Does anyone even bother to read those End User Licensing Agreements (EULAs) that come with games and other types of software?

Maybe you should.

ECA president Hal Halpin, in a column for GameDaily, worries that game publishers have exploited EULAs to the detriment of game consumers:

EULAs are a real and tangible problem… Quite simply, they’re out of control… these contracts have become so unwieldy that they regularly infringe on consumer rights. Many would likely be unenforceable in a court of law. Others, consumers would be shocked to find out what all of that fine print actually meant.

The reason for the EULAs existence is sound. Certainly no fair

person would expect the creator or seller to lose all of their rights in a sale. But neither should a consumer…

I propose that we form [a] working group to address that problem… It needs to be an open and inclusive process… There’s no reason to think that we couldn’t standardize the EULA and create one contract that all developers, publishers, retailers and consumers know, understand and respect. The implications would be broad and the downside negligible…

PC Magazine has more on EULA madness.

Full Disclosure Dept: The Entertainment Consumers organization is the parent company of GamePolitics.

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