AWS Terms of Service Offer a Break If Zombie Apocalypse Occurs (windowsitpro.com)

v3rgEz writes: Running at over 50 sections and hundreds of subsections, Amazon AWS's terms of service are somewhat exhaustive, but there's one paragraph that might catch your eye. As of yesterday's update, Amazon has added a section that nullifies restrictions on the use of their Lumberyard game platform in the event of a zombie outbreak. Pre-apocalypse, the terms of service prohibit the use of the engine to manage life-or-death situations, but being able to spin up a zombie firefight simulator at a moment's notice might come in handy. You do have to wonder, though: Does Jeff Bezos know something we don't? Lawyers typically don't approve of Easter Eggs in legal documents.

Comments

Is this potentially a "real" legal definition?

[the_skywise]

Yeah yeah - Not like an actual zombie apocalypse is actually going to happen, but...

Governments have been running scenarios and "wargames" on "zombie apocalypse" scenarios, disaster type settings and the like. Like "Acts of God" in the old vernacular where random catastrophic events weren't covered has "zombie apocalypse" become an actual quasi-legal term to replace it?

Re:Is this potentially a "real" legal definition?

[Darinbob]

How does Zika fit into this? It doesn't affect behavior. It also doesn't spread very effectively compared to something like the flu.

Re:Is this potentially a "real" legal definition?

[alvinrod]

Zika may not be responsible for the microcephaly cases in Brazil. Colombia is reporting no occurrences or indications of problems despite a large number of pregnant women being diagnosed with the Zika virus. I don't know if it's a relief that Zika may not be as bad as feared or if we should be more worried that we don't know what was responsible for the problems in Brazil.

I don't think we have enough data on the Zika virus yet to fully understand what's going on or if it's just one particular strain that is causing these problems.

What about the Spanish inquisition?

[rednip]

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

See! Some people DO read ToS/EULAs

[BitwiseX]

I once put the following into a ToS on our branded Internet Explorer CDs for a dialup ISP I worked at:

By accepting this agreement you agree to pay $1,000,000 US Dollars. Please submit payment in full immediately. If you read this, please email me at and let me know you actually read this. You are one in a million.

Never saw a dollar nor an email. :(

Re:See! Some people DO read ToS/EULAs

[SeaFox]

By accepting this agreement you agree to pay $1,000,000 US Dollars. Please submit payment in full immediately. If you read this, please email me at and let me know you actually read this. You are one in a million.

Never saw a dollar nor an email. :(

Maybe they were smart enough to realize emailing you to tell you they saw that line would identify them for action for failure to pay.

Heh Heh

[rmdingler]

This smells like the kind of thing you might leave behind if you were departing Amazon, perhaps not on the best of terms.

It's also possible the employee responsible for the Zombie Inclusion was so bored to tears writing these terms of service he decided to include a gaffe just to see if anyone noticed.

What's up with lawyers lately?

[drew_kime]

First the guy from NewEgg with the best response to a patent troll ever, now this. It's almost like they're becoming ... human.

Legally speaking, this would be...

[mark-t]

... covered under "force majeure".

Which generally nullifies any contract anyways, at least for the duration of the incident.

Re:Enough Zombies

[Anonymous Coward]

Your anger about what other people like is sadder and lamer.

Re:In a war setting the US GOV can take what it ne

[Dahamma]

You are assuming the US Government outlasts Amazon...