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Comment by bigbacaloa | Hacker News Reader

The whole idea of EULA needs to be scrapped. As currently configured they will never be fair to consumers. They institutionalize unethical, bad faith agreements.

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The problem is that clauses unfair or suprising to the consumer are not considered invalid.

under US law anyway; some EULAs are unenforcable under EU laws.

> For a contract to be treated as a contract of adhesion, it must be presented on a standard form on a "take it or leave it" basis, and give one party no ability to negotiate because of their unequal bargaining position. The special scrutiny given to contracts of adhesion can be performed in a number of ways:

> If the term was outside of the reasonable expectations of the person who did not write the contract, and if the parties were contracting on an unequal basis, then it will not be enforceable. The reasonable expectation is assessed objectively, looking at the prominence of the term, the purpose of the term and the circumstances surrounding acceptance of the contract.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_form_contract#Contrac...

Thats one side of the argument. However they are necessary for companies to function, and have some protections from fraudsters, con artists, hackers, litigious opportunitists, etc

now you may argue that there are not freq enough instances of these frauds to require EULAs. anticipate that the counterargument could be that they aren't BECAUSE of the presence of EULAs

How does an EULA defend against fraudsters, con artists, and hackers?

ULAS didn't exist 50 years ago and we survives somehow!

Now my phone, TV, and my floorlamp has a EULA. Industry thatsl can't function without EULA are the ones defrauding consumers, they should burn down to the ground.

You bought your phone, TV, and floorlamp from companies that should burn down to the ground?

Is arson (metaphorical, I hope) really the best option here?

definately the floorlamp one, iylt refuses to connect to the app because it's in a different country, the lamp is country-locked, its telling me what do to, and none of this was in the original contract of sale.

Also arson is illegal. I am thinking more like witch-burning

Witch-burning is, if anything, more illegal.

(That lamp is messed up tho. I feel ya.)

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