OK, by now you’ve probably clicked through several hundred EULA (End User License Agreement) “I Agree” buttons and still don’t know what you’ve committed to. I even get annoyed when the “I agree” button won’t display immediately and I have to move the scroll button…and don’t you hate it when the “I Agree” button isn’t the default focus? Well, I’m not going to change my behavior with these licenses but I have found a freeware tool (they also offer a $19.00 per year service) that helps you figure out whether the stuff you didn’t read is significant or not:
———from JavaCool website:
EULAlyzer can analyze license agreements in seconds, and provide a detailed listing of potentially interesting words and phrases. Discover if the software you’re about to install displays pop-up ads, transmits personally identifiable information, uses unique identifiers to track you, or much much more.
The Benefits
- Discover potentially hidden behavior about the software you’re going to install
- Pick up on things you missed when reading license agreements
- Keep a saved database of the license agreements you view
- Instant results – super-fast analysis in just a second
And with additional features like the EULA Research Center, which optionally allows users to anonymously submit license agreements they scan to help us to further improve the program, everyone can be a part of the effort to make something that used to be so tedious, so easy.
———end of JavaCool text
Windows only, I’m afraid…but isn’t it appropriate to use a Microsoft platform to study EULA agreements? I wonder if someone might pursue grant funding to develop a tool like this that focuses on licensing agreements between libraries and e-resource vendors? A comparative database of those licenses would be really interesting and a boon to negotiations. Of course, those documents are probably covered by non-disclosure statements in the agreements themselves…
Here’s a screen capture of Eulalyzer in action (I fed it the EULA agreement that accompanies Microsoft’s Media Player):
