UK Report Slams EULAs

draevil writes "Britain's National Consumer Council has completed an investigation into the practice of software End User License Agreements(EULAs) with the conclusion that many consumers are signing away their legal rights and agreeing to unfair terms, which they could never have scrutinized before purchase. The report also acknowledges that even if the EULA were available prior to purchase, it would be unreasonable to expect an average consumer to understand the terms to which they were agreeing. Here are the full report (PDF) and a summary." The NCC recommends that the European Commission bring softwre licenses under the same consumer protections that apply to other products in the EU.

Comments

Re:I am not handsome enough to be a lawyer

[Sorthum]

And one more that you neglected:

The option to back out. By the time you have the EULA on your screen, you've already paid for the software. "Hell no" isn't a viable option; have you ever tried to return open software to a retail store?

Re:I am not handsome enough to be a lawyer

[milsoRgen]

have you ever tried to return open software to a retail store? Indeed, returning software is just not an option. I was just having this discussion with my girl friend about my BitTorrent usage, how I need to try before I buy games. That's simply not an option (trying) for many games, and even games that have demos available are quite often based on beta code. But anyways, why should I be penalized when everything on the box points to a runnable program, only to find out the requirements are a little more liberal than I would expect. It's the same deal with the EULAs, once cash money has been paid and you start reading those things... What do you do, take the hit? That appears to be the only option.

It needs to be pointed out, piracy is the stated reason I cannot return opened software. Yet not being able to return opened software is driving me to piracy...