EULA What is it?

Anyone and everyone that has ever used the computer and accessed the internet knows what EULA is or at least has seen it or have had to agree to it or by pass it. EULA is the "end users license agreement" also known as "click wrap contracts. How many of you ever read the full license agreement before you click yes to download? I know I sure have at most skimmed through the content to get the jest of it. You can't sign up for many accounts or downloads without agreeing to some kind of agreement.

Before I read an article in my new PC Magazine by Dan Costa "Jumping Through EULA Hoops" I never really thought to much about it. He brings up really great info that we just are not aware of for the most part. All we know is that we want that software downloaded or we want that Yahoo email account and so on. Dan's article is on page 68 of the PC Magazine Special 25th Anniversary Double Issue January 2008.

If you get the chance you should read the article because as Dan states there is no discussion between the user and the vendor, you click yes to use the software on the vendor's terms or look elsewhere. However he also stated that earlier this year a California appeals court struck down a mandatory arbitration clause in T- Mobile's EULA because the court decided that because the agreement was written by superior bargaining strength and the customer was given no ability to negotiate just a simple yes or no choice. The court said the agreement was unconscionable.

I say if we are not aware then we are taken advantage of our ignorance. Ok who wants to read all of the legal rhetoric anyway. Well Dan also said that there is now something we can do to help us read and understand the EULA's that we are agreeing to. It was called the EULA Analyzer.

The EULAlyzer can analyze license agreements in seconds, and provide a detailed listing of potentially interesting words and phrases. Discover if the software you're about to install, displays pop up ads, personally identifiable information, uses unique identifiers to track you, or much much more.

The EULAlzer can discover potentially hidden behavior about the software you're going to install and pick up on things you missed if you did read the license agreement. You can also keep a saved database of the license agreements to view. Instant results, super fast analysis in just seconds.

Plus...
EULA Research Center, which optionally allows users to anonymously submit license agreements they scan to help us to further improve the program, everyone can be a part of the effort to make something that used to be so tedious, so easy.

So if you are interested in knowing more about the EULA analyzer you can check it out on Major Geeks . com they have a free copy you can download. I certainly plan on trying this out myself.