It Pays To Read License Agreements (7 Years Later)

[KynloStephen66515]

Back in 2005, one lucky PC Pitstop customer won $1,000 by simply reading our End-User License Agreement (EULA) We temporarily added a clause to our EULA offering money to anyone who contacted us, but it took five months and more than 3,000 sales before the first person – dropped us a line asking about the clause.

7 years later — our experiment continues to garner attention in articles detailing the dangers of unread EULAs.

Read More: http://techtalk.pcpitstop.com/2012/06/12/it-pays-to-read-license-agreements-7-years-later/?eula-7yearslater=

[barney]

Hm-m-m ... I've seen that discussion a few different places.  The automatic assumption is that if no one applied for the largess, no one read the EULA.  That is a false assumption.  I've run across a few of those in the past.  Not all monetary, but promising some supposedly tempting reward if ya responded.  It was never worth my time to respond.

Hey, you'll give me a thousand bucks if I tell you I read your EULA?  Yeah.  Right!  I believe that, I really do  .  And I'm gonna jump right on it.  As soon as I have time.  Maybe next decade.

Gambling on human greed is supposed to be a safe bet, but experience dictates that we're not all as greedy as the gamblers would, or would have us, believe.  Between a [personally observed] diminution of that greed level, an ignored degree of disbelief, and a convenience/inconvenience/time element, I cannot buy this particular methodology as a valid test.  Too many unknown - unknowable, in fact - variables.  The assumptions made are statistically unwarranted based upon the test performed.  All it's good for is an argument in a bar somewhere  .

[TaoPhoenix]

I dunno, if it flatly said "read this and earn $1000" I'd do it. I'm the kind of guy who reads the introductions to books and sometimes doesn't even read the book.

One problem is that there are a lot of materials out there that read "for a chance to win $1000", and THAT is not worth the time.

[Cloq]

One problem is that there are a lot of materials out there that read "for a chance to win $1000", and THAT is not worth the time.

*ahem* May I interest you with an email that may contain the winning number for the UK lottery for 10,000,000 Euro!? Surely the email would be worth the time... you may already be a winner!