# Anyone else read TOS when installing new software? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 15, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-read-tos-when-installing-new-software/250465 "2004-06-15T14:01:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-read-tos-when-installing-new-software/250465/1 "2004-06-15T14:01:41Z")
I can’t be the only person who does this, can I? It’s amazing the number of people I’ve run into who, when helping them with their computer or installing something over the phone I recommend they read the TOS and they bitch about it. Seriously. But damn, I love reading my TOS. Hell, when I was signing up for a new email address yesterday they has 11,000 words in theirs and popped it up every two screens. And you know what, I read the damned thing. OK, I read it the first time and skimmed. But seriously, people who don’t bother to read these are asking for trouble. “Oh no, they say, it’s doesn’t matter, they’re a big company, they wouldn’t do anything to screw me.” Can’t get rid of that spyware now, can you? And you wonder why your credit card suddenly jacked up its rates. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-read-tos-when-installing-new-software/250465/2 "2004-06-15T14:15:08Z")
I read the small print when I’m signing up for a _service_, such as an email account, or web hosting, but nearly always skip over it when installing software, because: - An unscrupulous company might do something that they haven’t declared in the blurb - I have certain unviolable statutory rights - they can’t just come along and take away my firstborn. - If they actually have the power to override these rights, I’m screwed anyway, regardless of how many checkboxes I fail to click on. Spyware is a concern, but the sort of stuff I want to install doesn’t usually suffer from it and there isn’t any such thing as ‘Can’t get rid of’, or it hasn’t happened yet. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-read-tos-when-installing-new-software/250465/3 "2004-06-15T14:20:55Z")
Or, to put it a little differently; do you honestly think a crook is going to put “By clicking ‘I Understand’, you agree to let us steal your credit card details and defraud you” in the TOS? ---
**Author:** ![tygerbryght](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9a28c/32.png) [@tygerbryght](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tygerbryght)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-read-tos-when-installing-new-software/250465/4 "2004-06-15T16:15:40Z")
> [@Chairman Pow](#): > > I can’t be the only person who does this, can I? It’s amazing the number of people I’ve run into who, when helping them with their computer or installing something over the phone I recommend they read the TOS and they bitch about it. Seriously. > > But damn, I love reading my TOS. Hell, when I was signing up for a new email address yesterday they has 11,000 words in theirs and popped it up every two screens. And you know what, I read the damned thing. OK, I read it the first time and skimmed. > … I do read TOS the first time I install or accept anything by anybody. … Or at least skim over parts that look standard and carefully read the parts that very often have iffy bits in them. I don’t read quite as thoroughly on purchased software because I’ve already bought it, and probably can’t get my money back, and besides, I won’t buy something from somebody (corporation or individual) I think may have questionable ethics. OTOH, I read very carefully through everything that is offered regarding anything I purchase or sign up for online.