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Man Finds $1,000 Prize in EULA
bhtooefr writes "When Doug Heckman was installing a PC Pitstop program, he actually read the EULA. In it, he found a clause stating that he could get financial compensation if he e-mailed PC Pitstop. The result: a $1,000 check, and proof that people don't read EULAs (3,000 people before him didn't notice it). The goal of this was to prove that one should read all EULAs, so that one can see if an app is spyware if it is buried in the EULA."
One of our developers buried some easter eggs in a web-based game, and nobody has claimed them yet after several months.
:)
And the kicker is, players do talk about strange "bugs", even ask us to fix them, but none of them actually goes so far as to discover those eggs. Maybe they will now after reading this post
So I gather some of the 3000 users may have read the EULA but dismissed the possibility of real cash prize., just like not everybody entered suparmarket prize draw thinking that they won't be so lucky.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
That's not going to make people read EULAs...all that will make people do is say, "wow, I wish I had been that guy, what a break!"
True.
However a good rule of thumb is that if you cant understand the EULA, dont agree to it. I mean would you sign somthing you didn't understand?
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
I think you are missing the point. The point they are making here us that even a cursory overview of the EULA will tell you if an application is spyware or not. Or if you will be rendered legally sterilizeable if you install this software.
Think of Rumplestiltskin, without the princess even knowing what her end of the deal is.
You say you want a revolution....
So this is the latest variant of the old fable (big boulder in the middle of the road, everyone walks around it, the chap who finally pushes it aside finds the treasure underneath). But really - nice as the story is, is it going to make any change to how people treat an EULA? I think not.
People will still not read an EULA because
(a) They know thay not every EULA has a $1000 check buried in it
(b) They still won't understand the real point to reading the EULA - which is understanding exactly what the software claims it will do on your computer.
Unless they get (b), there really is no reason to read an EULA.
I think the point they're making is that people don't read EULA's and in terms of research, the $1K prize was worth it for the PC Pitstop people to demonstrate that they could pretty much do anything they liked and have the user agreeing to all conditions as a precondition to use. The only real outs for the end user are 1) proving the eventual end user agreed (rather than it was all pre-installed stuff) 2) that EULA's hold any real legal weight, which some haven't.
Think of Rumplestiltskin, without the princess even knowing what her end of the deal is.
And yet the princess was pretty venal, expecting to take advantage of the little dude. Ain't no saints in that story.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
The goal of this was to prove that one should read all EULAs
This is not a goal I want to be moving towards.
I mean, I can go to home depot and buy a nail gun and a welding torch without having to read, parse, and agree to any complex and lengthy legal agreement. Why should I have to do this to buy and use software?
why can't we have standard comercial agreements?
Right, and those are called laws. Most of an EULA is already codified in various laws, and everything else is asking you to give up your rights.
If I buy a telephone at WalMart I don't have to sign an EULA. If I buy a softphone at WalMart they expect me to agree to an EULA. What's the difference?
If I buy a car, it comes with software in it, but they don't expect me to sign an EULA.
As far as I can tell, an EULA is saying that Chewbacca lives on Endor.
My God, it's Full of Source!
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