Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Before Accessing This Blog, Please Read And Agree To The Following

Those user license agreements they make you agree to when you install software have become a bit of a joke. It's sort of assumed that you won't really read it, even though you usually have to click the button swearing you have read it.  And the companies don't seem to care that you don't read them.  They do urge you to carefully read it, but it's not like they give you a quiz to prove you've read it.  A few times I've seen agreements where it won't let you click the "I Agree" button until you've scrolled to the bottom of the agreement.  But that's a pretty half-hearted way of encouraging us to read it.

I don't read the agreements, but I do make a case of skimming over it.  I do this for a couple of reasons:

  • It allows me to feel morally superior to people who don't read it at all
  • I can at least ensure that they haven't snuck in something crazy like adware.

And that's actually saved me from installing something I didn't want a few times.

Today I had one of those agreements: I scanned through the first few paragraphs, but then something came up, and I had to leave the computer for a bit.  I didn't get back to it until about an hour later.  Of course, even in our heavily-surveilled society, I doubt anyone was tracking my actions.  But if they were, they would be left wondering why it took me over an hour to click the "I Agree" button. And the only two explanations would be:

  • I'm the first person ever to read the entire agreement, or
  • The agreement is so boring, I actually fell asleep while reading it.

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