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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."
Hey it could be worse. It could have been bears and we all know we can trust those godless killing machines.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Just sign the EULA, pussy
Tell me about it. EULAs are retarded.
Unless they practice law
I guess I just need to invent a device so my dog can fire a gun pointed at my mother-in-law every time he licks his balls.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
That won't take you off the hook. By luring the beast onto the device and having it agree to the EULA, you're employing the it as your proxy or agent, your utensil or tool, your...um, what's the word...your cat's-paw.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
However, the cat here is just a tool for you to accept the agreement. If you set up a device to automatically agree to a license without you fully reading it, you've still manifested an intent to accept the terms
Yeah, well, what if you used Schrodinger's cat? Then you have both accepted and not accepted the terms.
This is not news! I have a mouse that has been accepting EULAs for years!
I CAN HAS LAWSUIT?
A mandatory LOLCATization of a picture in the article - LOLCAT conversion complete
Face your daemons!
Do they have your signature, do they have a spoken contract, do they even have any communication of acceptance? No, but they don't seem think a judge will require any evidence of agreement before holding you to page after page of "boilerplate" mixed with "gotcha" legalese.
Did they already take your money and give you your product before even showing you a EULA? Yes, but they don't seem think a judge will care about "first sale" doctrine when deciding how valid that EULA is.
Does the EULA offer you any new rights beyond what copyright already allows you to do? Does it offer anything of value in exchange for what they claim you're voluntarily giving away? Usually no, but they don't think judges will bother worrying about "consideration" anyway.
Are they trying to disable the advertised features of their product until and unless you agree to additional terms made after the sale? Yes, but they seem confident that a judge won't invalidate terms agreed to under duress.
And up until now, legal challenges looked like they could go either way. But what if we used a cat? That's foolproof! Surely if a cat clicked the button, no judge would possibly enforce that EULA! That's been clear since Plessy v. Whiskers! Case dismissed!
FLAWLESS VICTORY
Get a bottle of tequila. Drink at least a quarter of the bottle. Take pictures or a BAC test or get witnesses or something so you can later prove you were hammered. Click "I agree." You can't be bound by a contract you sign while inebriated, so you didn't really agree. Much cheaper than cats in the long run; no need to worry about feeding and cleaning litter boxes and cuddling and such. Plus getting drunk is fun!
However, the cat here is just a tool for you to accept the agreement. If you set up a device to automatically agree to a license without you fully reading it, you've still manifested an intent to accept the terms
Yeah, well, what if you used Schrodinger's cat? Then you have both accepted and not accepted the terms.
The BSA would just sue you twice, using the "signed it" theory in one case and the "didn't sign it" theory in the other.
They're total quantum assholes!
Only slightly better legal advice than "Don't like your girlfriend? Tie the knife to a dachshund and call it an animal attack."
"Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is living in a state of sin." -- John von Neumann
Your decision will collapse to 'accepted' once it has been observed in a court of law.
I lured the cat into hitting cancel, but he missed! What now!!?
-Dan
i'm in ur EULA remoovin' ur liability
You can fool some of the people all of the time
Occasionally? Continuous is easier to find. Keep it in a drawer. When the EULA comes up, decide that it is a good time to try fixing that keyboard. First thing you should do is plug it in to make sure it's symptoms haven't changed...
You can always get drunk...most contracts aren't enforceable if one party is incapacitated.
You mean you aren't already drunk before you get there? Ur doin' it wrong.
So, I should get my cat drunk before getting it to click on the EULA?
It might get me out of the EULA, but then PETA will be all over my ass.
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!