With Until Dawn and now The Dark Pictures Anthology, Supermassive has established itself as one of the best flight designers who blur the line between cinema and fashionable video games. So much so that he approached the owners of film licenses. In other words, users are threatened with legal action when they use “unauthorized” programs to remove the Clarias product.16 Users should not use a common network diagnostic tool, the packet snoop, to find out what types of actions GAIN AdServer takes on the network, even if they want to solve a problem with their computer or network. The worst part is that the BLA actually claims to prohibit the user from “encouraging” others to use deletion programs, meaning that, according to Claria, it is even suggested to a friend that using such a program could improve their computer performance is illegal. 26 Social-Networking-Orkut.com users are obliged to accept similar terms of use from 2004. In part of these terms, it says: “By submitting, reserving or displaying material on the orkut.com service or via the orkut.com service, you automatically grant us a global, non-exclusive, non-exclusive, transferable, free, time-limiting, irrevocable right to copy, distribute, create, project and display derivative works.” See www.orkut.com/terms.aspx. Look at this Intel CLA that simply says, “You can`t redevelop, decompilize or decompilize the software.” 11 Napster users must click on a similar CLU that advises them to “modify, decompilize, decompilize, re-develop or emulate, reverse the functionality or reduce it to other readable forms, or create works derived from the software without the prior written consent of Napster or its licensees.” 12 These kinds of anti-retro-engineering clauses – which are incredibly common – aim to undermine the legality of many forms of reverse engineering13, discouraging innovation, creativity and exploration. 2. “This product is watching you.” Many products are equipped with EULAs with conditions that require users to accept automatic updates – usually, By contacting the computer or connected device with a third party without notifying the consumer, 6 Although there have been some controversies about the feasibility of these agreements, several courts have confirmed their legitimacy1. These days, EULAs are ubiquitous in software and consumer electronics — millions of people click buttons that link them to agreements they never read and that often violate federal and national laws.
These dubious “contracts” are, in theory, individual agreements between manufacturers and each of their customers.