Free Republic

Even if you’ve never heard the phrase “dark patterns,” you’re almost certainly familiar with them. They’re the sneaky ways online companies trick you into agreeing to stuff you’d normally never assent to. Classic example: You encounter a prompt asking if you want to sign up for some program or service, and the box is already checked. If you don’t uncheck it — that is, if you do nothing — you’re enrolled. A bipartisan bill has been introduced in Congress that would prohibit websites and online platforms (hi, Facebook!) from employing such deliberately deceptive tactics, and would empower the Federal Trade...

This Friday's Reporters' Roundtable is on a topic that vexes us all: why are end user license agreements and terms of service so long and convoluted? To get ourselves in the mood for this show, we asked CNET fan (and Academy Award winner) Richard Dreyfuss if he'd help us out by doing a dramatic read of the Apple EULA. He said yes. So, without further ado, we present to you, Dramatic readings from the iTunes EULA by Richard Dreyfuss here.

I just got off the phone with the manufacturer of the new notebook computer I just bought, Acer, and the publisher of the operating system installed on that notebook, Microsoft. You see, since I just purchased a brand new computer with Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, I was under the impression that I should actually receive Windows Media Center Edition 2005. But it turns out that I was woefully naive about buying computers. That's an odd statement for me to make, since I am a computer professional at least eight hours per day. I support Windows for a living....

The terms of Microsoft's End User License Agreement (EULA) for its upcoming Vista operating system raises the conflict between two fundamental principles of contract law. The first, and more familiar, is that parties to a contract can generally agree to just about anything, as long as what they agree to doesn't violate the law and isn't "unconscionable". The second principle is that the law generally disfavours the remedy of "self-help". That is to say that, if there is a violation of the terms of a contract, you usually have to go to court, prove the violation, and then you are...

A Fatal Blow to Shrinkwrap Licensing? By Ed Foster, Section Columns Posted on Mon Dec 20th, 2004 at 08:02:57 AM PDT In January 2003, California resident Cathy Baker walked into her local CompUSA store to return copies of Windows XP and Norton AntiVirus she'd purchased there. When trying to install the programs, she had of course been confronted by all the obnoxious terms in the Windows and NAV End User License Agreements. Instead of clicking OK, she took them back to the store for a refund, as the EULAs said she was supposed to do if she refused to...

The dismissal of lawsuits brought against Northwest Airlines has online privacy advocates renewing calls for federal privacy legislation. In a decision dated June 6, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson ruled that seven consolidated class action lawsuits against Northwest had no merit--in part because the privacy policy posted on the airline's Web site was unenforceable unless plaintiffs claimed to have read it. The plaintiffs had contended that the airline, in giving passenger information to the government in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, violated laws and its own privacy policy. "Although Northwest had a privacy policy for...

Kat and I just received the Dell Inspiron 5100 notebook we ordered from Dell Canada. We quickly ran across problems. I pushed the power button to turn on computer. I got the Dell POST screen, then a screen from Dell (Photo): SOFTWARE LICENSES - Before using your computer, read all of the software license agreements that came with each program that you ordered. There may be several agreements to examine. To comply with the terms and conditions of the software license agreements, you must consider any CD or diskette set of Dell-installed software as BACKUP copies of the software installed...