this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2026
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If we don't read and understand EULAs, Terms of Service, and Privacy Policies, we might help the goverment kill people.
it's somehow legal to make a 20 page contract for a digital service or game that states it can be updated at anytime somewhere in it and because you are using it you agree to the terms and opt-in to any updated terms.
There is no government watchdog to protect consumers from this and if there were it only takes one rogue unconstitutional action for it to be dismantled and probably never get challenged in the legal system. The closest we have are advocacy groups like the EFF and they depend on people reading, using critical thinking, and giving a fuck.
When the devs collaborate with the government and military or spread propaganda, games are political, all aspect of life is. I think it always was. playing a game can now mean children get bombed. I think the sooner we come to these realizations the better.
Data can be retained and used retroactively in anyway the corporations that owns the data seem fit. That apparently means also selling that data to military contractors or using it to train models used for the military.
Did anyone guess that a pokemon game could be used to kill? I wonder how much blood money nintendo/pokemon company made off this?
This is not enshittification, but weaponization, and we all need to pay attention because this will not be the last time it happens.
EULAs are part of the reason I almost exclusively use FOSS or just spin my own software (if time permitting).
The first time I encountered one was as a small child (like 5 or 6) when I was trying to install some game. The EULA came up, and I started reading it. Of course, I only understood a fraction of the legalese, but seeing some clauses that seemed to a child supremely unfair, caused me to hit "Do Not Agree." Who would agree to such non-sense without having a full understanding or seeing crazy stipulations? The window closed, and I couldn't understand why, so I asked my parents. They said that although you should read and understand any agreement, EULAs were different because if you don't agree, then you can't use the software.
It's crazy to me that even as a kid, I could see how one-sided EULAs were. These companies aren't even hiding their malicious intent, and we as a society have just decided to go along with it. I'm part of the problem, too (much as I try not to be). There have certainly been times that I hit accept even knowing that the EULA was taking advantage of me in some way, but I needed to use the software.
Anyway, there's not much of a point of writing all this. Companies' EULAs screw us over, and there is little we can really do about it, especially if the software is necessary in some way.