Seriously – who ever reads that stuff?
The National Consumer Council (NCC) has found that many software end-user licence agreements (EULA) are potentially unfair and often force people into agreeing to opaque, poorly explained and hard to access conditions before allowing them to install the software.
The NCC wants software providers to make it clearer to consumers that they will have to enter into a EULA at the point of purchasing the product and wants the EULAs to be written in language that someone other than Rumpole of the Bailey can understand.
Somewhat naively perhaps, it also wants software providers not to shift the legal burden of the licence onto the consumer and for them to make sure the terms and conditions are not “unfair”.
The NCC wants the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to “examine the potentially unfair contract terms identified by NCC in this report.”
However, it added this rather limp call to action: “The OFT should give serious consideration to a market study on the fairness of terms in licence agreements.” I’m sure it will.
The report looked at 25 software products, including Microsoft Office 2007 and Norton 360, as well as a number of games.
A Microsoft spokesperson gave HEXUS.channel this statement: “Microsoft has not yet seen the detail of the NCC’s report and so we are unable to comment on the detail at this stage. However, Microsoft is committed to dealing fairly with consumers and addressing any concerns they may have and would be happy to talk to the NCC directly about its concerns.”
Full report as a PDF: Whose licence is it anyway?
