iTunes and Pinnacle users: Guess what you agreed to
When installing software, most of us click “Accept” when presented with the End-User License Agreement (EULA).
But Aaron McKenna over at TG Daily started reading them and found some interesting clauses.
For example, if you use Apple’s iTunes, you have to not only agree to the EULA, but also any changes Apple makes from here to eternity:
Apple reserves the right, at any time and from time to time, to update, revise, supplement, and otherwise modify this Agreement and to impose new or additional rules, policies, terms, or conditions on your use of the Service. Such updates, revisions, supplements, modifications, and additional rules, policies, terms, and conditions (collectively referred to in this Agreement as “Additional Terms”) will be effective immediately and incorporated into this Agreement. Your continued use of the iTunes Music Store following will be deemed to constitute your acceptance of any and all such Additional Terms. All Additional Terms are hereby incorporated into this Agreement by this reference.
So Apple can change the agreement to read, “You must send $100 to Apple every month or we can wipe your hard drive” and — guess what? — you’ve already agreed to it!
And if you use Pinnacle Studio 9 (one of the more popular consumer-level video-editing packages, you agree to let Pinnacle “and it’s licensors” (!) install other “security-related” software on your computer. Of course, we all know that you can do just about anything in the name of “security.”
Further, the software Pinnacle installs might prevent the software you originally purchased from running:
You acknowledge and agree that in order to protect the integrity of certain third party content, Pinnacle and/or its licensors may provide for Software security related updates that will be automatically downloaded and installed on your computer. Such security related updates may impair the Software (and any other software on your computer which specifically depends on the Software) including disabling your ability to copy and/or play ’secure’ content, i.e. content protected by digital rights management.
It turns out that courts often rule against companies that try to enforce the, um, unusal parts of their EULA’s. But still — the idea that they would even try to sneak these things by you….
Jeff says:
[Disclaimer: I'm a professed Mac fan and a professional contract negotiator.]
The truth is that MOST EULA’s contain some sort of similar provision as you find in the iTunes EULA. This isn’t unique to Apple. If you want proof, check out the WinXP EULA (systemroot/system32/eula.txt) for a few interesting items: Section 1: You can only use the product on a computer with up to 2 processors (which isn’t an issue for most of us, but could be for some)and you must activate the product. Section 7: If you use the machine for internet gaming, you give MS additional rights to your data. Section 7: MS might (at their discretion) enforce additional DRM standards “if requested” by content providers.
All in all, MOST EULAs are bad for the consumer. Apple’s aren’t any different.
But what are you going to do? Not use the software? The truth is that the reason people accept the EULAs is that they want the product (the assumption is that the value of the product is worth the risk of a bad EULA).
This is why most corporations negotiate the license… and those that don’t tend to suffer.