Textbook License Requires You to Be a Better Person

... or at least try
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 22, 2011 4:05 PM CDT
Textbook License Requires You to Be a Better Person
A screen shot of the licensing agreement.   (http://learnat.sait.ab.ca)

Licensing agreements can make for dry reading, but BoingBoing points out an interesting exception. Eugene Blanchard's textbook Introduction to Data Communications is free online, and Blanchard allows people to use it however they see fit. His licensing agreement, however, asks for a dozen unusual things in exchange. Some examples:

  • "That you will try to be a better person today than yesterday."
  • "That you will act honorably in all aspects of your personal and business life."
  • "That when you make a mistake, that you admit it and make amends."
"I like the idea, and it's quite a cute provocation in light of the abusiveness of your average (end-user licensing agreement)," writes Cory Doctorow. (More license stories.)

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