Ok. I’m sure that 99.9% of the public, like me, never reads EULAs. Is there a global body that certifies what is in them, so we can just know this is Standard EULA Number 1, or this is a Number 2 which includes the following restriction or benefit that makes it unlike Number 1, etc.?
I’m thinking something along the lines of some of the “common rights copyright” type language you see out there which is systematized, to some degree.
If there is no such thing, what should I, at a minimum, look out for in a EULA? Especialy if it’s freeware from some third party company?
I’d imagine that there is no standardization. Each one is an original work, just like every apartment lease is original. Is there any standardization among all the forms we sign when we buy a car?
As for what to look for, the only thing I look for is to see if they plan to install unasked-for software. Beyond that, I dunno.
I remember seeing software that actually read the EULA for you and looked for standard tricks like automatic renewal, phoning home and selling your personal information to Nigerians.
I don’t remember where I saw it or what search terms you’d use to locate it. I’m guessing that it was a Firefox add-on. Sounded useful but I already have enough extra software to manage.
I actually was just thinking this about this sort of thing. If some company would do like the Creative Commons licenses and come up with a bunch of standard licenses, companies could make non-lawyer readable EULAs pretty easily. Each standard license would include a easy-to-read summary. You read the full version once to make sure the summary is accurate, and you never need to do it again.
The licenses would also allow for explicit modifications, but, while using complex language, would be much shorter and easier to digest. It’s all part of my dream of a perfect OS.
There’s the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Initiative, which certify software licences as Free Software and Open Source Software, respectively. For example, if a particular licence appears on the FSF’s list of Free Software licences, you can be assured of certain basic freedoms that most EULAs restrict or take away. The OSI has a similar mandate but somewhat different philosophy; most Open Source licences are Free Software licences, and vice versa.
If you care about freedom of speech, freedom to learn, and freedom to share, then you should check the the EULA permits you to use, study, modify, and redistribute the software (including modified copies) without further restriction.
You’re usually going to find this kind of thing only some kind of freeware arrangement. It will be rare for commercial software to allow you to modify and redistribute.
Afraid this is largely incorrect. In my experience, apartment leases from the same complex are often standardized forms, with fill in the blank space for names, dates, etc.
Also I know that at least some of the documents involved in buying a car are standardized forms–truth in lending disclosures, contract for sale, title/registration, etc.
What possible incentive could there be for a company to do this?
They wrote the EULA in the first place, and made it lengthy, complex, and non-lawyer unreadable deliberately – they want it that way, to trick the user into giving away some of their rights. Why would they want to change this?
Several organizations have already come up with a bunch of standard EULAs, many of them in very plain language and/or with easy-to-read summaries. You’ve already identified one: the Creative Commons. Another one, the Free Software Foundation, I’ve already mentioned. These licences are in widespread use in both gratis and commercial software.