The Small Print Project                            

A collaborative document of experiences with agreements in the digital age.

October 24, 2006

Yahoo! Toolbar — Do Not Press the Red Button

Posted to EULAs by Andy Sternberg

adm submitted:

URL of EULA
Product: Yahoo Toolbar
URLProduct: http://toolbar.yahoo.com
Lowpoints: Not really freaked out, and not sure if this is the point of your site, but I read this one the other day and thought it was interesting [emph. added]:

(iv) you may not use the Yahoo! Software to operate nuclear facilities, life support or other mission critical application where human life or property may be at stake. You understand that the Yahoo! Software is not designed for such purposes and that its failure in such cases could lead to death, personal injury, or severe property or environmental damage for which yahoo! is not responsible;

another funny, specific bit:

i. disrupt the normal flow of dialogue, cause a screen to “scroll” faster than other users of the Service are able to type, or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users’ ability to engage in real time exchanges;

and:

A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF USERS MAY EXPERIENCE EPILEPTIC SEIZURES WHEN EXPOSED TO CERTAIN LIGHT PATTERNS OR BACKGROUNDS ON A COMPUTER SCREEN OR WHILE USING THE SERVICE. CERTAIN CONDITIONS MAY INDUCE PREVIOUSLY UNDETECTED EPILEPTIC SYMPTOMS EVEN IN USERS WHO HAVE NO HISTORY OF PRIOR SEIZURES OR EPILEPSY. IF YOU, OR ANYONE IN YOUR FAMILY, HAVE AN EPILEPTIC CONDITION, CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN PRIOR TO USING THE SERVICE. IMMEDIATELY DISCONTINUE USE OF THE SERVICE AND CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN IF YOU EXPERIENCE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING SYMPTOMS WHILE USING THE SERVICE — DIZZINESS, ALTERED VISION, EYE OR MUSCLE TWITCHES, LOSS OF AWARENESS, DISORIENTATION, ANY INVOLUNTARY MOVEMENT, OR CONVULSIONS.

[Sorry if that URL for the EULA doesn't work...I couldn't find a direct link to this EULA online, but if you start the install process, it will show it to you.]

Readers: please comment and feel free to contribute your own tale of EULA/waiver/consent astonishment via email or this form.

* Comments(5)

  • http://toolbar.yahoo.com Duke

    Thanks for reading!

    Here’s our Toolbar EULA online:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/cpn/eula/

    /duke
    Yahoo! Toolbar Team

  • RK

    I think Mac OS X has a similar statement to make sure they don’t get sued if a mac causes a nuclear facility to malfunction.

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JesseW Jesse Weinstein

    Yes, Apple’s standard license (this is copied from the latest iTunes update) does contain a don’t-use-this-in-power-plants clause: “THE APPLE SOFTWARE IS NOT INTENDED FOR USE IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS, LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES OR OTHER EQUIPMENT IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF THE APPLE SOFTWARE COULD LEAD TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY, OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.” The revision of this is: “EA0367 Rev 9/7/06″. I’ll post any other “interesting” bits from the Apple license later.

  • http://here.com papaw hobert

    i like to press buttons,
    that say:
    “do not press this button”

  • http://www.onlinelouisvuittonstore.com/ louis vuitton online

    So thanks for you page and welcome to my louisvuitton handbags online store!  There will be good discount in order to back the support of majority of customers.