How many of you actually read the Terms of Use/Service?

[Lingus]

For software and such, I typically won't bother, as it is quite a bit to read through, and requires comprehension of a rather extreme legal vocabulary.  There are however other agreements outside of software ToS's that I read at least two times over.  Things like leases or employment agreements, mostly because I've had threats of law suits over them.  Hell, I've even paid for legal assistance with understanding an employment agreement, mostly because $500 dollars spent on understanding what I can and cannot do is much better than $40k in court and lawyer fees had I not done the former.

Those wouldn't be considered ToS. Definitely have to read leases, loan docs, employment agreements... anything that will actually affect you and your life. ToS on a game, software, hardware, or other such thing is basically pointless. It's a CYA for the company. I mean, most of it's common sense, and/or it is just covering the company's liability or rights, so in effect you don't really have to do anything with it except be bound by those terms. It won't affect you, and so long as you use common sense you don't have to worry.

One place you have to look out is on software licensing. Depending on the wording it can affect exactly how you can use the software. For example the difference between "designated user" versus "login". In other words, if you have 5 people using it, you need 5 licenses. Versus, you might have 5 people using it at a given time, but a total of 10 people might be using it at different times. In that case, you still need 10 licenses, not 5. It's not a big deal if you're just an individual, but if you're a business it can have pretty drastic consequences if you get caught using the licenses illegally.

[DarkTrinity]

Especially since most game ToS basically all say the same thing.... x.x

[Scotty]

I'll put it to ya this way, in relation to Sony and their recent efforts to thwart the jailbreaking of their precious gaming console:

Use common sense.  By that, I mean think about what you are doing with someone's software/hardware.  You should be able to comprehend/determine whether or not what you are doing is going to be considered controversial (not right or wrong, but up for debate depending on your audience).  If you are planning on hacking away at something, you probably are aware that there is a good chance that the company whom created that something might not like it.  If it is at all questionable, read the ToS, and make damn sure you understand it.  Just because it says something that says you "can't do this-or-that" doesn't necessarily mean that it'll hold up should someone sue you, but you at least have an understanding that it might invoke a law-suit.

Case in point, from experience (yes, I went through this a month and a half ago), my company threatened to sue me over a violation of the non-compete clause in my employment agreement (not a ToS, but still a legal binding agreement).  I won't get too far into it, but I failed to read the entire agreement (specifically that portion), and did not have any legal guidance.  As soon as I was told that if I didn't do "something", they told me that they legally bar me from going to another company, using my agreement as ammunition.  I read through the agreement, and spent an entire week studying my scenario, reading up on similar law suits, and discovered that I would have had a fighting chance at beating them if they tried to sue, not only that, I could counter-sue for numerous offenses and rob them dry.  All eventually settled when I scared them with a two weeks notice, and they backed down immediately, as they were going to lose substantial revenue from me leaving, and struck a deal, but that didn't come without a few professionally written and carefully executed jabs at people with regards to character on my part, but alas, my cock is bigger.

[T-Rok]

I'll put it to ya this way, in relation to Sony and their recent efforts to thwart the jailbreaking of their precious gaming console:

Use common sense.  By that, I mean think about what you are doing with someone's software/hardware.  You should be able to comprehend/determine whether or not what you are doing is going to be considered controversial (not right or wrong, but up for debate depending on your audience).  If you are planning on hacking away at something, you probably are aware that there is a good chance that the company whom created that something might not like it.  If it is at all questionable, read the ToS, and make damn sure you understand it.  Just because it says something that says you "can't do this-or-that" doesn't necessarily mean that it'll hold up should someone sue you, but you at least have an understanding that it might invoke a law-suit.

Case in point, from experience (yes, I went through this a month and a half ago), my company threatened to sue me over a violation of the non-compete clause in my employment agreement (not a ToS, but still a legal binding agreement).  I won't get too far into it, but I failed to read the entire agreement (specifically that portion), and did not have any legal guidance.  As soon as I was told that if I didn't do "something", they told me that they legally bar me from going to another company, using my agreement as ammunition.  I read through the agreement, and spent an entire week studying my scenario, reading up on similar law suits, and discovered that I would have had a fighting chance at beating them if they tried to sue, not only that, I could counter-sue for numerous offenses and rob them dry.  All eventually settled when I scared them with a two weeks notice, and they backed down immediately, as they were going to lose substantial revenue from me leaving, and struck a deal, but that didn't come without a few professionally written and carefully executed jabs at people with regards to character on my part, but alas, my cock is bigger.

Well played good sir. Hope you got some nice cash out of that. :P

[Scotty]

I'll put it to ya this way, in relation to Sony and their recent efforts to thwart the jailbreaking of their precious gaming console:

Use common sense.  By that, I mean think about what you are doing with someone's software/hardware.  You should be able to comprehend/determine whether or not what you are doing is going to be considered controversial (not right or wrong, but up for debate depending on your audience).  If you are planning on hacking away at something, you probably are aware that there is a good chance that the company whom created that something might not like it.  If it is at all questionable, read the ToS, and make damn sure you understand it.  Just because it says something that says you "can't do this-or-that" doesn't necessarily mean that it'll hold up should someone sue you, but you at least have an understanding that it might invoke a law-suit.

Case in point, from experience (yes, I went through this a month and a half ago), my company threatened to sue me over a violation of the non-compete clause in my employment agreement (not a ToS, but still a legal binding agreement).  I won't get too far into it, but I failed to read the entire agreement (specifically that portion), and did not have any legal guidance.  As soon as I was told that if I didn't do "something", they told me that they legally bar me from going to another company, using my agreement as ammunition.  I read through the agreement, and spent an entire week studying my scenario, reading up on similar law suits, and discovered that I would have had a fighting chance at beating them if they tried to sue, not only that, I could counter-sue for numerous offenses and rob them dry.  All eventually settled when I scared them with a two weeks notice, and they backed down immediately, as they were going to lose substantial revenue from me leaving, and struck a deal, but that didn't come without a few professionally written and carefully executed jabs at people with regards to character on my part, but alas, my cock is bigger.

Well played good sir. Hope you got some nice cash out of that. :P

Never went to court luckily, but I am getting a $15k raise with the next company.... Doing the exact same thing I'm doing right now, same office, same seat, same responsibilities, just more money! =D

[T-Rok]

I'll put it to ya this way, in relation to Sony and their recent efforts to thwart the jailbreaking of their precious gaming console:

Use common sense.  By that, I mean think about what you are doing with someone's software/hardware.  You should be able to comprehend/determine whether or not what you are doing is going to be considered controversial (not right or wrong, but up for debate depending on your audience).  If you are planning on hacking away at something, you probably are aware that there is a good chance that the company whom created that something might not like it.  If it is at all questionable, read the ToS, and make damn sure you understand it.  Just because it says something that says you "can't do this-or-that" doesn't necessarily mean that it'll hold up should someone sue you, but you at least have an understanding that it might invoke a law-suit.

Case in point, from experience (yes, I went through this a month and a half ago), my company threatened to sue me over a violation of the non-compete clause in my employment agreement (not a ToS, but still a legal binding agreement).  I won't get too far into it, but I failed to read the entire agreement (specifically that portion), and did not have any legal guidance.  As soon as I was told that if I didn't do "something", they told me that they legally bar me from going to another company, using my agreement as ammunition.  I read through the agreement, and spent an entire week studying my scenario, reading up on similar law suits, and discovered that I would have had a fighting chance at beating them if they tried to sue, not only that, I could counter-sue for numerous offenses and rob them dry.  All eventually settled when I scared them with a two weeks notice, and they backed down immediately, as they were going to lose substantial revenue from me leaving, and struck a deal, but that didn't come without a few professionally written and carefully executed jabs at people with regards to character on my part, but alas, my cock is bigger.

Well played good sir. Hope you got some nice cash out of that. :P

Never went to court luckily, but I am getting a $15k raise with the next company.... Doing the exact same thing I'm doing right now, same office, same seat, same responsibilities, just more money! =D

Heh.. so awesome. I want your job. xD