Since we're always on the lookout for nasty EULA terms, we should note a couple that spyware expert Ben Edelman discovered in his recent analysis of the Claria license agreement. Claria -- also known as Gator, the GAIN Network and the "don't call us spyware, we're adware" folks -- puts some interesting restrictions on its end used ... I mean, end users.
In his Nov. 29th report, Edelman says the Claria EULA as presented by the current Kazaa installer is a whopping 5,936 words. Nearly 3,000 words in, the license states that:
"You agree that you will not use, or encourage others to use, any unauthorized means for the removal of the GAIN AdServer, or any GAIN-Supported Software from a computer."
It turns out that the only authorized means for removing any of the Gator-related software is through the Windows Add/Remove Programs menu. As Edelman points out, what this means is that Claria is trying to make it a violation of their license to use spyware detection programs like Ad-Aware, SpyBot and Web Sweeper to remove the Gator software and associated applications. "So long as consumers are (supposedly) choosing to run Gator software, Gator vigorously defends user choice." Edelman writes. "But when a consumer chooses to use third-party software to remove Gator, Gator instead specifically prohibits that choice."
A little further on in the EULA is a term that appears aimed at Edelman himself as well as other spyware researchers. It reads:
"Any use of a packet sniffer or other device to intercept or access communications between GP and the GAIN AdServer is strictly prohibited."
Edelman and other researchers have used packet sniffers to study the behavior of the Gator software in the past, so this term could be an effort by Claria to stifle its critics. "Gator might be pleased to stop users and researchers from knowing the personal information Gator transmits, tracking the prevalence of Gator's software, finding Gator's security holes, and analyzing what ads Gator shows where," Edelman writes. "But should Gator be able to achieve these results merely by adding an extra sentence to its license agreement?"
Of course, these terms are made all the worse by the fact that most of Claria's "customers" don't even realize they have the software until they find themselves drowning in pop-up ads. Over-reaching EULA terms are bad enough when they come from companies that you are intentionally doing business with. And to forbid users to use other software or to look at the data being transmitted by their own computers is something no company should be allowed to do, much less one that clearly deserves the closest scrutiny.
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11:13:35 PM 
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