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Fighting Back Against EULAs
An anonymous reader writes: "Fed up with increasingly obnoxious click-through "agreements" embedded in the retail software I buy, I've posted a very simple script to remove them before clicking "I agree". Without the EULA, I am free to use my software within the bounds of copyright law. Courts have been very inconsistent on the enforceability of EULAs, and I hope this will strengthen consumers' side of the battle. The script is a symbolic gesture as much as anything else, and I want to get people thinking about how ridiculous it is that software companies try to force these one-sided contracts on you after you have paid for something. Also worth a look is cexx.org's Software Vendor License Agreement, which reverses the typical EULA and puts the burden back on the software manufacturer where it belongs."
lots of people are writing and talking about
following laws, this law, that law etc. The
discussion really is a specific instance of
more fundamental questions:
When a law doesn't make sense, should people
follow it? At what point do you realize
that the motivations of the people creating
laws are not aligned with their interests?
The argument you're making is in fact the entire point: just because Microsoft printed words in their EULA, that doesn't mean they are a binding legal contract.
I consider EULA's to be simply a promise by the software vendor: we promise not to sue you if you do this and this, etc. That does not automatically mean they are morally or legally right, or that they would win such a lawsuit.
That's all that makes EULA's "binding": the threat of being sued. The software companies know that their power is tenuous here, and hope for legislation like UCITA that really makes it binding. ANY company would love to be able to dictate exactly what you could do with their product, so they could bill you for the different "privileges" of doing different things with the product.
Imagine if Ford said that by displaying the Ford trademarked logo in public, including on your car, you agree to a "Ford logo license", which says you can only drive 35mph or slower. For $1 per mph over 35, you can earn the privilege of driving over 35mph. Whenever Ford needed more income, they could just adjust the fees and cutoffs (be sure to check ford.com weekly for license updates) until they maximized profit. Whenever that didn't work, they could just send in the "Ford license enforcers" with speed guns, because somebody somewhere is probably violating the license. And if you don't keep accurate records of your speed, they offer you a settlement in compromise, just like the friendly folks at the BSA!
EULAs give software vendors too much power. The best thing to do is use Free/Open Source software, next best thing is to ignore the EULAs.