End User License Agreements in Plain Language

All apps and services have End User License Agreements (EULAs). A few are written in concise, friendly language separated into easily-navigated categories. Many run several pages in length and use arcane legal language. Add to that they are frequently updated, and it is no wonder that even those of us who endeavour to read the EULAs give up and mindlessly click the “Agree” button.

The AML has worked with two sets of students to produce an ongoing series of EULAs in Plain Language. First, we identified the most-used media apps or services. Then, we asked volunteer law students (Pro-Bono Students of Canada) to identify and translate EULA passages that put users at risk into plain language. The passages were re-written in Q&A formats. Finally, the Q&As were designed as infographics by Graphic Arts students at Toronto’s Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts. Seventeen infographics (see below) are now ready for distribution, with more to come.

The AML hopes that the infographics will travel far and wide, sparking conversations and behaviours that will raise users’ awareness and agency in their informed uses of electric communications. You are welcome to print and/or publish the infographics on blogs or websites, link to them from your blogs or websites and share them with family, friends and colleagues as long as attribution is given to the AML.