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End User License Agreements
   

Sebastian: I recently wanted to try out KGS, and it required Sun's latest Java runtime. Well, I thought, Sun is the good empire, I can trust them. But when I read their license agreement ([ext] http://java.sun.com/webapps/download/Display) I almost fell off my chair:

you agree to defend and indemnify Sun and its licensors from and against any damages, costs, liabilities, settlement amounts and/or expenses (including attorneys' fees) incurred in connection with any claim, lawsuit or action by any third party that arises or results from the use or distribution of any and all Programs and/or Software. (emphasis mine)

This is the most egregious "legal" statement I ever read. How do you guys feel about this? Is this legal at all? Is there any way we as consumers or small-time programmers can protect ourselves against this blatant abuse of our legal system?

Velobici: License agreements may contain restrictions that are not legally enforceable. Indeed, they may contain clauses that contradict existing state law. Unfortunately, the Federal Government (US) and the States allow companies to attach such agreements to their products despite the non-enforceable nature of the clauses. The [ext] Sun agreement is not remarkable.

[ext] Microsoft's agreements for Windows 2000 SP3 and later allows the company to access your computer system, upgrade/remove software, and disable software. This is done under the sections entitled Automatic Upgrade and Digital Rights Management. This clause is missing from earlier agreements. You can check your own end user license agreement at C:\\WINNT\system32\eula.txt (yes, it does say WINNT rather than WIN2K. Microsoft may have hardcoded the path in a number of files, rather than use a #define and so did not spend the effort to fix it.)

Following the most recent set of Windows virii, Microsoft is pushing federal government sanction to allow Microsoft to update computers as necessary. What consistutes as necessary and what limitations will be placed on the nature of the upgrade is an item of discussion among the industry lobbyists and the congress critter's staffers.


Bill: I am afraid that it is standard. Some years ago I declined to join a sponsored mailing list because of such language. From what I hear, it is not necessarily enforceable. It certainly is ridiculous.

As for getting a law passed outlawing such crapola, the trend in recent legislation seems to be going the other way, favoring huge corporations at the expense of ordinary citizens. :-(


unkx80: Looks way too standard to me. Is that the only end user license agreement you ever read? I think this template is used almost everywhere.

Bignose: Not at all. A great deal of software is licensed such that the user is treated as a valuable asset, rather than a potential criminal. CGoban1 (but not later versions), and GnuGo are two examples familiar to Go players.

The above insanely-restrictive "agreement", which almost no users would actually agree with, is common, but by no means universal. We have the power to choose software from people who treat us like customers and equals, rather than consumers and criminals.



This is a copy of the living page "End User License Agreements" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.