Have you read your EULA?

I am a big proponent of knowing what you agree to, and even then I do not read all the End User Licence Agreements (EULA) that I agree to (What is a EULA?).   Recently I stumbled across an article in Wired with excerpts / examples  from some current EULA's .  

Dear parents or legal guardians of ___________

As you may be aware, your daughter is one of ______ children in your neighborhood who recently applied for a jointly operated StreetApp® of the category “Lemonade Stand.”

As the owner / operator of the street on which you live, and on which this proposed app would operate, StreetBook is required by law to obtain parental consent. By clicking on the “yes” box at the bottom of this window, you acknowledge you are __________’s parent or legal guardian, and also agree to the following conditions:

1. A percentage of up to 30% of revenues will be kept by StreetBook.

[This clause reflects the revenue model established in app stores.]

2. You will submit lemonade recipes, your stand design, signage, and the clothing you will wear to StreetBook for approval. StreetBook can remove your stand at any time for noncompliance with our approval process.

[This provision is also inspired by the practices of app stores.]

3. All commerce, not limited to lemonade purchases, will be conducted through StreetBook. Customers must have StreetBook accounts even if they live on a street owned and operated by a StreetBook competitor. StreetBook will place a hold on all moneys in order to collect interest, and might place a longer hold if any party makes claims of fraud or activities that violate this agreement or any other residential use agreement.

[This provision is inspired by the business models of online payment services.]

4. A $100 annual fee must be paid to be a lemonade stand developer.

[This is again an example of following in the successful footsteps of app stores.]

Here is more detail, 

This EULA Will Make You Rethink Every App and Online Service You Use

Next time you sign up for a service, take a look at the End User Licence Agreement.

Is it a dangerous website?

One question that I am frequently asked is, "Is this website safe?"   Determining the safety of a website is a challenge, the site functions might be safe, but the content inside might be suspect or dangerous. There is not one single way to determine if a website is safe, but I have found a site that can help.

http://zulu.zscaler.com/

For every website that you submit, zscaler provides a risk assessment,Benign, Low, Medium, or High, based on the following factors,

- Content Checks – Inspection of page content to identify potentially malicious code in a variety of categories

- URL Checks – Inspection of the full URL to identify malicious patterns and check the URL/FQDN/TLD against third party and Zscaler block lists

- Host Checks – IP, DNS and netblock reputation checks

Here is a sample report,

 This is a good tool to help understand the risk associated with websites, but ultimately the decision to yours on weather a website is safe.