The Proliferation of Linux

As noted on this site, and many others, the Google Chrome EULA is nothing short of preposterous. Among other things it gives Google a “perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and nonexclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, [Google’s products, software, services and web sites.]”

Now Ars Technica tells us that Senior Product Counsel for Google Chrome, Rebecca Ward has commented on the controversial EULA. She told Ars Technica:

[Google] tries to reuse these licenses as much as possible, “in order to keep things simple for our users.” Ward admits that sometimes “this means that the legal terms for a specific product may include terms that don’t apply well to the use of that product” and says that Google is “working quickly to remove language from Section 11 of the current Google Chrome terms of service. This change will apply retroactively to all users who have downloaded Google Chrome.”

Ars Technica also notes that the EULA, as it stands, is unenforcable due to the BSD license under which Google Chrome is published.

Users could simply download the source code, compile it themselves, and use it without having to agree to Google’s EULA. The terms of the BSD license under which the source code is distributed are highly permissive and impose virtually no conditions or requirements on end users.

Ars Technica