Don't Like EULAs? Get Your Cat To Agree To Them

An anonymous reader writes "Anne Loucks built a device which, when her cat steps on it, can click the 'I Agree' button of a EULA. Who knows what the lawyers will make of this sort of madness. Can a cat make a legal agreement? Does it need to be of legal age? She lures the cat onto the device, and the cat steps on it of its own free will. Anyway, folks who hate EULAs now have another tool to make the lawyers freak out."

Comments

Retarded

[sexconker]

What the fuck is this shit? Seriously.

Re:Retarded

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, actually- it points out the absurdity of a contract without a signature.

A contract doesn't need a signature, dumbass. It's just a convenient way to prove you agreed to the terms. An EULA does exactly the same thing.

Re:Retarded

[WNight]

I did. I was told Peak vs MAI was an example of EULAs being upheld. And it thoroughly is not. Anyone who could say that isn't capable of reading at a high-school level. The case was closer to testing automatic acceptance of contract changes similar to how Visa operates than it was to testing hidden contracts.

There's a Gateway case that takes the EULA for granted, but which doesn't seem to actually provide any support for that view.

Can YOU, presumably the lawyer (student?), post a reference to a case that you claim is both valid precedent AND actually supports the idea that a EULA is equivalent to a real contract.

Regardless, it's clear to anyone WITHOUT a legal degree that a EULA isn't a valid contract. You may think otherwise but you probably also think the emperor is beautifully dressed. Even if a judge were to clearly state "EULAs are dandy contracts" that wouldn't change that he'd be wrong. Maybe wrong with the power to sentence you to jail, but that's just like GW Bush - dangerously wrong.

Contracts are already defined as things that require agreement and a meeting of minds. You can't have that in a hidden post-sale contract so you can't have a contract...

Re:Retarded

[Mozk]

IMHO the thieves forfeit their right to life when they knowingly invade a private home with the intent to steal.

That's bullshit. How do the string and shotgun know that I have an intent to steal?

One can legally trespass on property to rescue somebody. One can also legally trespass on property to call emergency services. Perhaps this "thief" were doing one of those? You wouldn't know since he is dead.

Booby-trapping your house is not legal, nor is killing trespassers, and neither of them should be. A thief locking himself in a safe without your knowledge is different from a thief being shot dead from a shotgun set to automatically kill anybody who enters your home.

Pants?

[Kuroji]

Funny, this doesn't LOOK like Idle...

Re:Sure, *this* will be the final straw

[Hatta]

Does the EULA offer you any new rights beyond what copyright already allows you to do?

Generally using software involves making a copy, even if only to ram. The Blizzard vs Bnetd case established that without a EULA specifically authorizing one to make that copy, it is illegal.

Re:Call me crazy

[funkatron]

2 quotes

my father, who is a lawyer

I'm not familiar with the law