I reinstalled my two favorite Firefox extensions today – AdBlock and del.icio.us Bookmarks. And I noticed that del.icio.us Bookmarks requires me to agree to an EULA. Gaaaah! 🙁
Some of the del.icio.us crapology:
“Delicious may change this Software License by posting a new version without notice to you. Use of the Delicious Software after such change constitutes acceptance of such changes.” – Preamble. Sounds like a license to rip me off any time, any place, any minute real soon now.
“YOU MAY NOT decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, modify, rent, lease, loan, distribute, or create derivative works (as defined by the U.S. Copyright Act) or improvements (as defined by U.S. patent law) from the Delicious Software or any portion thereof.” – 1 b (ii) What happened to FreeSoftware?
“YOU MAY NOT use the Delicious Software to operate nuclear facilities, life support, or other mission critical application where human life or property may be at stake. You understand that the Delicious Software is not designed for such purposes and that its failure in such cases could lead to death, personal injury, or severe property or environmental damage for which Delicious is not responsible.” – 1 b (iv) Thanks for the warning.
Then I got tired of reading it and just clicked *Next*.
How long until I can’t buy a hammer unless I sign a declaration of non-violent intent? Can I no longer use hammers to build and operate nuclear facilities?
The manufacturers cannot regulate that, because the hammer is a material good and not so-called “Intellectual Property”. But what corporations are doing using EULAs clearly shows what they would *like* to do.
Then again, prohibiting the use of tools for the operation of nuclear facilities might actually be a good idea...
#Software #Web
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EULAs. I love ’em 😄 It’s impossible to tell the difference between the ones that are serious and the parodies. I guess it doesn’t matter either, really. EULAs only exist in the software world, and I hope they soon die the death that they deserve.
As you say, a hammer is just a hammer. Software is a hammer too. It’s just what you hit with it that’s different 😄
– greywulf 2007-05-08 15:00 UTC
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I remember a post of yours pointing to something nuclear as well. Searching for EULA on your blog finds Idiotic Software License Of The Day with “You agree that you will not use these products for … the development, manufacture or production of missiles, or nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.”
Idiotic Software License Of The Day
I guess you did agree to that, didn’t you? 😄
– Alex Schroeder 2007-05-08 19:51 UTC
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Hi Alex,
We are currently running GooDiff to monitor terms of services from various providers. The service is still in beta... but we hope that we can rise awareness about those bloody legal document.
– adulau 2007-05-08 20:20 UTC
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Hm, interesting idea! I guess I could subscribe to some RSS feeds of the legal documents that affect me.
I must confess, however, that the prospects of having to face more and more of all this legal crap is very discouraging. Nobody likes to do this. I’ll give you an example. It says somewhere: “Diese Nutzungsbedingungen unterliegen den gesetzlichen Bestimmungen des US-Bundesstaates Kalifornien, dabei finden die Regelungen des internationalen Privatrechts sowie die Regelungen, die an Ihrem Aufenthaltsort gelten, keine Anwendung. Jegliche Anspruche, Rechtsstreite oder Verfahren, die in Verbindung mit diesem Service entstehen, werden ausschliesslich im Santa Clara County, Kalifornien, USA, verhandelt und Sie erkennen die Gerichtsbarkeit dieser Gerichte an.” ¹ Basically they are saying that *international law and my local laws are null and void* and that I will accept the jurisdiction of Santa Clara County, California.
But I’d never want to do that. After all, California has the Three strikes law; something I consider to be barbarous.
And yet, I’m sure I’m using their service somewhere.
It’s very similar to copyright intruding into our everyday life. Globalization compounds so-called “intellectual property” legal problems in unprecedented ways, and I think a *real* solution to this problem would be to exempt individuals from much of this legal burden.
The reasons are simple: The goods and services we are talking about are immaterial, and thus governed by a plethora of tiny little licenses, all alike, instead of ordinary sales law. This results in a vast complication of legal matters. The nature of the Internet allows us to obtain licenses for the use of goods and services from all over the world, resulting in *a lunatic mix of many tiny little licenses, all alike, from a myriad of different jurisdictions*.
It’s crazy! It’s unnatural. We should get rid of it.
GooDiff helps navigate the byzantine labyrinth, but I’m still hoping for somebody to tear it down in the first place.
– Alex Schroeder 2007-05-09 09:45 UTC