Do you read your EULA's?

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 04/25/2005 3:21 PM  |  Life

Vishnu K. Mahmud, Contributor, vmahmud@yahoo.com

A small controversy has been brewing for the past few weeks. A number of Internet cafes or warung internet (warnet) in Cilacap were subjects of a police investigation. Interestingly enough, the warnets were charged with not only operating computers without proper software licensing, but with also violating Microsoft's End User Licensing Agreement (EULA).

It's been said the agreement possesses a clause that stipulates Microsoft operating systems users may not rent their computers to third parties. It should be noted that this also applies to legally purchased Windows software.

EULA's are basically covenants imposed by software companies that users must submit to if they wish to utilize a program or operating system. Although this practice is now commonplace for the industry, many parties are beginning to question this.

Prior to utilizing or even installing software, users must accept a usually lengthy EULA document by clicking ""OK"". In some cases, even opening up or downloading a particular software would be construed as consent to the publisher's license agreement.

Open source advocates continuously point out the dangers proprietary software EULAs can bring. In most cases, these agreements limit the rights users may have when operating the programs.

Popular game developer Bioware once incurred the wrath of gamers when one spotted a clause that completely limited the rights of its users. When distributing a beta version of its software tool kit for the highly popular Neverwinter Nights (which allows gamers to create their own modules or modifications), the EULA stated that the game developer and publisher reserved the right to revoke the ability of an individual to make their game modules publicly available.

This is akin to prohibiting a user from distributing a word processing document over the Internet unless it has been approved by the word processor's software developer. Bioware to its credit listened to their users and updated their EULA.

Another source of consternation is that the agreement can also limit the liabilities of software publishers should anything go wrong. In other words, if your computer gets a virus or spyware due to an obvious flaw in the operating system, you cannot sue the systems developer for negligence. In some cases, vendors do not even have to offer tech support for issues outside of the EULA.

An open source advocate noted that EULAs aspire to be a contract, yet it is not. A contract between a user and software publisher should have occurred at time of purchase, with all the cards on the table. The EULA, says this supporter, is an attempt to modify that contract after the sale. And you usually cannot return opened software boxes.

The General Public License (GPL) that is used by Linux and other open source software has a more accommodating view toward users, especially for those who wish to contribute more features to the software. Then again, some open source software can be said to be ""in progress"" and it can also carry an ""at your risk"" clause.

Differing views aside, does anyone actually read their EULAs prior to clicking? Chances are, very few would pay attention to this screen before installing anything. For example, some programs would actually state that they will be monitoring your progress and selling that data. So, what are your rights?

Users who do not wish to be bonded to specific clauses within an agreement should simply seek alternative venues. For operating systems, there are a growing number of software options, such as Xandros Open Circulation Edition (www.xandros.com), Novell Linux Desktop (www.novell.com) or Sun's soon to be updated Java Desktop (www.sun.com). Each operating system has been said to be as easy to operate as Windows, making corporate migration a viable alternative.

As for the Cilacap escapade, Microsoft agreed to provide special clauses for warnets that utilize licensed Windows software, allowing them to operate legally. Interested parties can obtain a rental agreement for Indonesian Internet cafes either through the Indonesian Internet Caf Association (AWARI) or directly from the world's richest company.

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