Slashdot Mirror
First Worm with a EULA?
ErikRed1488 writes "There is a new virtual postcard from Friend Greetings, owned by Permissioned Media that prompts you to install their software to view the card. You are then presented with a EULA granting them permission to e-mail all the Contacts in your Outlook Address Book. Those people are presented with an e-mail from you telling them they have a greeting card to pick up. So, this thing spreads like a worm, but includes a EULA that 95% of users won't take the time to read. Symantec isn't detecting this as a virus, but does have information about it on their site. In addition to the worm-like way it spreads, it also installs spyware designed to deliver ads to your computer. You also give them permission to install further software any time they want. In my opinion this is completely nasty, but it's all clearly in the EULA that you must agree to before it installs the software."
Need I say more?
Sigs? We don't need no stinking sigs!
hehe.. is the EULA similar to the same one in windows 2000 SP3? this is sad.. anyone actually agreeing to tis needs to be strung up with Cat-5 and smacked about the body with old ISA cards solder side in so they get poked to death.. :)
The company is called permissionedmedia! Well, they did ask for permission first...
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
I am workin on a EULA that gives me power of attorney over for the user.
for kicks, we (and by "we", I mean somebody else) need to have an EULA that contains and absurd clause (firstborn child upon installation), then try to collect. It'd be like challenging the concept of EULAs, but from the other side. Try real hard to get sued.
--
fight global cooling
I got in trouble for saying the following to one of our users (after he installed it, agreeing to all of the nasty terms):
Apparently that's not a valid response, at least according to my boss.
Literacy is important, no it seems we cannot afford to skip reading the EULAs. I have seen some funny stuff thrown in EULAS including:
- the right to borrow your car at any time -
- the right to sleep with your spouse at our discretion -
- the right to submit and enforce decorating standards in your home -
- the right to reduce you and your pets to a dissarrayed, sub-atomic goo-
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
but includes a EULA that 95% of users won't take the time to read
;-)
Didn't you know that 48% of all statistics are completely made up?
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Agreed, EULAs need some regulation. This is like having a clause in your apartment lease that says your landlord can break into your place once a week just to kick you in the balls.
I'd suggest you don't use Slashdot as your only news source, or you will suffer permanent brain damage.
RTFEULA
By reading this message you authorize certain large entities to hereby and forewith make large withdrawals from you personal and business bank accounts. You further allow that Helga, when she is in the
"mood" is more then welcome to come up and see you sometime.
If you do not agree with this EULA please do not read this message.
--
EULA - If we don't own you yet... we will!
Think King Solomon.
Damn. Whenever I get a greeting card I always
(1) open it
(2) download and install ALL the software necessary to read it
(3) when the software comes with a big EULA, I think: it's not odd at all that to view a picture of dancing pigs singing happy birthday, I have to agree to 20 pages of legalese, so i
(4) ALWAYS click "I AGREE" RIGHT away.
And here I thought my practices were fail-safe and prudent. Sigh. Oh welp, must be off to secure my windows system with this attachment that somebody sent me that is supposed to protect me from Klez.
...and a good example of why geeks and lawyers shouldn't mate. :)
Ad luna, Alicia! Ad luna!
Have you seen This?
You're sued for fraud, for selling the same thing twice.
And if you don't get sued, hey, free kids!
That's just the standard ro-sham-bo clause. Took me awhile to figure out what was going on, but once I started winning every now and then I don't have to pay rent that week.
Who knew reading /. could be a public service?
> True, they can't enter your house, but they can steal your pants.
People don't understand credit. The word is repossess. Until you pay for 'em, they're VISA's pants.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
That's a long way to walk to pick up a fax. ;)
Critic: "How do you sleep at night?"
Wolfcastle: "On top of a pile of money with many beautiful ladies."
From /. EULA:
Users may display or use the OSDN Marks in only in accordance with VA's Trademark Use Guidelines posted at {SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION.}.
If the information isnt available do I still have to abide by it?
This is the EULA that pops up when you start a DAMN-keygen. Quite entertaining :)
DAMN
Electronic End-User Software License Agreement
THIS PROGRAM IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT LAW AND INTERNATIONAL TREATIES. BREAKING THE FOLLOWING AGREEMENT WILL RESULT IN SEVERE CIVIL AND CRIMINAL PENALTIES AND WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT POSSIBLE UNDER LAW.
THIS AGREEMENT IS A LEGAL DOCUMENT. READ IT CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE SOFTWARE. IT PROVIDES A LICENSE TO USE THE SOFTWARE. BY CLICKING ON THE "YES" BUTTON AND USING THE SOFTWARE, YOU ARE CONFIRMING ACCEPTANCE OF THE SOFTWARE AND AGREEING TO BECOME BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO DO SO, DO NOT RUN THE SOFTWARE AND PRESS "NO" BUTTON.
1. Definitions
"Software" means the programs supplied by DAMN herewith.
2. License Restrictions
You MAY NOT use this Software AT ALL. Using the Software will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible under law. You also may not make or distribute copies of the Software, or electronically transfer the Software from one computer to another or over a network. You may not decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, or otherwise reduce the Software to a human-perceivable form. You may not rent, lease or sublicense the Software. You may not modify the Software or create derivative works based upon the Software.
3. Ownership
This license gives you NO rights to use the Software. Although you own the media on which the Software is recorded, you do not become the owner of, and DAMN retains title to the Software. All rights including Federal and International Copyrights, are reserved by DAMN.
4. Limitations of Damages
DAMN SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF DAMN HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES AND EVEN IF A REMEDY SET FORTH HEREIN IS FOUND TO HAVE FAILED OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.
from their cocoons, little MSN butterflies come out.
I can create a virus and then sue anti-virus companies for distributing my virus "signature" in their software, which is obviously a derivative work.
Another idea is to apply for a patent and then sue for patent infringement. Does anyone know if the buffer overflow technique has been patented yet?
This space intentionally left blank.
I happen to prefer covering myself in chocolate. :-)
"The dead do not shoo-bop-aloo-bah." -- Kai, 'Lexx'
Why were you smelling a book in the bathroom?
In this one, Dilbert doesn't read the "EULA" and unknowingly signs his life away to be "Bill Gates' Towel Boy". Awesome stuff: Click here for the comic
Dang!!! Careful with tha return key, Eugene!!! Ok, here's the deal... back up your address book, delete all the entries and fill it with MS addresses. Install the software then after the deed is done uninstall it and restore your addresses. There, wasn't that fun? qz
I forgot to say...
End users should have the leisure of clicking through software liscense agreements without reading them. These agreements were designed to protect the software companies from legal action by end users.
If this intent is to remain intact, end users need to be able to click through EULAs with the mental summary of, "Yeah, Yeah, whatever, I promise not to abuse your software or sue you frivolously", instead of "I wonder if I just allowed a software company to use my computer and my data any way they see fit".
"if you cut down my roses, i get to kill your firstborn in a satanic ritual - well, that's just not enforcable."
oh thats enforcable alright... just not *legally* enforcable. In most parts of the world.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
13. Arbitration. Any claim or controversy arising out of or related to this Agreement, or installation or use of PerMedia shall be settled by binding arbitration in accordance with the rules of the Panamanian Arbitration Association.
So if you want to sue, you have to do it in Panama.
What the hell, clicked on the link and a company I'd never heard of was asking if I wanted to install some code (Moderated -1 Dodgy)
I was intrigued though, so emailed the alleged source of my e-card, asking if she knew she had sent it, a while later (I guess she was having problems with her email) I got a reply that it was "a virus" (Mod. -1 Bad News).
Just for grins, did google search (no hits for the website or owning company mentioned on the certificate. Mod. -1 low page rank). Also whois told me the site had only been up a few days (-1, suspicious)
So, I never read the EULA, never installed the program, never had a problem. For entertainment value, not sure what is more fun, investigating the dodgy email or getting yuks from reading the EULA - the geek in me tends to the former. For non geeks, RTF-EULA and enjoy!
To invalidate all of those pesky EULA's through points 1 and 2 (be serious and sober) get together with friends and thoroughly wasted before installing the worst offenders. If the software actually makes it onto the computer it's a nice bonus, otherwise it's the typical plus of a keg party.
Problem solved, you were boisterously drunk at the time of install.
Any spoon would be too big.