Our advice

• Even if you accept the licence agreement, you have one final line of defence in your favour if you are purchasing from a local supplier: you aren't waiving the statutory rights that you're entitled to as a consumer under New Zealand law.
• Proving that those rights overrule EULA provisions could be difficult, however. You may need specific legal advice on a case-by-case basis.
• If you're in doubt about the possible ramifications of anything contained in a licence agreement, contact the Commerce Commission or your local Citizens Advice Bureau.
• Wherever possible try a free trial version of the software first so you can find out if it will suit you before you buy. Note: you may still have to agree to a EULA.

Analyse that EULA

If you can't make head nor tail out of a EULA, or just want a quick and easy way to help detect possible major problems, try EULAlyzer. This program lets you capture the text of a licence agreement before installing the software, then analyses it and assigns a risk rating and singles out what it calls "words of interest" for further scrutiny.

The higher the risk rating and the more words of interest, the more you might rethink installing the software, at least until you've read the licence agreement thoroughly.

The personal version is free but requires that you manually get EULAlyzer to check the licence agreement in question. The 'pro' version isn't free but does this automatically each time a program is being installed. Download it from www.javacoolsoftware.com.

This report was first published by the Australian Consumers' Association, CHOICE.

More information

• Commerce Commission
• Scamwatch