Thoughts From a Clicker
By Tiny Ruisch
If you read my column last month, you will remember that I reviewed one of my favorite and often used utility programs. EULAlyzer is a program I’ve used for many years. When you are installing new software, open the program and you will see an option to “scan new license agreement”. A new window will pop up with an icon to drag over the EULA window. The EULA will be imported and you can analyze it. You do this simply by clicking the “analyze” button. Eulalyzer then reviews the license for keywords such as tracking, advertising, third‑party, data collection, etc.
This month, I’d like to continue on the subject and tell you about a few other services that I use to help protect me from disreputable EULAs. I’m not going to go into a long diatribe about the evil things some EULA agreements do. You can do your own internet search and find EULAs where you agree to never sue the company, post bad reviews on social media, agree to any future changes, etc. I’m also not going to write about some of the funny EULAs. I’m fairly sure that Apple doesn’t actually think anyone will use iTunes to manufacture missiles.
Instead, I’m going to tell you about some other EULA services that I often use. Like Honest Abe in this Off the Mark Presidents Day Comic and most other people, I usually don’t read all agreements before installing software or agreeing to website terms of service. You can slap my wrist the next time you see me.
I’ve been getting e‑mails from Paranoid Paul for more years than I can remember. Paranoid Paul is a free service that allows you to track changes made to online documents that affect your privacy or your personal information. This includes Privacy Policies, Terms and Conditions or User Agreements. I haven’t actually been on the website for a long time. To use the service, you must submit an e‑mail address. After registering, you can pick which documents you are interested in following. Whenever there is a change, you will receive an e‑mail with a brief synopsis of what is new. The service is free.
Although a little difficult to read, SpywareGuide License Analyzer is another useful site. It is an online service. You simply copy the EULA and paste into the provided box on the website. Additionally, the site has an excellent list of definitions for EULA related terms.
There is one other link I’d like to tell you about. In February of 2008, Annalee Newitz wrote an article for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Even though it is almost twenty years old, it is still an excellent explanation of EULAs. If you’re interested in this subject, I recommend you read Dangerous Terms: A User’s Guide to EULAs.
Occasionally, I find other programs or websites that claim to do the same thing, but I have found none of them to be as useful or easy to use. Life would be so much easier if privacy policies were as clean and concise as the one on my personal website.
Keep on clicking and thanks for reading.