Do You Ignore Your Software Security?

Sure, you, too, are ignoring your software security! That is unless you are one of the 0.1 percent of users who read the End User License Agreement (EULA, also known as software license). Otherwise, you sign contracts blindfolded because that box is full of legal mumbo-jumbo when you install a program… yes, it is a contract!

Software Security

Software security wouldn’t be an issue if all software licenses were simple agreements setting out reasonable terms of use. Unfortunately, most are lengthy texts with legal slang, leaving those few who read them bedeviled and thwarted. Some enclose words to which the ordinary user would object if he acknowledged what he agreed to. For example, to protect against cracking, many software licenses now give the software company the right to gather information about your computer and automatically send it to the software marketer. In particular, software licenses for freeware hold clauses whereby you agree to install added software you do not want, some of which are conspicuous spyware or adware. As a result, one might assume that freeware is to blame for all the bad things that have happened; however, isn’t the end-user who doesn’t read the legal material to blame?

Either way, people do not read the EULA. We are usually curious about what the new software will bring when downloading and installing software. That EULA is just one more thing to drop time on because it is generally not readable quickly; hence, it is not read at all. But indeed, the next thought that arises is: what have you agreed to when you clicked I agree?

Especially with freeware, there can be an even greater problem. Freeware is not always free. Sure, it is not free to reverse engineer, modify, or redistribute freeware, but there is also freeware disguised as adware or spyware.

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An example.

Remember from about five years ago when Gator created a storm of protest? Its GAIN Publishing End User License Agreement stated that the user automatically agreed to install the GAIN AdServer software when accepting the EULA. So, the software license allowed the company to install software that collected certain identifiable information about web surfing and computer usage. This software came immediately with the freeware and was established in the same process. In the end, this resulted in a display of all types of ads on the user’s computer.

Next, the EULA mentioned that Gator even unauthorized the use of popular uninstallers for their tools, which countless people trusted to remove this unwanted stuff from their machines. But also, users were prohibited from using devices like web monitoring programs or similar on the GAIN AdServer and its messages, thus eliminating all possible control. Such clauses no longer relate to software protection against cracking and were more than a bridge too far for many users.

So, if all is specified in the product’s software license, it can help decide what you want installed! Indeed, the software balancing at the edge of legal boundaries will try to straighten out what is not completely right. And you guessed it correctly: that is most frequently revealed in the EULA.

Lawyers.

In lawyer terms, an End User License Agreement is a legal contract between a software application author and the user. A license grants the user the right to use computer software in a specific and well-determined way. Usually, an EULA specifies the number of computers a user can use the software on, that reverse engineering, cr, lacking, or any other form of illegal piracy is prohibited, and any legal rights they are forfeiting by agreeing to the EULA. The user is usually asked to check a button to accept the EULA terms or consent by opening or simply using the shrink-wrap on the application package. The user can refuse to agree by returning the software product for a refund or clicking I do not accept when prompted to accept the EULA during an install. The software installation is usually done. For websites, the TOS (terms of service) is the legal counterpart of the End User License Agreement for software.

So far, all may seem quite normal. However, the software license is infamous for containing stealthy clauses that maintain incredible restrictions on the behavior of software users while providing the software developer or vendor with highly intrusive powers. For example, Microsoft software licenses allow the company to gather information about the user’s system and its use and provide it to other organizations. They also grant Microsoft the right to change the user’s computer without requesting permission. Don’t be mistaken by thinking this is a Microsoft-only affair; software licenses frequently have a clause allowing vendors to change users’ systems without asking or notifying the user.

Remark that adding bad things to software has mostly happened with freeware. However, lately, there seems to be a trend to shift those same bad habits towards shareware and trialware. Yes, the terms of service of some well-known companies have been under fire.

Possibilities.

One might feel that little can be done to fight a bad EULA or TOS. Well, that is not entirely true; recently, there have been cases where popular services have changed their terms of service because of the user’s version for a few too-flagrant times within them. Hence, complaining does work indeed!

An example is Facebook, which changed its TOS back to the old one after people complained that the terms of use suddenly said that Facebook kept all rights to the user’s content, even if he deleted his account. Another example is Google’s Chrome browser’s terms of service, which gave Google a non-exclusive right to display and distribute all content transmitted through the browser.

A basic idea behind the EULA is quite reasonable: to protect the vendor from software piracy. But the worry is that software licenses are constantly getting increasingly restricted. For example, Microsoft started Vista’s EULA to prohibit the installment in virtual machines, though this is what researchers and reviewers are using all the time.

Recently, the trend of including more limitations on what users can do with the software they pay for has become quite distressing. Certain license agreements now disallow users from releasing or publishing information about the software’s functioning. That prevents reviewers and software security experts from reporting their experiences with a specific piece of software. Such determinations are way past protection against illegal practices.

The solution.

It is attorney material, but you may wonder whether these licenses are legal. According to lawyers, though, most of them hold up in court, except if the text is not reasonably understandable. Another exception concerns minors, mostly liberated from the agreements made this way.

Either way, an EULA might not be lawfully enforceable, but it is of little comfort because it is being enforced on you whether you like it or not. Once the program is installed on your PC, the damage is done, and it doesn’t even matter if the signed contract is legally invalid. Already simply by using the computer, the user is confirming his part of the contract.

The primary idea behind the software license – creating a clear legal defense against illegal software piracy – has long been bypassed. Hence, only one piece of advice can be given: throw away that blindfold and read the EULA whi, which does not apply to freeware only! Well, be warned, a computer mouse click could cause much trouble.

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Alcohol scholar. Bacon fan. Internetaholic. Beer geek. Thinker. Coffee advocate. Reader. Have a strong interest in consulting about teddy bears in Nigeria. Spent 2001-2004 promoting glue in Pensacola, FL. My current pet project is testing the market for salsa in Las Vegas, NV. In 2008 I was getting to know birdhouses worldwide. Spent 2002-2008 buying and selling easy-bake-ovens in Bethesda, MD. Spent 2002-2009 marketing country music in the financial sector.