult to access and read the agreements themselves. They’re calling for an investigation by the Office of Fair Trade (OFT) to uncover the villainous realities of the fear-mongering acronym.

In the meantime, someone should really look into those biros. Dangerous things, they are. Biros.

[via Macworld UK]


4 Comments

Toki-chan said:

I am probably the one sad soul who reads them. What can I say, my dad's a lawyer.

February 20, 2008 7:07 PM
Call Me Yo Daddy Author Profile Page said:

This article brings up a very good point. How many of us actually read these EULAs for each and every piece of software that we install? I mean for all we know we could be agreeing to give up our homes and cars in exchange for using this software.

February 20, 2008 9:17 PM
krye said:

I never read the EULA because it's pointless. I want to install the software. It's most likely a program that I paid for, so whether I agree to the EULA or not, I'm going to run the application anyway. So what difference does it make? If you don't agree to the EULA, you can't install the software. If you're at that point, the box is open and now you can't return it. So either way, you have to agree with it.

February 21, 2008 5:21 AM
Jon said:

All I can say is, it's about time.

This has been going on for what... about as long as personal computers have been around, right?

What took them so long?

February 21, 2008 8:58 AM

Leave a comment

 



Visit other IDG sites: